Manx Airlines was an Isle of Man based airline which existed between 1982 and 2002. An airline of the same name had existed earlier in the 1950's

[edit] History

Manx Airlines started up on November 1, 1982. The first flight was JE601, flown from their base at Isle of Man Airport at Ronaldsway, by their Bandeirante to Glasgow.

From 1985 until 1993, the airline had employed the Shorts 360 and the Shorts 330. A Vickers Viscount 836 was operated from October 1983 until October 1988.^[1] Before retirement, the Viscount performed several 'champagne' flights, as it was the last to operate scheduled passenger services in the UK.

Manx flew a Saab 340 during 1987-88, which bore "City Hopper" titles when operating the Liverpool-Heathrow shuttle service. In October 1988, the airline collected their first BAe ATP, replacing the Viscount. Manx also flew the BAe 146. Eventually, the airline owned seventeen ATPs. The airline was successful in acquiring Business Air in 1991. The airline became part of the BRAL Group in 1998 and lost its separate identity in 2002.

[edit] Aircraft operated

Manx Airlines Vickers 836 Viscount at IoM Ronaldsway on Liverpool flight in June 1988

Cabin interior of Manx Airlines Shorts 360 in 1992

Saab 340A "City Hopper" at Liverpool on the Heathrow service in 1988

Manx Airlines operated the following types of aircraft:-

• Vickers Viscount
• Fokker Friendship
• Embraer EMB 110
• BAC 1-11
• BAe ATP
• Jetstream 31
• Jetstream 41
• BAe 146
  • Series 100
  • Series 200
  • Series 300
• Britten-Norman Islander
• de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
• Embraer EMB 110
• Embraer ERJ 145
• Fokker Friendship
• Piper PA-23
• Piper PA-31
• Saab 340
• Shorts 330
• Shorts 360
• ATR-72
• Vickers Viscount

[edit] Manx's last days

Manx Airlines ceased operations on 31 August 2002. Between March 1999 and the date of closure, the fleet was as follows:^[2]

The last flight was planned to be flown by BAe 146 G-MIMA, from London (Gatwick) to Isle of Man Airport (Ronaldsway). However, due to technical problems, a sub-chartered aircraft was brought in to operate this service. Therefore, the honour of operating the last Manx Airlines flight (JE 818 Birmingham International to Ronaldsway) went to Manx-born pilot Captain Paul Quine who was in command of ATP G-MANB, which landed at Ronaldsway at 20:10 GMT on Saturday 31 August 2002. The BRAL Group was bought out for about £72 million by British Airways, and Manx Airlines ceased to exist.

[edit] References

Notes

Bibliography

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