Air Caledonia 747-100B

Air Caledonia

IATA - ST
ICAO - STC
Callsign - CALEDONIA

Boeing 747-100B
G-ACLS

1979 would see a change in Air Caledonia's operations, up until 1979 Air Caledonia operated all of its long-haul operations on the Boeing 707, however, began to struggle with airlines competing on the same routes that operated larger, more efficient, faster, and longer-range airliners, and so came the introduction of the Boeing 747-100B into the airline's fleet. Initially, the Boeing 747 would launch services from Air Caledonia's London Heathrow hub, operating the airline's flights to New York, Washington, and Chicago until 1980 when Air Caledonia would ultimately move all of its Long-Haul operations to London Gatwick, leaving just a small fleet of Boeing 737-200's to operate the shuttle services to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and Aberdeen.

The move to London Gatwick proved successful for Air Caledonia, with the decision being made due to the ease of access to London Gatwick, the growing demand for international routes and to also supplement Air Caledonia Skytours operations (Air Caledonia's leisure division) which at that time was operating flights to popular holiday destinations across Europe.

The introduction of the Boeing 747 saw the removal of the Boeing 707 from all long-haul routes and the movement of the 707 from Air Caledonia's mainline operations to Air Caledonia Skytours. Of the 5 Boeing 747-100B's introduced a single 747 would be based in Scotland at Air Caledonia's hub in Glasgow for flights to New York and Washington, and another would operate under Air Caledonia Skytours branding for leisure routes to Florida and the Caribbean, and the remaining 747's operating the mainline routes from London Gatwick, this included the airline's route to Australia. The 747 gave Air Caledonia the range to operate to Sydney with a single stop in Singapore, bringing an end to the airline's "Caledonian Hopper" services previously operated by the 707 with multiple stops in Africa and Asia, however, a few years later the Sydney service would be terminated due to lack of revenue.

Air Caledonia would later introduce the Boeing 747-200B into service come the late 80's, however by 1998 Air Caledonia was suffering significant losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy when a private investment firm stepped in and purchased the airline in a bid to turn it around, this brought about a complete restructuring of the airline, part of this restructuring would be the withdrawal of the 747 from service with the last flight operating in November of 1998 from New York JFK to London Gatwick Airport as flight ST101.