British Caledonian in the 1970s (original) (raw)

British Caledonian (BCal) came into being in November 1970 when the Scottish charter airline Caledonian Airways, at the time Britain's second-largest, wholly privately owned, independent airline, took over British United Airways (BUA), then the largest British independent airline as well as the United Kingdom's leading independent scheduled carrier. The rapid expansion of British Caledonian suffered a temporary setback during the recession following in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. This undermined its financial stability during its formative years and threatened its survival at that stage.