Throughout his working life Laker was involved in a number of aviation-related business ventures. Even when he was working for others, his decisions had far-reaching
strategic consequences for the business that employed him.
Early business ventures Laker's early post-war business ventures (prior to 1960) included:
Aviation Traders Carvair loading a car at
Bristol Airport, Bristol, England, in 1965 Freddie Laker founded Aviation Traders in October 1947. airline. Bond Air Services based these planes at
Wunstorf aerodrome in
West Germany to carry essential supplies into
West Berlin during the
Berlin Blockade of 1948–49. Bond Air Services furthermore contracted Aviation Traders to service these planes. In return, Aviation Traders got half of Bond Air Services' freight charges. Following the end of the
Berlin Airlift in 1949, Laker had most of the Halifaxes he had supplied to various independent airlines during the Airlift scrapped at its
Southend facilities. He also made use of these facilities for the subsequent conversion of several
DC-4/
C-54 Skymaster
airframes into
Carvairs for various operators around the world. It also produced an all-new aircraft design, the
ATL-90 Accountant. In 1951, Aviation Traders (Engineering), a sister company of Aviation Traders, won a contract from
Bristol Aircraft to manufacture wing centre sections for Bristol Freighters. Between the beginning of 1952 and the end of 1955, Aviation Traders (Engineering) built 50 wing sections for Bristol Aircraft. In 1958, Laker announced his decision to sell both Aviation Traders and Air Charter to Airwork for £600,000 cash plus a further £200,000, subject to the valuation of stock. Since its inception in 1947, Air Charter had been based at London's old
Croydon Airport. The airline participated in the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift. (Following the end of the Airlift in 1949, Laker sold the Air Charter Yorks that were still airworthy to other independent airlines, two of which were acquired by
Dan-Air in 1956).) On 14 April 1955, Air Charter inaugurated its first vehicle ferry service between Southend and
Calais using a
Bristol 170 Mark 32 Super Freighter. The merged entity traded as
British United Air Ferries. Laker also placed an order for
Vickers VC10 series 1103 long-haul jets on behalf of British United. The first two aircraft were delivered towards the end of 1964. (These aircraft differed from other operators' VC10s by having a large cargo door on the left-hand side of the forward fuselage where the aircraft's
first class section was located. They also had extended wingtips that were slightly bent downwards to reduce the aircraft's cruise drag as well as to help it overcome the instability encountered when entering a
stall.) By the end of that decade, British United had an all-jet fleet, which gave it a competitive edge over its contemporary independent rivals. Laker was furthermore instrumental in securing the transfer of the traffic rights for BOAC's loss-making South American routes to
Argentina,
Brazil,
Chile and
Uruguay to British United. The airline commenced service on these routes in November 1964 using its brand-new VC10s and managed to make them profitable within five years. In 1965, Laker decided to leave British United to set up his own airline following an alleged disagreement with British United's chairman Myles Wyatt.
Subsequent business ventures Laker was involved in the following business ventures during the later postwar years of the 20th century (post-1960):
Laker Airways Laker Airways was formed in 1966. This was Laker's third and most prominent airline venture. Laker Airways commenced commercial airline operations that July with a fleet of two ex-BOAC
Bristol Britannias. These were subsequently supplemented and eventually replaced with a brand-new fleet of BAC One-Eleven jetliners as well as a pair of second-hand
Boeing 707 jets. Initially, Laker Airways was a
charter airline and wholesale tour operator. British (as well as other European) airline regulations at the time required that charter-based low-price air travel be sold to the public only as a component of an air-hotel package. Other big British charter airlines were also owned by tour operators, mainly selling low-priced packages to Mediterranean beach destinations. For many years Laker had been the most profitable as well as the best-run charter airline in Britain.
Laker Airways pioneered many new, cost-saving as well as profit-enhancing, commercial concepts and operational techniques. In 1969, Laker Airways announced its intention to buy the proposed
BAC Three-Eleven, an all-British
widebodied jet powered by two rear-mounted
Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. The airline's
letter of intent was for four aircraft to be delivered in 1974. It was anticipated that these 250-seaters would replace the entire
narrow-bodied fleet, which was envisaged to comprise two 158-seat Boeing 707s and four 84-seat BAC One-Elevens by that time. Following the project's cancellation in 1971 due to a lack of Government funding, Laker remarked that this would force him to spend the £3 billion he had planned to invest by 1986 in a fleet of British-built widebodied airliners (including options) on competing foreign models.
Laker Airways eventually became the first independent British airline to actually operate widebodied equipment when it introduced its first two
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 series aircraft into commercial airline service in November 1972, the first European operator to do so. These aircraft were the first
UK-registered DC-10s. In 1973,
Laker Airways operated the world's first
Advance Booking Charter (ABC) flight. By the mid-1970s it had become the undisputed, global ABC flight market leader.
