British Caledonian in The 1970s - Beginning of The Widebody Era

Beginning of The Widebody Era

Following an exhaustive, three-week evaluation of the Boeing 747, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar during the summer of 1976, BCal chose the DC-10 as the wide-bodied aircraft best suited to serve its expanding long-haul route network. The airline placed a US$70 million order for two long-range series 30 aircraft with an option on another two. To ensure an early delivery, the company took over a delivery slot for two aircraft that had originally been booked by China Airlines.

BCal made its wide-body debut on 13 March 1977, when the first of the two DC-10s on firm order arrived at the airline's Gatwick base from Prestwick at the end of a delivery flight from the manufacturer's plant in Long Beach, California. This occasion marked the first time a widebodied aircraft wore the company's livery.

The aircraft, which was configured in a 265-seat, two-class layout, entered commercial service on BCal's busy West African trunk routes to Nigeria and Ghana later the same month, replacing the airline's Boeing 707 narrowbodies on six of the seven weekly services on these routes.

The second aircraft, which arrived at Gatwick in early May of that year, was initially configured in a 295-seat, single-class layout. It entered service later that month on BCal's Advance Booking Charter (ABC) routes to the US and Canada. The aircraft was re-configured in the airline's contemporary, 265-seat, two-class scheduled layout at the end of the summer period. It replaced Boeing 707s on two of BCal's three weekly South Atlantic schedules to Brazil, Argentina and Chile, as well as on one of the company's two weekly mid-Atlantic schedules to Venezuela, Colombia and Peru from the beginning of the 1977/78 winter timetable period.

The DC-10's superior operating economics enabled BCal to operate the aircraft non-stop from Buenos Aires to Gatwick with a viable payload.

Although the introduction of the DC-10 resulted in a huge increase in BCal's long-haul passenger and cargo capacity, the actual loads exceeded the airline's forecasts and helped it grow its traffic volumes on its scheduled services to West Africa and South America.

BCal was so pleased with the DC-10's performance that it decided to convert both of the options it had taken when placing the original order for two aircraft during 1976 into firm orders for delivery in autumn 1978 and spring 1979 respectively. However, a subsequent strike at the manufacturer's Long Beach plant meant that McDonnell Douglas could not honour the delivery schedule on which it had agreed with BCal. This necessitated the temporary lease of a Boeing 747-100 from Aer Lingus. The aircraft, which wore a slightly modified BCal livery, was operating the Gatwick—Houston schedule during the 1978/79 winter timetable period to cover for the late delivery of the airline's third DC-10.