Berlin Regional UK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Berlin Regional UK is a defunct regional UK airline based at Tegel Airport in what used to be West Berlin in the days prior to Germany's [re-]unification.

Contents

[edit] History

Richard "Dick" Twomey, a former British Airways general manager in Berlin, was the founder and majority owner of Berlin Regional.[1]

The airline was legally constituted in 1986 and commenced commercial airline operations during April 1987.[1][2]

Its initial fleet comprised two BAe Jetstream 31 commuter turboprop planes. These featured a reduced seat capacity of 16 (rather than the more usual 19). While Berlin Regional employed its own maintenance engineers at Tegel Airport for routine maintenance tasks, East Midlands Airport-based maintenance engineering contractor Fields performed heavy maintenance on Berlin Regional's Jetstreams.[2]

Both the UK CAA and West Berlin's Allied Air Attachés had licensed Berlin Regional to operate year-round, daily scheduled services from Berlin Tegel to Basle, Brussels, Copenhagen, Friedrichshafen, Geneva and Kiel. None of these destinations was served from any West Berlin airport on a regular, scheduled basis at the time of Berlin Regional's application for traffic rights to the relevant authorities.[1]

In April 1987 Berlin Regional inaugurated its first two scheduled routes from Berlin Tegel to Copenhagen and Geneva. Basle and Friedrichshafen joined Berlin Regional's scheduled route network in June 1987. Services to Brussels never got off the ground, as a result of US major TWA's subsequent decision to enter the Tegel-Brussels market with a much bigger Boeing 727-100 from July 1987. Poor loads to Basle and Geneva forced Berlin Regional to combine these services. When Pan Am Express launched a competing Tegel-Basle route in November 1987, Berlin Regional dropped Basle from its schedule. Like Brussels, Kiel was never served, as a result of Pan Am Express's decision to serve this destination from Tegel itself. Ultimately, Copenhagen and Friedrichshafen were Berlin Regional's only surviving scheduled destinations.[1][3]

By 1988 Berlin Regional also acquired a brand-new Boeing 737-300 to enable it to counterbalance its presence in the cut-throat regional, short-haul scheduled market from Berlin with far more lucrative charter contracts awarded by the city's leading package tour operators to carry holidaymakers to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. Berlin Regional subsequently subleased this aircraft to fellow UK Independent Monarch Airlines.[4]

[edit] Aircraft operated

Berlin Regional UK operated the following aircraft types:

  • Boeing 737-300[4].

[edit] Incidents and accidents

There are no recorded accidents or incidents involving Berlin Regional.[1]

[edit] Code data

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Berlin Regional service to start, Flight International, 14 June 1986, p. 6
  2. ^ a b c Berlin's commuter market grows, Flight International, 2 April 1988, pp. 6, 8
  3. ^ The battle for Berlin, Flight International, 23 April 1988, pp. 19-21
  4. ^ a b The airline from Berlin, Flight International, 5 August 1989, pp.29-31

[edit] References

  • "Flight International" . Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710.  (various backdated issues relating to Berlin regional UK, 1986-1988)

[edit] External links

Berlin Regional UK timetable covers dated June 1, 1987 and February 1, 1988, respectively