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Channel Air Bridge was a private British independent〔independent from government-owned corporations〕 airline specialising in cross-Channel vehicle-cum-passenger ferry services. Freddie Laker started Channel Air Bridge as a sister airline of Air Charter on a provisional basis in 1954. Operations commenced in 1955. In 1958, Channel Air bridge took over Air Charter's vehicle ferry services.〔(''Flight International'', 18 April 1958, ''World Airline Directory ...'', p. 525 )〕〔''Airliner World – Britain's Carferry Airlines'', Key Publishing, Avenel, NJ, USA, July 2005, p. 34〕〔Merton-Jones 1972, p. 10〕 In 1959, both Channel Air Bridge and its sister airline Air Charter became part of the Airwork group.〔〔 In 1960, Airwork joined with Hunting-Clan to form British United Airways (BUA).〔 In 1962, BUA reorganised its vehicle ferry operations by merging Channel Air Bridge with Silver City Airways. This resulted in the creation of British United Air Ferries in 1963.〔''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY)'', Vol 43, No 3, p. 44, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010〕 ==History== Following Freddie Laker's creation of Channel Air Bridge on an experimental basis in 1954, the newly formed airline commenced regular scheduled vehicle and passenger ferry services in April 1955 with four Bristol Freighters shuttling seven times a day between Southend and Calais.〔〔''Fly me, I'm Freddie!'', Eglin, R. and Ritchie, B., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1980, pp. 41/2〕 Channel Air Bridge's Bristol Freighters sported a red-and-white colour scheme.〔(''Flight International'', 11 December 1959, ''Bridging that gap — What prospects for the vehicle air ferry? (by D.A. Whybrow), p. 711 )〕 In 1955, Channel Air Bridge also took delivery of the first two of nine larger, "long-nosed" Bristol 170 Mark 32 ''Superfreighters''. Eventually, Channel Air Bridge operated 24 daily round-trips between Southend and Calais and inaugurated additional vehicle/passenger ferry services from Southend to Ostend and Rotterdam. Southend—Ostend services were operated in partnership with Sabena.〔〔(''Flight International'', 11 December 1959, ''Bridging that gap — What prospects for the vehicle air ferry? (by D.A. Whybrow), p. 709 )〕〔''Airliner Classics (SABENA – Belgium's Flag Carrier: Post-War Years)'', p. 63, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, July 2013〕 By 1958, Channel Air Bridge was carrying almost 15,000 cars a year. A considerable proportion of this was traffic diverted from the Midlands, which would otherwise have used Silver City Airways, the original air ferry airline that had held a monopoly in this market prior to the arrival of Channel Air Bridge.〔 1958 was also the year Laker decided to transfer Air Charter's vehicle ferry services and Bristol 170 fleet to Channel Air Bridge, thus putting the latter solely in charge of this type of operation.〔 During that year, Laker furthermore announced his decision to sell Air Charter, Channel Air Bridge and Aviation Traders to Airwork for £600,000 cash plus a further £200,000, subject to the valuation of stock.〔''Fly me, I'm Freddie!'', Eglin, R. and Ritchie, B., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1980, pp. 54, 56/7〕 The deal became effective in January 1959, when all three companies joined the Airwork group.〔 Following a nationalisation of Air Charter's flight crew and ground staff in February 1959, Channel Air Bridge assumed Air Charter's vehicle ferry services while Air Charter's remaining operations were subsequently absorbed into the newly formed BUA, as a result of the Airwork – Hunting-Clan merger in June 1960.〔〔〔''Airliner World – The Laker Airways Skytrain'', Key Publishing, Avenel, NJ, USA, July 2005, p. 72〕 By 1962, Channel Air Bridge operated scheduled vehicle, passenger and freight ferry services from Southend to Calais, Ostend, Rotterdam, Basle, Geneva and Strasbourg. The longer routes to Switzerland and Strasbourg in France, as well as all Dutch routes, were operated with ATL-98 Carvairs while Bristol Freighters continued to ply the shorter routes to Calais and Ostend. Combined rail-air-rail services were provided between London and Brussels in conjunction with British Rail and Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges/Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen (SNCB/NMBS), the respective contemporary national railway companies of the UK and Belgium. In addition, Channel Air Bridge held British licences to operate scheduled air ferry services from Southend to Bremen, Düsseldorf and Lyon. These licences remained unused as a result of foreign government approval being withheld.〔(''Flight International'', 12 April 1962, ''World Airline Survey — The UK Carriers ...'', p. 547 )〕 Channel Air Bridge continued to operate under its own name until it merged with Silver City Airways to form British United Air Ferries on 1 January 1963.〔Merton Jones 1972, page 32〕〔 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「Channel Air Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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