Laker's Skytrain - Disrupt the System

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/ @rorymacve
Hello all! :D
Truly a watershed moment in the history of modern aviation, the formation of the Laker Airways Skytrain service in 1977 was the point where the airline industry was opened up to the mass-market, providing passengers the opportunity to fly across the Atlantic from Europe to North America without being subject to the high fares of monopolising state carriers such as British Airways.
Unfortunately, the airline and its charismatic leader, Sir Freddie Laker, would garner huge opposition both before and after the start of Skytrain operations, with the established giants, as backed by the government, refusing to allow Laker to undercut their prime position on this lucrative market, with multiple firms conspiring to destroy the Skytrain within years of its establishment, thus leading to one of the most notorious scandals in aviation history.
Chapters:
0:00 - Preamble
1:00 - A Rising Star
4:38 - Policy Abuse
8:29 - Creating a New Market
12:13 - Laker Goes to War
16:31 - The Skytrain Rolls In
18:55 - Expanding the Brand
25:14 - Going in for the Kill
30:15 - Revivals and Legacy
33:36 - Conclusion
All video content and images in this production have been provided with permission wherever possible. While I endeavour to ensure that all accreditations properly name the original creator, some of my sources do not list them as they are usually provided by other, unrelated KZbinrs. Therefore, if I have mistakenly put the accreditation of 'Unknown', and you are aware of the original creator, please send me a personal message at my Gmail (this is more effective than comments as I am often unable to read all of them): [e-mail]
The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.
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Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D
References:
- Key Aero (and their respective references)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[@veryhappychappy12]

Our first proper holiday to Barbados in the very early eighties....All courtesy of Mr Laker. Thank you Sir, we could never have afforded 14 days there without you.

[@cavok76]

He wasn’t allowed to build a terminal at LAX, so he put up an inflatable building as a terminal.

[@Davids_DC-10]

An early morning coffee and a Ruairidh Mac Veigh Motion History video, hello Saturday.

[@fluffyfour]

At the time Laker went bust, I was working for a direct sell tour operator connected with Britannia. For us it was lucrative, as many of those affected decided to holiday in Europe instead. It was a sad thing at the same time, as Sir Freddie was known and loved as a people's champion, one who was able to highlight, and challenge, the ridiculous political and regulatory framework of the time, to the benefit of ordinary people who wanted to see the world beyond Europe. Well done Sir Freddie. Your airline was short-lived, but your legacy is permanent. Thank you for a great video.

[@dezzadiggler3693]

I wish I could add a thousand 'thumbs-up' to your comment. British Airways hated both Laker Airways and Virgin Atlantic. They despised competition; and waged a vindictive war against both fledgling airlines. (Allegedly helped with the influence of government support). Thatcher was well in on it; with her support from a 'Thatcherite' luvvy called 'Lord King'...Bast###ds...the lot of them...!

[@Sacto1654]

@@dezzadiggler3693 What finally ended Bermuda II was the European Court of Justice ruling that the agreement was extremely anticompetitive. That's why you have four US-based and two-UK based airlines now flying the very lucrative JFK-LHR route.

[@lrg3834]

You have to admire Sir Laker's indomitable spirit. I don't think any other airline magnate can hold a candle to him in that regard.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Magnate

[@lrg3834]

@@mirzaahmed6589 , thanks for the correction. For some reason my brain wrote the wrong word. I will make the correction now. What can I say? Getting older!!

