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it was business as usual . Eagle acquired two Boeing 707s on the basis of being awarded scheduled authority between the UK and New York but , yet again , BOAC protested and the license was rescinded , making the jets largely redundant .
Despite enjoying a 15 % share of Bermuda-New York traffic , Cunard was disappointed at its partner ’ s inability to further penetrate the North American market . In this climate and unbeknown to Bamberg , Cunard chose to throw in its lot with the better prospects offered by Eagle ’ s nemesis . The result was the formation of BOAC-Cunard in June 1962 , which took over all of Eagle ’ s Bermudan operations from September .
Recovering from this major setback , Bamberg and his associates began re-purchasing Cunard ’ s holdings of Eagle stock . In September 1963 , refocusing towards European and domestic routes , the airline was retitled British Eagle International .
Having already withdrawn the last of its aging Vikings late in 1962 , Eagle needed a new , more modern fleet to fulfil this
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new direction . Fortunately , BOAC was disposing of its fleet of Bristol Britannias ; Eagle quickly purchased two aircraft in November to help service newly awarded domestic routes linking London ( Heathrow ) with Belfast , Glasgow , and Edinburgh , now in direct competition with the other state carrier , British European Airways ( BEA ). |
A difficult year ended with a loss of £ 80,000 ( US $ 224,000 ), but the future started to look more promising when , in November 1963 , Eagle signed a cooperation agreement with another substantial independent carrier , Starways of Liverpool . In reality , this was a takeover , gaining Eagle important domestic routes including Liverpool to London , Cork , Edinburgh , and Glasgow . The new operation became British Eagle ( Liverpool ) in January 1964 and to fulfil these new commitments several more Viscounts were added to the fleet .
Starways ’ existing holiday charter commitments were covered by the purchase of three DC-4s from Saudi Arabian Airlines , but they only operated for a single season before being
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sold . Nevertheless , Eagle was able to capitalize on the growing demand for summer flights to tourist destinations . New routes were initiated in 1964 to popular vacation regions in France , Germany , Italy , and Spain , bringing the scheduled network total to 32 routes from seven British cities .
Eagle added 10 more Britannias to its fleet in the first six months of 1964 , becoming the largest operator of the type . Two were converted to quick-change passenger / freighters , capable of carrying 132 passengers or 36,000lb ( 16,329kg ) of cargo . The airline soon placed them on the Australia military contract , lightening the load of the remaining DC-6 , which was struggling to keep up with demand . With its added Britannias , Eagle was awarded a new three-year Ministry of Defense ( MoD ) contract for regular flights to Singapore and Hong Kong , carrying about 28,000 military personnel and their families each year .
Military contract flights remained Eagle ’ s most lucrative source of income . When
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14 15 Eagle began transatlantic operations in 1960 , the same year that the Cunard Line obtained a controlling interest in the company . Timetables from July 1960 and April 1961 illustrate the recasting of Eagle Airways as Cunard Eagle Airways . // DAVID H . STRINGER COLLECTION
16 Wearing full Cunard Eagle livery , Britannia G-ARKA rests on the ramp at Luxembourg in 1962 . // PAUL ZOGG COLLECTION ( ZOGGAVIA )
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