HUNTING AIR TRANSPORT, LTD. (HAT): United Kingdom (1951-1953). With a staff of 150, a fleet comprising 8 Vickers Vikings and 1 Douglas DC-3, and significantly increased business, Hunting Air Travel, Ltd. is renamed in August 1951. During the remainder of the year, the carrier flies those contracts initiated by its predecessor as well as replacement flights on behalf of British European Airways Corporation (BEA) and Air France.
On February 16, 1952, HAT suffers its first fatal accident when a Viking, christened A. C. Greta, with 5 crew and 26 passengers, crashes into Mt. Rose, near Burgio, Sicily; there are no survivors. A second DC-3 is acquired at the end of February.
Employing Vikings and in association with Airwork, Ltd., the carrier launches joint, weekly Colonial Coach and Safari services, London-Nairobi via Malta and Cairo from its Bovingdon base on June 14. A advanced model Viking is purchased late in the month and leased to Aer Lingus Irish Airlines, Ltd. for the summer.
The workforce is now 200 and a total of 37,103 passengers are transported on the year.
Two Avro Yorks are purchased in January 1953, but never enter service. Government permission is granted in February allowing the company to operate twice-weekly Safari flights to Africa for a period of seven years. Additional licenses are now also received allowing start-up of scheduled services from Newcastle to destinations in Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, and the U. K. As a result, four additional DC-3s are acquired during the second quarter.
The new scheduled international services are introduced: daily Newcastle to Glasgow and London (Bovingdon) and thrice-weekly Newcastle to Paris, Luxembourg and Basle on May 2 and thrice-weekly Newcastle to Amsterdam and Dusseldorf on May 25.
Joint Safari service, in cooperation with Airwork, Ltd., is extended to Salisbury, Rhodesia, on June 26 via Nice, Malta, Mersa Matruh, Wadi Halfa, Khartoum, Juba, Entebbe, Tabora, Ndola, and Lusaka. The company’s international network provides the resume necessary for HAT to become, in July, the first independent ever admitted to the ranks of IATA.
In the two years since its award, the Malta and Gibraltar war office’s trooping contract has witnessed the transport by HAT aircraft of 75,333 personnel. In October, it is renewed for an additional two-year period. Also in October, the Clan Line shipping combine purchases an interest in Hunting Air Transport, Ltd.
The Hunting and Clan groups jointly form Hunting-Clan Air Holdings, Ltd., with capitalization of ?1 million (?500,00 each). The new concern acquires all Hunting Air Transport shares, together with equipment, facilities, and the associated Field Aircraft Services, with the airline division being renamed Hunting-Clan Air Transport, Ltd.
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