[@MrPeteUK]

Mr poor old Dad, (Bert Coleman (RIP 1984)), worked at Gatwick for two airlines mentioned here. The first was Donaldson International Airways and when that firm collapsed he moved to Laker Airways. When Laker's shut down he'd just been made aircraft interiors and safety equipment manager... Before Donaldson's he worked for Morton Air Services also based at Gatwick. Those days I could ride my bycycle over to the Gatwick maintenance hangers and walk right in and nobody would bat an eye or try to stop me, indeed I became a bit of a fixture for a while as I was also a keen aircraft "spotter". At Morton's I was allowed to sit AND PLAY, (I was 10-14 years old in that period), in the cockpits of their DC3's and De Haviland "Doves". The Morton hanger was also where I first fell in love with the fantastic Lear Jet 24! Later when my Dad worked for Donaldsons as chief interior trimmer I and some other sons of the airline workers used to go in on overnight "casual labour" to transfer their convertible 707's between passenger and freight configurations, the pay was very good for a young lad! . On one occasion I was even allowed to ride "shotgun" driving a Houchin power plant vehicle protecting the port wing whilst being towed from the hanger to the terminal building! HAPPY DAYS! 😊

[@johnjephcote7636]

I remember those easier times when a spotter could wander around hangars and no one would challenge you. I remember little Panshangar and wandering around Luton's Napier facility, photographing their Lincoln (with Lancater nose). Also Redhill was a very open and interesting place.I have a photo of white Victors at readiness at Cottesmore taken across a single piece of barbed wire from a field footpath!

[@timwhittey4121]

Most airports were pretty relaxed in the past. It was well known amongst my 1970s plane spotter pals that it was possible to get down onto the airside tarmac from Bravo pier at Ringway. Totally unthinkable now! Even in the early 80s we were free to bring our private cars directly onto the airfield and park outside apron services to get a quick getaway after clocking off.

[@julian-vm5ec]

I remember Bert , used to ride a Puch Maxi moped ,not taxed 😂

[@Terry.W]

I had not realised so much of Lakers work involved politics ...but well done to the man a true innovator..

[@timwhittey4121]

I was a baggage handler at Manchester Ringway in the 1980s. Skytrain DC10s were the only wide body aircraft that didn't use standard baggage containers in the rear hold. Everything was loaded in manually via the mobile belt. I don't know the reason. I might hazard a guess that Freddie realised that he could save some weight by not using containers. Hopefully some one will know the answer. When the whole thing was wrapped up the last departing DC10 did a circuit and a runway pass, giving us a wing waggle to say goodbye. Nice touch that one. Almost brought a tear to my eye, even though they did try to do my back in humping all those bloomin' suitcases onboard!

[@normandy2]

My beautiful wife passed away in October. She was cabin crew with Laker for many years and was still doing it on the day the company ceased operations. She worked the 111 then was No1 on the Dc10. She loved working for the airline. Sadly all I now have are memories of the love of my life. Miss you baby. We will meet again one day. Love you xx

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

You missed one fascinating fact about Laker's operational style. He reduced the baggage allowance by 2kg and reduced the number of seats on the aircraft in order to carry more fuel, meaning that his break even point was reduced and he could fly further. He also got his pilots to climb quickly to operational altitude.

[@potatiochiple]

seeing this video released to the non members made my day

[@paulkita]

Why

[@potatiochiple]

@@paulkita i dunno actually.

[@atomdent]

God blessed Freddie laker. An awesome story, well documented!Bravo!

[@kennethrodmell9006]

I remember flying over Gatwick (with ATC clearance of course) in a Cessna 172 from nearby Biggin Hill and seeing the sad aftermath of the Laker collapse below. Laker planes were crammed into at huddle to make them occupy as little space as possible. A tangible and collective indignation at Laker's unfair treatment pervaded our tiny cockpit.

[@Dan_Gyros]

Dude is low key a legend, he walked so others could run. Probably one of the reasons the jet-set met its demise, and honestly, my hat off to him for it!

[@michaelclarke1792]

I flew to Toronto on Freddie’s Skytrain; it was the first time the fares were low enough for me to travel to Canada and the USA!

[@D.P.G]

I flew Laker to NY and LA in the late 70s early 80s. All tickets were one way (not popular with US immigration). To maximise aircraft capacity a ticket could only be bought for the next available non booked out flight, so regular phone calls to book or check for your preferred day had to be made. He done a great job to open up these otherwise unaffordable destinations to the masses.

