Northeast Airlines (UK)

File:Douglas C-47B G-ANAF BKS A.T. RWY 16.07.54 edited-2.jpg wearing the initial all-metallic scheme at Manchester Airport in 1954]]

File:Airspeed Ambassador G-AMAD BKS 1965.jpg

File:BKS Avro 748 at Manchester 1964.jpg

File:Vickers Viscount 806 G-APEY Northeast LHR 22.08.71 edited-3.jpg

File:Northeast Airlines Trident 1E at Teesside Airport (1974) - geograph.org.uk - 852594.jpg G-AVYD at Teesside Airport in 1974, now in British Airways/Northeast Airlines hybrid livery.]]

The airline began operating in February 1952 from its base at Southend Airport as BKS Aero Charter flying a Douglas C-47 DakotaMaurice J. Wickstead: Airlines of the British Isles since 1919. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., Staplefield, W Sussex 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-85130-456-4}}, p. 81.Tony Merton Jones: British Independent Airline since 1946, Vol. 3. Merseyside Aviation Society & LAAS International, Liverpool & Uxbridge 1976, {{ISBN|0 902420 09 7}}, p. 321.{{cite web|url=https://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-register/g-info/search-g-info/|title=G-AIWE – Registration History|publisher=CAA G-INFO|access-date=1 March 2024}} (BKS were the founders' initials – James Barnby, T D 'Mike' Keegan and Cyril Stevens.{{Cite web |url=http://website.lineone.net/~biggles200/History.htm |title=History of BKS |access-date=10 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160524064622/http://website.lineone.net/~biggles200/History.htm |archive-date=24 May 2016 |url-status=dead }}).

After less than a month the C-47 was sold (to Iberia Airlines),{{Cn|date=October 2024}} allowing BKS to buy two further ex-RAF Dakotas. For a couple of years BKS flew charters and freight, until 1953 when it had permission for scheduled services between Newcastle, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The Dakotas continued with BKS until the last of eight was sold in 1967.Gradidge, 2006, p. 217 The airline's name changed to BKS Air Transport at the end of 1953.{{Harvnb|Merton-Jones|1976|p=322}}

Three Vickers VC.1 Vikings were acquired in 1955{{Harvnb|Merton-Jones|1976|p=323}} to operate to Málaga. The next aircraft type was the pressurised Airspeed Ambassador. It operated from 1957 and enabled longer scheduled services to Basel, Belfast, Bilbao, Dublin and Santander.

The network grew with more scheduled flights, including Newcastle to London. In 1958 the Bristol 170 Freighter was added, followed by the Vickers Viscount in 1961. Further expansion in and out of London saw the introduction of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 in 1962 and the Bristol Britannia in 1964.{{Harvnb|Merton-Jones|1976|pp=330–331}}

By the mid-1960s, London Heathrow had become BKS's busiest base with scheduled flights to Leeds/Bradford, Teesside and Newcastle, as well as international services to Bilbao, Biarritz, and Bordeaux.

The first jet aircraft were two Hawker Siddeley Tridents, acquired in April 1969. These served the Newcastle-Heathrow route as well as inclusive tour charters from Newcastle and London to Mediterranean destinations. Two further Tridents were acquired later.

BKS and Cambrian Airways formed the British Air Services group in 1967. British Air Services was a holding company 70 per cent owned by British European Airways and 30 per cent by the former shareholders of BKS and Cambrian.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1968/1968%20-%202399.html "Britain's Airline Industry"] Flight International 24 October 1968

The airline's name changed to Northeast Airlines on 1 November 1970. In July 1973, the airline became part of the British Airways group.{{Harvnb|Merton-Jones|1976|p=330}} By 1976 Northeast had fully integrated into British Airways. The last Northeast flights operated on 31 March 1976.Hengi, {{page needed|date=June 2015}}

File:Bristol Freighter, Liverpool 1961.jpg

• Airspeed Ambassador (five) {{cite web|url=https://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-register/g-info/search-g-info/|title=G-ALZR, G-ALZT, G-ALZW, G-AMAC, G-AMAD – Registration History|publisher=CAA G-INFO|access-date=9 March 2024}}
• Bristol Britannia (four)
• Bristol 170 Freighter (one)
• Douglas C-47 Dakota (eight)
• Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (five)
• Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident (four)
• Vickers VC.1 Viking (three)
• Vickers Viscount 700/800 (twelve)

• On 3 July 1968, BKS Air Transport Flight C.6845 crashed at London Heathrow Airport when a flap actuating rod failed due to metal fatigue. Six of the eight on board and eight horses being transported were killed.{{ASN accident|id=19680703-0}} Two Hawker Siddeley Tridents were hit by the crashing Ambassador.{{Harvnb|Denham|1996|pp=85, 107}}
• On 17 October 1961, a BKS Dakota (G-AMVC) en route from Yeadon to Crosby, crashed on Croglin Fell in the North Pennines in strong winds, heavy rain and poor visibility. All four crew (the only occupants) were killed.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-03 |title=1961-10-17{{!}}Dakota{{!}}G-AMVC{{!}}BKS Air Transport Ltd{{!}}Croglin Fell, Cumbria |url=https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/douglas-dakota-g-amvc-croglin-fell/ |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=Peak District Air Accident Research |language=en-GB}}

BKS Air Transport is featured in the biography Behind the Cockpit Door by Arthur Whitlock, a first officer and subsequent captain with the airline for just over two decades. The book charts its origins at Southend in the early 1950s to its merger with British Airways in the 1970s.

• List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom

;Notes

{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite book|last=Gradidge|first=J.M.G.|title=DC-1, DC-2, DC-3 - The First Seventy Years|year=2006|publisher=Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd|isbn=0-85130-332-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Hengi|first=B.I.|others=Neil Lewis, translator|title=Vergangen, Vergessen, Vorbei|trans-title=Airlines Remembered: Over 200 Airlines of the Past, Described and Illustrated in Colour|publisher=Midland Publishing|location=Leicester, England|year=2000| isbn= 978-1-85780-091-3}}
• {{Cite book|last=Merton-Jones|first=A.C.|title=British Independent Airlines since 1946 - Volume 3|year=1976|publisher=Merseyside Aviation Society|isbn=0-902420-09-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/britishindepende0001mert}}
• British Airways Archives and Museum Collection (1951–1970)
• {{cite book | first =Terry | last =Denham | year =1996 | title =World Directory of Airliner Crashes | publisher = Patrick Stephens Ltd| location = Sparkford|isbn=1-85260-554-5 }}

{{Refend}}

{{Commons category|Northeast Airlines (United Kingdom)}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160524064622/http://website.lineone.net/~biggles200/History.htm History of BKS]
• [https://rzjets.net/operators/?show=2927 Fleet and code details]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081013104809/http://www.airtimes.com/cgat/uk/northeast.htm Timetable images]

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Category:Companies based in Newcastle upon Tyne

Category:Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom

Category:Airlines established in 1951

Category:Airlines disestablished in 1976

Category:1951 establishments in the United Kingdom