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British Caledonian (BCal) was a private, British independent airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s. It was created to give an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlines; described as the "Second Force" in the 1969 Edwards report. It was formed by the Scottish charter airline Caledonian Airways (at the time the United Kingdom's second-largest, independent airline) took over British United Airways (BUA), then the largest British independent airline and the United Kingdom's leading independent scheduled carrier. The BUA takeover enabled Caledonian to realise its long-held ambition to transform itself into a scheduled airline. The merged entity eventually became the UK's foremost independent, international scheduled airline. A series of major financial setbacks during the mid-1980s combined with the airline's inability to grow sufficiently to reach a viable size put the airline at serious risk of collapse. BCal began looking for a merger partner to improve its competitive position. In December 1987, British Airways (BA) gained control of the airline. The Caledonian name and livery was then used to rebrand BA's Gatwick-based subsidiary British Airtours as Caledonian Airways. ==The 1970s== (詳細は"The Edwards Report" ) ''Flight International'' 8 May 1969 p 737〕 At the government's instigation Caledonian - a 10-year-old profitable charter operator - took over the older but financially troubled British United Airways. The resulting company was initially known as "Caledonian/BUA" before becoming "British Caledonian Airways".〔 During the 1970s, as the third major airline in the UK, British Caledonian took the role counterbalancing the near-monopoly of the corporations, which provided 90% of all UK scheduled air transport capacity at the beginning of the decade.〔("BCAL Atlantic growth" ) ''Flight International'', 20 September 1973, p. 466〕〔Thomson, A., 1990, p. 173〕 This entailed expanding the inherited scheduled network to provide effective competition to established rivals on a number of key routes, as well as augmenting the acquired fleet with the latest generation narrow-, widebody airliners to maintain a competitive edge.〔Thomson, A., 1990, p. 201〕〔("Airline Profile: Number Forty-Two in the Series — British Caledonian" ), ''Flight International'', 3 August 1972, p. 156〕〔("Airline Profile: Number Forty-Two in the Series — British Caledonian" ), ''Flight International'', 3 August 1972, p. 159〕 The rapid expansion of British Caledonian suffered a temporary setback during the 1973-75 recession which followed in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. This undermined the airline's financial stability during its formative years and threatened its survival at that stage. Following economic revival during that decade's second half, it regained its financial stability, enabling it to expand again and to become profitable. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Caledonian」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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