[@mikeinnyc8559]

When I took Laker DC-10 from JFK to Gatwick in 1979, it seemed crazy that you could buy tickets for an upcoming flight only after previous flights were sold out making for a lot of unnecessary anxiety as your travel day approached. And then you had to report to some shopping center in Queens to check in rather than going directly to JFK. When it was time to come back, I booked my flight on British Airways and things were much simpler. Still, I am grateful to Sir Freddy for helping to break the airline monopolies.

[@D.P.G]

@@mikeinnyc8559 Yes, you couldn't book in advance, this was an attempt to maximise passenger occupancy on each flight, I suspect that many Laker passengers could be a bit flexible on their travel dates and that your BA tickets were much more expensive. I think there were restrictions on his use of airport facilities that maybe the cause of these odd check in arrangements.

[@user-yc2oz8kc5k]

Thank you Ruaridh for this great video. I had always wanted to know the history of Freddie Laker and I have to admire how much of a maverick he had to become in order to make a buck and also make flying affordable to most of us. His Knighthood was well deserved. RIP Sir Freddie Alfred Laker (1922 - 2006)

[@audacity60]

I flew from New York to London on Laker Skytrain's DC10 in 1981. I was sad to see the airline go bust in such an underhand way.

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

I remember in late 77, at a Monday college lecture in London, one girl coming in boasting of having had a weekend in NY courtesy of Skytrain - it was truly amazing at the time that such long distance flights could be that cheap. Bucket tickets on charter flights to the Med were no cheaper. The barriers put up by the flag carriers - including the effective US flag carriers - and the authorities to cheap and plentiful airline seats were beyond ridiculous. And one of the best actions by the EU in the 90s was the opening routes policy. Laker was a real pioneer and a prominent news item from initial Skytrain ops through to the 80s when he was still plugging away and getting Branson support. Another great vid

[@gregburville3368]

Wasn't British Airways involved in the hacking into Laker's reservation system and contacting passengers and advising them their flights had been cancelled? Was that the dirty tricks referred to?

[@tightcamper]

BA did that to Virgin. Virgin rather foolishly used BAs reservation system.

[@trevorhart545]

I think that BA was Illegally selling seats BELOW COST to undermine Laker on ONLY routes that Laker also had. Today that is punishable by a Fine of 100% World Annual Turnover of up to 3 years but rarely even a 100% of a single year. EU Legislation, i.e. the Competitions Act of 1998.

[@user-uc5um3io2j]

That's a crazy regulatory scheme. Just have a free market.

[@artureff3046]

And low taxes.

[@emaheiwa8174]

This man was a hero

[@scottlewisparsons9551]

There is a clip of.children at 3:19, in a rubber dinghy in a stream, only a few seconds long. I believe this is from the town of Heathrow before it was bulldozed to become Heathrow Airport. I saw it in a video about what Heathrow was like before it became a monster airport a couple of months ago. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@paulyoung7551]

Apparently, the first two DC-10s acquired by Laker Airways were part of a group of 5 meant to go to Mitsui, who were planning to lease them to All Nippon Airlines. But when ANA ultimately chose the TriStar over the DC-10, McDonnell Douglas then had to find new customers for these 5 DC-10-10s. Two went to Laker, the other three went to Turkish Airlines. One of the three DC-10s sold to Turkish Airlines would later crash in 1974 while flying Flight 981.

[@davidjohnson9684]

My first flight ever in 1980 was in a Laker DC-10. Fascinating story - one of your best. Thanks.

[@b.griffin317]

"Excess capacity...excess capacity" lol I love how the idea that too many people might be able to fly and see the world is a bad thing.

