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The history of BWIA British West Indian Airways

Of the four pure jet Caribbean airlines (Air Aruba, Air Jamaica, ALM Antillean Airlines and BWIA among them), the latter was the largest and the only one to operate the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar.

The airline’s roots stretched beyond the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean to New Zealand, at least in terms of the nationality of its founder, Lowell Yerex, a World War I fighter pilot who planted his seed in Trinidad. in 1939 so that it could reinstate what had become a suspended air service to Barbados. Links were re-established on November 27 of the following year with a single Lockheed L-18 Lodestar, registered VP-TAE. Tobago was also served three times a week.

Although World War II generally frustrated commercial airline operations, they expanded into the Caribbean. The 1942 acquisition of two Lockheed L-14 Electra enabled it to operate charter flights to US military bases there.

Transformed, the following year, into a limited company and infused with British government financial plasma, it bought three commercially converted Hudson bombers, while the completion of many small Caribbean island airfields enabled it to spread its wings to Grenada and the Dominican Republic, as well as Guyana in South America.

No longer hampered by the war, she acquired four more Lodestars for proper purpose in 1945.

A change of ownership two years later, to British South American Airways (BSAA), earned it the temporary nomenclature British International Airways, a subsidiary of BSAA, although it reverted to its original title of British West Indian Airways on June 24, 1948. To meet increased demand, he purchased five 24-passenger Vickers Viking airliners, which featured twin-piston air propellers and dual vertical tails and rested on tail wheels.

Another change of ownership occurred the following year, when the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) merged BSAA, transforming BWIA into a subsidiary. He ceded several routes to northern Jamaica from parent BOAC, which monetarily supported his expansion, replaced his L-18 Lodestars with three 28-seat Douglas Dakotas, but even these proved inadequate for his ambitious expansion plans.

Switching from piston to turboprop technology, he acquired four Vickers V.700 Viscounts, powered by Rolls Royce Dart engines, capable of offering passengers greater speed and comfort from 1955.

Because these aircraft were too large to serve the Leeward Islands, BWIA, which held the majority share, formed the Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT), operating shorter crews suitable for the strip.

Spreading its wings across the Atlantic in 1960 with chartered four-engine Bristol Britannias, BWIA inaugurated service to Jamaica and Barbados from London with an intermediate call in New York.

However, a third change of ownership, albeit after lengthy negotiations, occurred the following year, on November 1, 1961, when the Trinidad and Tobago government purchased 90 percent of BWIA from BOAC.

“British West Indian Airways is envisioned by the government of Trinidad and Tobago as a national airline for the West Indies area as a whole, and steps are now being taken to implement this policy,” according to Dr. Eric Williams, then Prime Barbadian Minister. .

A Boeing 707, the airline’s first pure jet type, was chartered from BOAC that year to replace the Bristol Britannia on the transatlantic route, and by 1965, it had also replaced the Boeing 727-100 “Sunjets” for its Viscounts on the USA services Miami and New York.

Canada joined the route system on May 3, 1969, when BWIA was granted a temporary license to operate a Trinidad-Barbados-Antigua-Toronto sector.

By standardizing on the Boeing 707 aircraft in 1971, BWIA was able to offer a 45 percent increase in seating capacity.

“This was also a year of unprecedented growth in the charter market,” according to “Corporate Timeline” (BWIA International Airways, Corporate Communications Department, October 1, 1996). “BWIA tripled the number of UK charter flights from eight to 24, and continued to improve Miami services with the trend of faster services continuing, along with increased capacity.”

Flight schedules from the Eastern Caribbean to New York and Toronto were also improved.

A milestone occurred on 5 April 1974, when it inaugurated a weekly scheduled service to London-Heathrow, a considerable improvement over the previous private charter flight to Gatwick.

An order for a single Douglas DC-9-30CF Convertible Freighter and four stretch-fuselage DC-9-50s materialized four years later, on June 28, when he took delivery of the first aircraft.

A merger on January 1, 1980 with Trinidad and Tobago Air Services, which had been formed six years earlier to operate high-frequency shuttle flights between the two cities inherent to its designation, enabled it to become a single domestic, Caribbean, and Caribbean airline. intercontinental. .

The first of four L-1011-500s, delivered on January 29 of that year, enabled it to offer a wide-body type for the first time and a 31 percent increase in capacity over the 707 it replaced on the London Two route. months later. the 28th of March. With the delivery of the fourth aircraft in 1982, the 707s were withdrawn from the fleet entirely and replaced entirely with TriStars to New York, Toronto, London, Manchester, Frankfurt, and Zurich.

Expansion continued to Martinique with Hawker Siddeley HS.748 turboprops and Baltimore with pure jet aircraft.

1985 was marked by the delivery of the first of nine MD-83s, configured with 12 business class and 108 economy class seats, which gradually replaced the DC-9-50s in parts of Miami.

With 2,032 system-wide employees in 1987, BWIA operated four DC-9-50s, three MD-83s, and four L-1011-500s.

Privatized, the Caribbean airline, which incorporated as BWIA International Airways, Limited, on February 15, 1995, was now listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.

The 21st century brought significant changes and declines. In 2000, for example, a new light green and blue steel pin drum livery, symbolizing Tobago, was introduced, replacing the old gold, yellow and white, while a fleet modernization program was implemented. Two four-engine Airbus A-340-300s, intended to replace the TriStar 500, were ordered, comprising the 9Y-JIL aircraft with 40 business class and 215 economy class seats and the 9Y-TJN with 32 business class seats and 252 economy class.

Although it reversed its decision to replace its MD-83s with A-321-100s on Caribbean and North American routes, it did receive two in the event, registered 9Y-BWA and -BWB, before standardizing on Boeing 737-800s, which It accommodated 16 business passengers and 138 economy passengers.

While, as with any airline, its route system varied over the years with the addition and removal of destinations, it served Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Saint Lucia, St. Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago in Caribbean; Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela in South America; New and Miami in the US; Toronto in Canada; and London, Manchester and Frankfurt in Europe from the primary flying bases of Trinidad and secondary flying bases of Barbados.

Although it peaked at operating some 660 weekly flights and carrying 1.4 million passengers in 2003, profitability often failed to match these high numbers, requiring multiple contributions from the Trinidad and Tobago government to ensure its financial boost. continuous.

However, three years later, the unions’ failure to agree on new contract terms resulted in the bankruptcy of Trinidad and Tobago’s national airline after 66 years of operation.

From its ashes rose the state carrier BWIA, which replaced Caribbean Airlines on September 27, 2006 with a fleet of six 737-800s and a single A-340-300.

Sources:

“Corporate Timeline”, BWIA International Airways, Limited, Corporate Communications Department, October 1, 1996.

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