EAST ANGLIAN FLYING SERVICES, LTD.: United Kingdom (1946-1962). RAF Squadron Leader R. J. “Jack” Jones purchases three de Havilland DH 80A Puss Moths and an Airspeed AS.5A Courier in January 1946. On August 16, EAFS is registered as a nonscheduled airline and Puss Moth joyrides are provided during the summer.
On January 5, 1947, Jones’s concern becomes the first tenant at the new Southend Airport. In February, a new Miles M.57 Aerovan 4 is delivered, allowing the new carrier to undertake ad hoc charter flights on June 1. Destinations flown include southern Italy, Greece, and Cyprus. A Percival Proctor 1 and an Auster J/1 Autocrat are added in July.
When the Courier is retired at year’s end, four DH 89As are purchased surplus from the RAF in January 1948. One of these is employed to launch charter flights, beginning on March 25, for summer vacationers and joyriders. In July, Jones is granted a British European Airways Corporation (BEA) associate agreement to fly a scheduled Southend-Rochester route.
In the spring of 1949, the carrier opens service Southend-Ostend via Lympne. On May 3, the Aerovan is destroyed in a Lympne crash. It is replaced by the July purchase of a Percival Proctor 4. Meanwhile, two DH 89As are sold in June.
Another British European Airways Corporation (BEA) associate agreement is obtained in 1950, allowing start-up of scheduled Southend-Jersey operations.
Financial disaster strikes the company in 1951, leading to 90% layoffs and the suspension of all scheduled flights. The Proctor 1 is sold in August. Although new scheduled services are authorized, the cash flow situation allows only charter and joyride services.
The company is reformed, somewhat, in early 1952. Airline employment is six (three pilots) and services are opened from Southend to Jersey and Ostend in the spring. The Autocrat is sold in October. At the end of the summer season, the workforce totals 13.
In January 1953, the carrier receives approval to open flights from Ipswich to Jersey via Southend, Rochester, and Shoreham, from Southend, Shoreham, and Jersey to Paris, and Shoreham to Dieppe. These and various charters require the addition of another Dragon Rapide in May. Additional new routes, authorized in October, are Ipswitch-Calais via Southend, and Southend-Antwerp. In December, four Percival Proctor 4s are purchased from the RAF (they will not enter service).
Passenger boardings for the year are 6,512 and the payroll is increased by 12 employees.
In the spring of 1954 the company leases Ipswich Airport from the Ipswich Corporation, which had held it privately. Ipswich-Southend flights begin during the summer, connecting with the company’s previous scheduled services. New frequencies are offered Portsmouth-Sandown and Shoreham-Le Touquet.
To provide additional capacity, three de Havilland DH 104 Dove1Bs are purchased from West African Airways Corporation, the first arriving in November.
Bookings for the year are even; however, the staff is increased to 30.
The second two Doves enter service in May 1955 and new routes are opened Shoreham-Isle of Wight and from Ipswich-Calais via Southend. On October 1, a new scheduled de Havilland DH 104 Dove 1B route is opened from Southend to Rotterdam.
During the first quarter of 1957, four more Dove IBs are added. In addition, the first of two Bristol 170 Mk. 21 Freighters to be delivered during the year is acquired in April. In October, a Dove 1B is sold and the lone Percival Proctor 4 is withdrawn.
Airline employment grows to 60 and enplanements total 30,000.
On January 15, 1958, a Dove 1B is lost in a crash at Dungeness. In March and May, two Vickers Vikings join the fleet. In addition to the normal cross-Channel operations, the company begins, on April 2, a coach air service from London to Paris, with the flight segment being Southend to Le Touquet.
Another Viking is purchased in January 1959, expanding capacity for the summer routes. A weekly Manchester-Ostend inclusive-tour is started on May 19. During July, a DH 89A is sold.
A Vickers 614 Viking 1, with 3 crew and 36 passengers, is wrecked in a bad landing at Southend Airport on July 28; there are no fatalities.
Three Douglas DC-3s join the fleet during the first half of 1960. They join the Vikings on regular services, as well as inclusive-tour flights to Ostend and Basel. In July, freighter charters are inaugurated to Belfast. In cooperation with Southdown Motor Services, coach-air service is started from London to the Channel Islands, with the flight portion beginning at Shoreham or Portsmouth. In June, a DH 89A and a Dove 1B are sold.
During the second quarter of 1961, three more DC-3s are delivered and are placed on the Channel Islands runs. In August, another Dove 1B is sold.
In mid-April 1962, a DC-4 is purchased from the former U. S. freight line Riddle Airlines.
On May 6, a DC-3 with 3 crew and 15 passengers crashes at St. Boniface Down on the Isle of Wight (12 dead). In May and June, two additional DC-3s are acquired.
On October 25, the carrier is officially renamed Channel Airways, Ltd.
EASTASIAAIRLINES (PTY.), LTD.: 13th Floor, V. Huen Building, 138 Queens Rd., C, Hong Kong; Phone 2-8152789; Fax 2-8430342; Http://www. helihongkong. com/eaahome. htm; Year Founded 1989.
East Asia Airlines (Pty), Ltd. is established at Hong Kong by local entrepreneur Dr. Stanley Ho in the fall of 1989 to offer scheduled, roundtrip rotary-wing passenger and light cargo flights between Hong Kong and Macau. Majority ownership in the new entrant is held by Shun Tak Enterprises, which operates a jetfoil and ferry service to Macau, and is part of the STDM group of companies. Minority owners include Japan’s Chiyoda Trading Company, Ltd. and Royal Japan Airlines, Ltd., which contracts with Royal Koku to operate flights when they commence. Paul Wakeford is named CEO, with Kenichi Miyagawa as chief pilot. Route authority is requested of the territory’s government.