[@herseem]

I thick in richard branson's autobiography, IIRC, it said that Laker were relying on an operating profit of 40pence per seat. Also, you didn't mention that such was the public's good feeling towards Freddie Laker that when they went bust the public donated about £1m through collecting tins to help keep him going, a very unusual occurrence

[@VickersV]

I love this channel, just brilliant 👏

[@duncancurtis5108]

Mr Laker? We've got competition. Guess who? Giles BR satire 1977.

[@TheUtuber999]

I flew the Laker Skytrain DC-10 from LAX to LGW on 26-Oct-1979 as a teenager.

[@MrDastardly]

A really great presentation. Laker was unstoppable.

[@Sacto1654]

It was what British Airways and American Airlines tried to do to Virgin Atlantic--a tactic that worked against Laker Airways--that raised the ire of European regulators. The result was the phase out of the Bermuda II Agreement that was used to strangle Laker and nearly did so to Virgin.

[@emilyadams3228]

27:22 Re: the price-fixing used to destroy Laker (for reference, I live in Indiana, USA) In 1985, the big news in railroading was Ross Rowland's proposal of the ACE 3000. This was to be a modern, super-advanced, coal-fired steam locomotive of a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement, and featuring things like compound working; a condenser system; and computer monitoring and automation of lubrication, firing, and boiler water level. "ACE" stood for American Coal Enterprises, a consortium of coal companies formed by Rowland that would also include any railroads that signed on to finance a prototype, and "3000" stood for the drawbar horsepower of the engine, chosen as a design goal so as to directly compete with the popular GP40-2 and SD40-2 of EMD, and offer 1:1 replacement of these. In March 1986, in their April issue, Trains Magazine printed a full-page news article announcing that four railroads had financed a prototype: Burlington Northern, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and CSX. These were the largest coal-hauling roads in the States, and also consumers of enormous amounts of diesel fuel, so we all knew they'd be the first to sign up for the ACE 3000, if anyone actually did. (Today, UP is second only to the US Army in consumption of diesel fuel.) The whole American railfan world went nuts with joy over this. That is, except for me. I told my train shooter pals, "They'll never build one of those things." "[Protests of "yeah but BN and NS want one!" etc]" I said one more sentence that sobered them up, but only about 10%: "The oil companies will never let it happen." That was March. Regular 87 Octane gasoline was around $1.25/gallon in Northwest Indiana, where I lived. In April, from one day to the next, 87 gas dropped to $.65. At every company's every station, across the board. In August (September issue), Trains Magazine reported that all four roads had backed out of the ACE 3000 program. Keeping in mind that the lead time of a magazine was two months, from sending the finished layout to the press to the newsstand/your mailbox, that meant that it only took two months for the oil industry to destroy the ACE 3000. On the Saturday after I got the September 1986 issue of Trains, I went to our train shooter breakfast with it open to the news page and slammed it down on the table. "What'd I tell you?" Nevertheless, the oil industry kept 87 gas at $.65 til October, just to display the insane lengths to which they were prepared to go to get what they want. Kinda like in 1955, when the Pennsylvania Railroad was thinking of buying 100 AS616's from Baldwin, so they wouldn't go out of business. When Electro-Motive Division (of GM) found out, they offered PRR a special deal on 200 GP9's instead, so PRR bought the 9's. One account I read years ago said EMD barely broke even on that order, and another said they actually lost money. But they knew it would pay off when this caused Baldwin to quit the business, which they did in 1956. Or like when GE decided to build full-sized road units for the American market in 1959, and suddenly Alco, who had used GE electrical equipment since their first boxcab switchers of 1925, was paying four times as much for the same gear. Alco quit the locomotive business in 1969.

[@scottlewisparsons9551]

Thank you for another great video. From Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@theirishvideos]

Thank you so much for compiling and showing this video. I always admired Freddie Laker, he was a very astute man. If you ever want a follow up to this, Highland express ran by a Mr Randolph Fields would make very interesting viewing as well.

