Boeing 767-400ER BritSky

This is a direct continuation from the story on this post: http://www.airline-e...britsky-poster/

As the 1990s wore on, BritSky kept growing. New aircraft were being delivered almost weekly, and the airline was thriving. The competition from Sovereign Airways, both in regional/European routes and long-haul transatlantic services, was not worrying John Truscot, BritSky's founder. He offered lower fares than other major British carriers, allowing his airline to appeal more to tourists who didn't want to pay quite so much for a transatlantic flight. The Boeing 737 Classics were being supplemented by the Airbus A320 Family, and 767-300ERs were still effortlessly hauling passengers across the pond.

Then, in the late 1990s, Boeing announced that a new version of the 767 would be released, with an extended fuselage. This version would be known as the 767-400ER. Truscot was ecstatic, as he had been wanting to slightly increase capacity over the 767-300ER, and this new version allowed BritSky to maintain fleet commonality with the 12 -300ERs already in service, without having to switch to the Airbus A330-200. There was another bonus, too: The 767-400ER used the same engines as a portion of BritSky's 767-300ER fleet, so engine commonality could be retained as well.

Thus, in 2000, BritSky ordered 10 Boeing 767-400ERs, making them one of the first European customers. The first 767-400ER was delivered in August 2001. However, only a few months later, before the aircraft had even started commercial flights, 9/11 devastated the entire industry. Demand for air travel, particularly transatlantic, completely fell apart. BritSky now had a brand new fleet of 767-400ERs, with no routes to use them on. As a result, the fleet was left sitting at Bristol and London Gatwick, since no one wanted to fly them.

By the mid-2000s, though, air travel began to recover, and with it, BritSky pulled its 767 fleet back into service. The 767-400ER finally had its first flight, from London Gatwick to New York JFK. The aircraft began to see service on routes to the USA and Canada, as well as the airline's first flight to South America, flying to Rio de Janeiro. As capacity increased, the 767-400ERs started to struggle on the routes, and the airline bought a small fleet of 777-200ERs to accompany it. However, problems soon started occurring within the airline...

Part 3 coming soon!

Shown above is G-MESS, one of the first 767-400ERs delivered to the airline, wearing the 2015 livery. Although plans to replace the 767 fleet with 787s do exist, BritSky doesn't want to let go of the aircraft just yet, and sees any potential 787s introduced into the fleet as company for the 767s, at least for now.

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