In January 1990, it is learned that scheduled service to the Hong Kong heliport, located on the ferry-terminal building, will not be possible because local authorities choose not to license the heliport for such flights. Charter frequencies to the heliport are, however, approved. In March, the Hong Kong government reverses itself and approves use of the heliport on the ferry terminal for scheduled flights. Plans are made, but later delayed, to launch service in June employing a Bell 222 acquired from
Royal Japan Airlines, Ltd.
Following a traditional Chinese ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 21 on the eve of a traditional Macao festival, six-times-per-day roundtrip revenue flights commence across the mouth of the Pearl River Delta employing a pair of Bell 222s, the first ever aircraft registered in Macau. The price of a ticket for the 18 min., one-way flight from the downtown business district of Hong Kong to the Macau Marine Terminal is HK$100.
A third Bell 222 is acquired in the spring of 1991.
Flights continue as before in 1992-1993. The relatively expansive tickets continue to be purchased as those who employ them usually are seeking entertainment at Macau’s most popular tourist attraction, its gambling casinos.
In September 1994, in order to take advantage of the traveling patterns of Macau’s gamblers, the company changes its schedule. The number of frequencies is increased to one per hour during daylight.
The helicopter line continues to provide its shuttle service between Hong Kong and Macau in 1995, placing orders for three Sikorsky S-76C+s to eventually replace its Bell 222s. In November, business and general aviation aircraft are banned from Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport, being forced to land at Macau. As a result, the carrier’s helicopters increase the number of charters from that destination to downtown Hong Kong and back.
In May 1996, the Hong Kong to Macau shuttle frequency becomes every-half-hour and night flights are added. Enplanements this year reach 40,000.
In 1997, 28 daily roundtrips are flown between the downtown business district of Hong Kong and Macau’s Marine Terminal.
On July 1, the British colony of Hong Kong is turned over to the People’s Republic of China. The three new S-76C+s arrive in October, decked out in new livery.
The workforce at year’s end totals 80 and enplanements for the year again exceed 40,000.
The company continues to expand in 1998 and by year’s end, EAA is the largest helicopter company in the Pearl River Delta region.
Airline employment at the beginning of 1999 stands at 110. Early in the year, the company is taken over by Hong Kong-based Heli Hong Kong, Ltd. , which operates the senior carrier as an affiliate and acquires one of its three S-76C+s.
A total of 110 workers area employed at the beginning of 2000. The company remains the largest helicopter operator in the Pearl River Delta region.
EAST COAST AIRWAYS, LTD.: New Zealand (1935-1938). Formed to save travelers a 100-mile drive around Hawkes Bay, East Coast Airways, Ltd. is founded at the North Island town of Gisborne in the early spring of 1935. Equipped with two de Havilland DH 84 Dragons christened Huia and Tui, the company begins twice-daily return flights to Napier on April 16.
Following completion of a railway between the two destinations in 1936, the carrier transfers its southern terminus to Palmerston North, connecting there with Union Airways of New Zealand, Ltd.
Service is maintained in 1937 and on January 11, 1938, the twice-weekly Gisborne-Napier-Palmerston North frequency to Wanganui. On July 1, the company is taken over by Union Airways, Ltd.
EAST COAST AVIATION SERVICES. See EXECUTIVE AIRLINES (4)
EAST COAST COMMUTER: United States (1963-1970). ECC is
Set up at Cambridge, Maryland, in the fall of 1963 to operate scheduled passenger and cargo services as a subsidiary of East Coast Air Taxi, Inc. Employing a Cessna 310, the commuter inaugurates daily roundtrips on November 12, linking its base with Baltimore, Washington, Salisbury, Wallops Station, and Ocean City.
Operations continue apace during the remainder of the decade and the fleet is enhanced by the addition of several additional Cessna 310s and a Cessna 402. Operations cease in 1970.
EAST COAST COMMUTER AIRLINES (PTY.), LTD.: Australia (1980-1986). In early 1980, two small regional airlines, Air Eastland (Pty.), Ltd. and New England Airways (Pty.), Ltd. are merged at Tam-worth to form this new entrant. FAST Airlines, Ltd. is absorbed in July. The large regional carrier East-West Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. holds 26% shareholding. The initial fleet comprises 1 Britten-Norman BN-2A Trislander, 4 Cessna 404s, 2 Cessna 402s, 1 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, 1 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, 2 Piper PA-23 Aztecs, 1 Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche, 2 Cessna 210s, and 2 Cessna 150s.
Scheduled passenger services are undertaken to a variety of destinations in New South Wales, Queensland, and southeastern Australia. The carrier shares 10 east to west services per week to Bathurst, Orange, Parkes, and Cowra in New South Wales.
Over the next three years, the company upgrades its fleet by adding three Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirantes and another Cessna 404. Additional destinations visited include Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Coffs Harbour, Cootamundra, Cowra, Grafton, Lismore, Maitland, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Sydney, Tamworth, Taree, Temora, West Wyalong, and Young in New South Wales; Brisbane and Coolangatta in Queensland; and Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.
In 1986, Managing Director John C. Roworth’s company is renamed Eastern Australia Airlines (Pty.), Ltd.
EAST COAST FLIGHT SERVICES: 9415 Jet Lane, Unit 5, Easton, Maryland 21601, United States; Phone (410) 820-6633; Fax (410) 820-7568; Year Founded 1990. East Coast Flight Services is established at Easton-Newman Field in Maryland during 1990 to operate executive and small group passenger charters to Baltimore (BWI), Washington, D. C. (lAD), Philadelphia, and New York (JFK).
By 2000, the company employs 14 pilots and operates 2 Dassault Falcon 10s and 1 each Falcon 20, Cessna 500 Citation I, C-550 Citation II, Beech Super King Air 200, and Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain.
World History