[@auntbarbara5576]

Thank you Rory dear. Aunt Barbara adores you!

[@charlesmoss8119]

Gosh I had no idea how hard he fought - not least aga8nst the government!!

[@afoolandhismoneychannel]

Governments... a necessary evil, or just evil?

[@kevinheard8364]

An absolutely fabulous video... Kudos to you..... sincerely a great job

[@1951GL]

Being wrong with capital trumped being right without capital. Laker was a buccaneer who saw giving people what they could afford as an opportunity. Laker's hostesses were the best dressed too!

[@None-zc5vg]

The plane seen landing at 3:04 is a Junkers 90, a prewar German airliner that saw very little post-war service (and none with British operators).

[@stephenholland5930]

Looks like an SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc to me.

[@lbennhtx6072]

This is interesting as hell!

[@KrulliKlikk]

About half the clips have the wrong aspect ratio (stretched/distorted)

[@49commander]

Another great interesting video!! I still find Low Cost and Flying such an oxymoron! Planes are so expensive to operate and maintain that razor thin margins mean certain doom if they can't keep planes almost 100% full year round!

[@mburland]

A lot of the og VS people came directly ftom Laker.

[@Sacto1654]

I think Virgin Atlantic offering multi-class service on their 747's made it an attractive alternative to British Airways.

[@Foxbat1155]

05:00 PHWOAR

[@bill2066]

I thought this was the plane that transported the LA Lakers...lolzz

[@mo8755]

Free Market my foot

[@shopmobgm]

Great video, shame about the dropping voice over audio every few words

[@macjim]

Haven’t you already covered Laker or is this another one of your re-visited videos that you’ve been posting lately… still interested but

[@kineticdeath]

I believe it was the car bridge thing as well as at least one of the laker airplane types - this laker dude seems to have had his finger in all the pies

[@RedArrow73]

6:26 - Is this a Conway-equipped 707?

[@stephenholland5930]

Nope, those are JT3D engines.

[@GrandadTinkerer]

Playground bullies.

[@billwendell6886]

Note flyers in their Sunday best. Now on the cheap airlines it your ghetto best.

[@juliogonzo2718]

I fly budget airlines whenever possible but you are 100% correct lmao it's like a greyhound with wings

[@musiqtee]

Blimey, first Laker flight 6m 3d after my birthday in ‘66… Dang, I’ve actually lived in the vintage era of a UK conservative government (and airplanes)…😂

[@maxthelab8457]

One of the first foreign holidays I had as a young boy was to Majorca in 1971 or 2, and we flew on a Donaldson 707 from Gatwick Airport. I also flew in 1973 or 1974 can't quite remember on a Laker DC10 when I was taken to the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget.

[@giselasilva5415]

However... 😁

[@22pcirish]

The major influence to Richard Branson and the formation of the Virgin Airline.

[@colinm7374]

Great topic but the dialogue is so monotonous (AI generated??)

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

So, Sir Freddie Laker was named after something or someone called Sir Freddie Laker. Eponymous refers to something named after someone or something else, meaning you don't need eponymous when referring to Sir Freddie Laker, but you do when referring to his Laker Airways.

[@htimsid]

e.g. eponymous, adjective: of, relating to, or being the person or thing for whom or which something is named / of, relating to, or being an eponym (merriam-webster) etc.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@htimsid or in clearer terms: Eponymous is an adjective that refers to the person, place, or thing that something else is named after or it also refer to the thing that is named after something else. Which means you don't use it when referring to the person a after which other things are named. You can refer to Laker Airways as being eponymously named but not Sir Freddie Laker being eponymously named unless his father had the same name.

