Lloyd International Airways Ltd was a private,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

independentindependent from

government-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

formed in 1961 to operate worldwide

charter flight Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

s. It commenced operations with a single

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

piston airliner from Cambridge Marshall Airport.''Flight International'', 7 September 1961, ''Air Commerce ...'', ''Airliner Market Place'', p. 405
/ref>
/ref> Lloyd International concentrated on passenger and cargo

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

s with four-engined, long-

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

aircraft. It also had links in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

since its inception and flew to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

regularly.''Flight International'', 16 October 1969, ''British Airlines Survey ...'', p. 610
/ref> During the mid-1960s, the airline began re-equipping its fleet with

Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired United Kingdom, British flight length, medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to meet British civilian aviation needs. During development two prototypes were lo ...

and

Canadair CL-44 The Canadair CL-44 was a Canadian turboprop airliner and cargo aircraft based on the Bristol Britannia that was developed and produced by Canadair in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although innovative, only a small number of the aircraft were ...

turboprops A turboprop is a gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. F ...

, all of which featured large cargo doors and

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a Loader (equipment), front loader, a Jack (mechanical), jacking device, or an erect cra ...

ised freight systems.''Flight International'', 18 March 1965, ''Britannias for Lloyd'', p. 396
/ref>
/ref> Long-range

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

jets joined the Lloyd International fleet during the early 1970s for use on

affinity group An affinity group is a group formed around a shared interest or common goal, to which individuals formally or informally belong. Affinity groups are generally precluded from being under the aegis of any governmental agency, and their purposes ...

passenger and freight charters to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and the Far East.''Flight International'', 9 March 1972, ''Lloyd boosts Far East'', p. 349
/ref>''Fly me, I'm Freddie!'', Eglin, R. and Ritchie, B., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1980, p. 143 Lloyd International ceased operations in June 1972.
/ref> ttp://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1973/1973%20-%200771.html ''Flight International'', 22 March 1973, ''World Airline Survey'', p. 461/ref>

History

In 1960, Brian Lloyd and Alastair Macleod, two experienced shipping managers and

shipbroking Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers a ...

partners, joined up with chartered accountant John Louis Mingaye Crick and began formulating plans to take over an existing airline as part of a diversification

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

into the airline business. After months of unsuccessfully trying to raise capital for their planned acquisition, financial backing was finally obtained the following year from

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n tin magnate J. Ortiz-Patiño and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

shipping magnate Nicholas Mavroleon to set up a new airline from scratch. This airline was to specialise in Far East "tramping", concentrating on ships' crews and freight. The founders chose the name ''Lloyd'' for their new venture. J. Ortiz-Patiño and Nicholas Mavroleon became the respective

chairmen The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the airline and of

incorporate Incorporation may refer to: * Incorporation (business), the creation of a business or corporation * Incorporation of a place, the creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county * Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the ...

d Far East Aviation Company Ltd, a group

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

.''Flight International'', 22 February 1968, ''Air Transport ...'', ''Looking into Lloyd'', p. 256
/ref>
/ref> Lloyd International Airways commenced operations in 1961 with a Douglas DC-4 acquired from

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic airline

Loftleiðir Loftleiðir (, ), internationally known as Icelandic Airlines (abbreviated IAL) or Loftleiðir Icelandic, was a private Icelandic airline headquartered on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík, which operated mostly trans-Atlantic flig ...

. Its first engagement was a series of charter flights carrying ship crews between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and several destinations in the Far East.''Flight International'', 16 January 1969, ''Lloyd increases Britannia fleet'', p. 83
/ref> It soon found other charter work for the aircraft, which led to the acquisition of two more DC-4s in 1962. Lloyd International's first two years of operations were unprofitable, mainly as a result of uneconomic charter rates caused by excess capacity. Other contributing factors included an expensive emergency

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

of a replacement aircraft for a

DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

destroyed in a refuelling fire and high overheads due to a top-heavy administrative structure.''Aeroplane — Biography of a Supertramp'', Vol. 112, No. 2863, p. 20 Temple Press, London, 1 September 1966

Budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

ing and

cost control Cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is ...

, introduced in 1963, ensured that charterers were only quoted profitable rates. This resulted in a partial withdrawal from the cut-throat British

inclusive tour A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the h ...

(IT) market and the opening of an office in Hong Kong to capture a greater share of lucrative Far East cargo traffic. To ensure every single operation showed a clear profit on a full costing basis, i.e. inclusive of all

overhead cost In business, an overhead or overhead expense is an ongoing expense of operating a business. Overheads are the expenditure which cannot be conveniently traced to or identified with any particular revenue unit, unlike operating expenses such as raw m ...

s, the company required each operation to be budgeted in detail before deciding whether to accept it. The

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

's authorisation was required to dispense with this rule in exceptional cases where the risk of accepting a contract that was only marginally profitable, i.e. excluding overheads, was outweighed by the risk of having an aircraft sit idly on the ground. An immediate financial analysis that compared

actual cost {{Short pages monitor