British Air Ferries

British United Air Ferries (BUAF) was a wholly private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations car and passenger ferry airline based in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. It specialised in cross-Channel ferry flights carrying cars and their owners between its numerous bases in Southern England, the Channel Islands and Continental Europe. All-passenger and all-cargo flights were operated as well. Following several identity and ownership changes, it went out of business in 2001.

In its final years, as British World Airlines, its head office was at Viscount House, London Southend Airport.

History

BUAF came into being on 1 January 1963 as a result of the merger of Channel Air Bridge and Silver City Airways.''British Air Ferries Ltd. (BAF)'', Flight International, 11 December 1975, p. 843
/ref>''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY)'', Vol 43, No 3, p. 44, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010 The newly formed airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Holdings, which in turn was a subsidiary of British & Commonwealth (B&C). This ownership structure made BUAF a sister airline of British United Airways (BUA), at the time Britain's biggest independent airline and the country's leading independent scheduled operator.

BUAF operated scheduled and non-scheduled vehicle ferry, passenger and freight services. This included scheduled routes from Southend, Lydd Ferryfield and Hurn to ten points in the Channel Islands and Continental Europe. Aviation Traders Carvairs operated what the airline called "deeper penetration" routes to Basel, Geneva and Strasbourg.

Bristol Superfreighters plied the routes to Jersey, Guernsey, Cherbourg, Le Touquet, Calais, Ostend and Rotterdam.

The airline's scheduled services between the UK, Le Touquet and Ostend formed part of rail-air operations linking the respective capital cities at each end. These were operated in conjunction with Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer français (SNCF) and Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges/Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen (SNCB/NMBS), the respective national railway companies of France and Belgium. (Amongst these, was a six-times daily Southend—Ostend vehicle ferry service operated in conjunction with erstwhile Belgian flag carrier Sabena. This service, which had been launched by Air Charter in partnership with Sabena in 1957 with three dedicated Superfreighters in full Sabena livery and which BUAF had inherited from Channel Air Bridge, continued until 1964.) Coach-air services were provided in conjunction with local coach operators between the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland via Calais, Ostend, Rotterdam and Baswl.

In addition, all-passenger configured Bristol Freighters/Superfreighters were used for inclusive tour work on behalf of BUA (Services) Ltd. Sister airline BUA (C.I.) assumed the former Silver City routes linking the North of England with the Channel Isles and the Continent.''Flight International'', 11 April 1963, ''World Airline Survey ... British United Air Ferries Ltd, ...'', p. 517
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BUAF subsequently added routes linking Southampton with Rotterdam, Ostend, Calais, Deauville, Le Touquet, Jersey, Guernsey, Dinard and Cherbourg to its scheduled route network, while discontinuing its "deeper penetration" routes to Basel, Geneva and Strasbourg as these generated insufficient traffic to sustain a viable operation. Some of the new Southampton routes were part of rail-air operations in conjunction with the French and Belgian national railway companies as well.''British Airline Survey ... British United Air Ferries Ltd ...'', Flight International, 28 September 1967, p. 531
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British Air Ferries (BAF)

As a consequence of B&C's reorganisation of the BUA group of companies during 1967/8, BUAF changed its name to British Air Ferries (BAF) in September 1967.''Directory: World Airlines — British World Airlines (VF/BWL) ...'', Flight International 12–18 March 2002, p. 90
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In October 1971, BAF's ownership passed from Air Holdings to the Keegan family.

In 1972, BAF became a wholly owned subsidiary of Transmeridian Air Cargo (TMAC), a Stansted-based all-cargo airline controlled by the Keegan family.

In 1975, BAF began replacing its remaining Carvairs with Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops on its cross-Channel routes linking Southend with Le Touquet, Ostend and Rotterdam. This resulted in these services being converted into ordinary passenger schedules and the Carvairs being transferred to cargo flying.

On 1 January 1977, BAF operated its last car ferry service.''Mike Sessions – Looking on the Bright Side of Life'', Airliner World, Key Publishing, Stamford, UK, March 2010, p. 47 Later the same year, on 31 October, BAF Herald G-BDFE operating the airline's inaugural scheduled passenger flight from Southend to Düsseldorf under the command of Captain Caroline Frost and First Officer Lesley Hardy became Britain's first airliner flown by an all-female crew.

On 1 January 1979, BAF transferred its entire scheduled operation including associated aircraft and staff to British Island Airways

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