[@timothyseabrook1584]

it was the dangerous american aircraft engineers using fork lift trucks to fit rngines on to the wings of DC-10s that when the engine slsmmed up into the mountings it caused them to crack so thst under thecstrsin of a take off thevengine broke off theceing causing the aircraft to crash this grounded all DC-10s until the gash working practices were found out neaning that all of freddie Laker’s aircraft were grounded this meant thst sll the passengers had to be put up in hotels until the grounding was lifted a similar thing alnmodtcsent virgin Atlantic to the wall in 2002 after 9/11 president bush closed US Airspace making all virgin Atlantic flights to US destinations land in Newfoundland wherecall the passengers had to be put up in hotels intil president bush lifted yhe grounding. I had just bought a new hose in manchedter snd was suddrnly out of work! fortunately aI got snother job at stansted Airport with an american air cargo airline provided Inpassed an american aircraft engineering Qualification

[@ThePsiclone]

3:19 ye gods, get those unsupervised kids out of the water immediately!! No life jackets, no hard hats, goggles, safety boots or Hi-Vis vest...WHAT were they thinking????

[@-TheRealChris]

Still totally normal all around the world, your not a victim, get over yourself.

[@ThePsiclone]

Did you hear that "whooosh"?

[@VickersV]

😂

[@scottlewisparsons9551]

Those kids were in a recent video that I watched about Heathrow before the town was taken over to become a huge airport. Therefore, probably taken in the 1950s when children were allowed to do what they liked.

[@enisra_bowman]

@@scottlewisparsons9551 and then they become lunatics and didn't allow their children and grandchildren to go out to the end of the street, let alone to the school not that their own behaviour stop them from whining that the kids don't go outside these days >_>

[@ianjones7488]

wrong intonation for a documentary. It's not a news bulletin.

[@derektaylor2941]

A good reason why AI voices should never be used on youtube. Sadly unwatchable.

[@macjim]

One of the side effects of all this cheap airline fares was an increase in flights around the world, which has been one of the causes of global warming from the pollution from those aircraft used. The pandemic has ironically helped to reduce those flights and had a lasting change in there being less airliners flying. Its been noticeable where I live that there are less traffic flying into Glasgow airport as I live under one of the approach routes into, and out of, Glasgow. I suspect, due to the pandemic, people will now holiday closer to home rather than travel abroad as covid is still present as one of my friends found out after holidaying abroad… they caught COVID either while on their holiday or during the flight home.

[@FortuneZer0]

Everytime I see one of these videos, the lesson is always dont invest in Britain when condition Labour = exists.

[@22pcirish]

Your gentle reminder that currently British debt is about £2.7 TRILLION, under a Tory government that has borrowed more than EVERY labour government put together.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Enforcing national laws and international agreements is not overreach.

[@MirkoC407]

If governments do it, it is law. If private companies do it, it's a cartel. Or as someone once wrote "all are equal, but some are more equal than others"

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@MirkoC407 and what was happening with Laker in regard to the checks to ensure the charter rules were not being breached was law enforcement.

[@MirkoC407]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Luckily it would not happen today, because meanwhile international courts or national ones that do not speak only existing law but also reject "unlawful law" exist and would tell those cartel-governments that they are not entitled to write law to the sole purpose of protecting their for-profit business against competition. It needed unfortunately victims like Laker to reach this point.

[@htimsid]

But the inference is that it is interference.

[@MirkoC407]

@@htimsid Correct - both ways. Private companies interfering with laws and regulations, overstretching loopholes due to overly restrictive laws. And these governments interfering with the free market to use their monopoly for making rules that protect their for-profit operations and push private operators out of the market or grant only enough potential so that one of them can survive as a fig-leaf competitor, like generously leaving 6% of the North Atlantic market to BCal so there is some "competiton" for the 94% operated by BA.

[@miquel440]

Not a bad doku but that voice over.. Can.t listen to that for more than 5 minutes. AI nonsense. It.s getting way out of hand. Good doku,s but those fake voice overs.. Pathetic.

[@-TheRealChris]

It's not AI, he's been doing these vids since before AI voice-overs came along, it's how he talks.

[@mo8755]

Free Market my foot