Laker Airways scored another industry first when it introduced its first daily
Skytrain low-fare scheduled service between London Gatwick and
New York John F. Kennedy Airport on 26 September 1977.
Skytrain On 15 June 1971,
Laker Airways submitted an application to the UK's Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB), one of the forerunners of today's
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to launch the world's first daily transatlantic, low-fare scheduled service between London and New York City, charging an incredibly low one-way fare of £32.50 in winter and £37.50 in summer. This was one third of what the major, established "
flag carriers" were charging at the time. The proposed service was to be marketed using the
Skytrain trademark and was to be initially operated with 158-seat, single-class Boeing 707-138Bs that were acquired second-hand. The summer schedule was to be operated with Laker's brand-new DC-10 widebodied jet aircraft to take advantage of increased demand he anticipated for his new low-fare service during the peak months from June to September as well as of the DC-10's low
break-even load factor of only 52%. The unexpected change of the UK departure/arrival point for Laker's
Skytrain service as well as its capacity limit during the lean winter season were intended not to undermine the planned launch of a daily
British Caledonian (BCal) Gatwick—JFK full-service scheduled operation, for which the ATLB had already granted that airline a 15-year licence, along with another 15-year licence for a daily Gatwick—
Los Angeles International Airport full-service scheduled operation, during the so-called "cannon ball" hearings earlier the same year. The UK government designated Laker Airways as a scheduled transatlantic UK "flag" carrier on 11 January 1973. It took another two years until Laker gained final approval, including a reciprocal permit from the relevant US authorities, which was granted for a one-year experimental period on 13 June 1977 by US President
Jimmy Carter The same year,
Edmund Dell, Peter Shore's successor, renounced the original
Bermuda air services agreement of 1946 and initiated
bilateral negotiations with his US counterparts on a new
air services agreement, which resulted in the
Bermuda II treaty of 1977. at
Manchester Airport in 1979 Laker's long-running
Skytrain application was finally granted in 1977 upon designating the airline as the second UK flag carrier between London and New York under the then just-concluded Bermuda II UK-US air agreement.
Skytrain took to the air for the first time on 26 September 1977 when the inaugural flight departed London Gatwick for New York JFK. This flight carried 272 passengers on one of the airline's 345-seat McDonnell Douglas DC-10 widebodied aircraft. The fares charged at the time were £59 () one-way from London and $135 () one-way from New York. (Statistics for November and December 1977, as well as for January—June 1978, had also shown that the overall monthly growth in the London—New York market was maintained at that level for the remainder of this period while
Skytrain managed to grow its share of the overall monthly increase to 50% and keep up this performance until the end of the period.) leading to further expansion over the coming years, in terms of new routes as well as additional frequencies. As a result of his clever publicity stunts to market the then brand-new London—New York
Skytrain service, Freddie Laker himself became popular with the public ("the forgotten man's hero") and was regarded as one of
Margaret Thatcher's "golden boys" of industry (along with
Sir Clive Sinclair and Sir
Alan Sugar). The future
Conservative Prime Minister was a self-confessed "Freddie Laker fan". However, it was
James Callaghan's "pro-
union" Labour Government that awarded Laker his
knighthood for services to the airline industry in 1978, rather than Margaret Thatcher's subsequent "pro-business" Conservative administration (although the latter had recommended him for his service to private enterprise in her capacity as the then
leader of the opposition). • Some passengers may also have perceived the DC-10 as unsafe as a result of a string of fatal accidents involving the aircraft within a short timespan during the late 1970s (including the aforementioned 1979 American Airlines crash at Chicago O'Hare, and the previous 1974 crash of a Turkish Airlines DC10 at
Beauvais, near Paris). • The implications of the strategic decision to build its business on discount travellers only. • The conspiracy of large airlines throughout Europe and North America, which were aggressively price-matching Laker Airways even at the expense of massive losses. This charge, which was brought to court as the largest aviation antitrust case in history, was later settled out of court.
Laker Airways Mark II Laker was undaunted and almost immediately attempted to relaunch the airline with assistance from one of Britain's titans of industry,
Tiny Rowland, the Managing Director of
Lonrho, plc – one of the nation's largest conglomerates – and on the back of a strong public following (a relief fund gathered over £1 million, including a benefit concert in San Francisco by the music band
The Police, who had used the airline to tour America in their formative years). However despite Rowland’s offer of funding being described as “adequate” by Laker, the attempt was unsuccessful due to their failure to secure the necessary licensing. Laker, by now living in the
Bahamas, got off the ground again in the early 1990s, moving his refounded business's base to
Freeport.
Laker Airways flew from there until it shut down in 2005. It was Laker's final airline venture. ==Legacy==