MIDDLE EAST AIRLINES

M.E.A. was formed in 1945 and it was assisted by Pan American up to 1955. Like Kuwait Airways the airline became associated with BOAC. In August 1961 the Corporation sold its shares to M.E.A. and from then on the airline was an independent operator.

In March 1960 the Chairman of the airline - Sheikh Najib Alamuddin - announced an order of four Comets (4Cs) and, in so doing, ended a period of heated argument and debate over the airlines future.

As a BOAC associate company its financial affairs were of public record in Britain. M.P.s had been very critical of the airline and considered its 'drastic losses' to be unacceptable.

Some £6 million had been pumped into the carrier because, as Sir George Cribbett, when Chairman of BOAC said,

"it has a very important role to play in the Middle East because these Arab countries are tending more and more to make it difficult for us, as a corporation, to acquire traffic rights."

At this time BOAC owned 49% of M.E.A. shares. The Corporation had invested £5 million in the airline and the remainder of the Corporations financial input had been put into the engineering division MASCO.

MASCO was later merged into M.E.A. so that the airline could undertake its own maintenance. The Sheikh had wanted Comets and through the Corporation had approached Her Majesty's Treasury for their approval the Treasury delayed its decision a number of times.

Eventually the Sheikh lost patience and told them that if approval was not forthcoming, within 7 days, he would sever the associate agreement and would go elsewhere and buy Caravelles or Convair 600s. Approval was speedily given. The purchase price of £5.25 million was guaranteed by the British carrier at the request of de Havilland.

M.E.A. operated Comet 4Cs. They were known as the 'Cedar Jets' on account of the symbol of the Cedar of Lebanon which appeared on the tail.

Their first Comet was initially allocated the registration OD-ADK however this registration was not taken up and it was registered OD-ADR. This aircraft was delivered on 15^th December 1960 - Sheikh Najib having flown over to Hatfield to accept the aircraft on behalf of M.E.A. and he was aboard the Comet on its homeward flight to Beirut. Two months later the second aircraft was handed over (15.2.61) registered OD-ADQ and in March 1961 two more 4Cs joined the fleet; OD-ADS on the 14^th and OD-ADT on the 18^th.

Before taking delivery of their own aeroplanes, from November 1960, M.E.A. chartered two Comet services from BOAC on the Beirut to London and Dhahran. These charters were operated in order to assess operational procedures. Temporary M.E.A. marking were used on the aircraft for this relatively short-term lease (it lasted until March 1961).

With their own aircraft M.E.A. planned to operate daily services to London from Beirut - the non-stop flight taking 4½ hours. M.E.A. also served many other destinations in the area and had routes to Cairo, Ankara, Istanbul, Athens, Nicosia, Vienna, Geneva, Frankfurt, Rome, Aleppo, Jeddah and Aden, Pakistan and India.

Utilization rates were very good - the Comet proving a great success. As a result of this there was, it was rumoured, the possibility that M.E.A. may buy two more 4Cs - in fact negotiation must have been at an advanced stage because two airframes c/n 6476 and 6477 were allocated to them by de Havilland.

The orders were not followed through because of further financial difficulties. Instead M.E.A. leased Kuwait Airways aircraft to boost their capacity. Incidentally one of these allocated aircraft G-AROV appeared at the Farnborough Airshow in September 1961 fully painted in M.E.A. livery! 

Being an area of the world subject to extreme tension and frequent conflict the United Nations had been called upon to station troops in the area as a peace-keeping force. In November 1961 M.E.A. was asked to use its Comets to help move 1,500 Scandinavian troops of the U.N. emergency force from Beirut to Oslo and Copenhagen. On the return flight an equivalent number of fresh troops were returned to the Lebanese capital.

'Fastest to Beirut' was a headline appearing in the press in June 1963 heralding M.E.A's efforts to capture some more of the traffic between London and the Middle East, India and Pakistan. Middle East Air Liban (M.E.A.L.- with which M.E.A. had operating arrangements) had announced that from June 7^th it was going to operate a once a week Comet 4C service between London and Beirut. It would leave London every Friday at 11.00 a.m. (local time) - the same time as their other daily flights to Beirut which were routed via Frankfurt, Geneva or Rome. M.E.A. promised it would be 'the fastest service between the U.K. and Lebanon'. The non-stop flight was scheduled to connect, within two hours, with their Comet flights bound for Kuwait, Karachi, Bombay, Dhahran and Bahrein.

The success of this strategy was to be seen the following April when results for the previous half year were announced. The Comet had been very successful and M.E.A. had increased their flights to London, and those routed via Geneva and were actually taking business off Boeing 707s and DC8s. Again the prospect of buying Comet arose. Sheikh Najib expressed the opinion that if they wanted more Comets they would obtain them. They did not think the Trident had any great advantage over a well amortized Comet, he said,

"the cost of operating the Comet was a little higher but was definitely compensated for by their excellent performance."

In November 1965 M.E.A. expanded when it merged with Air Liban. The new company was known as M.E.A. Airliban. Further expansion came in 1969 with the absorption of Lebanese International.

A sudden and totally unexpected loss occurred in December 1968. On the 28^th there was an Israeli commando attack on Beirut international Airport in revenge for a Palestinian attack on an El Al Boeing 707 at Athens. Many aircraft were deliberately destroyed on the ground by the Commandos including 3 Comets (OD-ADR, 'ADQ and 'ADS), a new Boeing 707, a leased VC 10, two Caravelles and a Viscount. Also badly affected were Lebanese International Airlines (who lost a leased Convair 990 and a DC-7) and Trans Mediterranean Airways (who lost a DC-4 and DC-6A).

Fortunately the aircraft were fully insured with Lloyds of London and all but 3% of the losses were recovered. During this difficult time M.E.A. leased all three Kuwait Airways Comets (which coincidentally were being phased out of service - see above).

By 1973 all M.E.A. Comet operations had ceased. The loss of the three Comets in the Israeli attack came at a time when the Comets were beginning to loose their pecuniary advantage. Having leased Kuwaiti Comets for the short term it was decided it was time to re-equip with more modern aircraft. The remaining Comet 4C was sold to Dan-Air In October 1973 but was actually never flown by them.

 MEXICANA

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Compania Mexicana de Aviacion was founded 12^th July 1921 to carry pay-roll gold from Tampico to the oil fields in the state of Veracruz. On 20^th August 1924 the title of the company was changed to Mexicana (Compañia Mexicana de Aviación de CV). Originally Pan American owned 100% of the Company but in stages (by November 1961) their holding was gradually reduced to zero.

The airline provided scheduled passenger services between Mexico and Los Angeles, Denver, Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago and Miami. It also operated to San Juan (Puerto Rico), Kingston (Jamaica) and Havana. Mexicana also operated domestic services to 22 cities within Mexico.

Mexicana had the distinction of being the first carrier to purchase and operate the Comet Mk.4C. Three were ordered initially at cost of $14 million including spares, the order being placed on 30^th October 1959. The three were eventually to receive Mexican registrations - XA-NAR known as the 'Golden Aztec' and XA-NAS and XA-NAT. It was intended that the 4C's would replace DC7C's on international routes. Right from the beginning there were high hopes in Hatfield of further Comet sales. It was rumoured that at one point negotiations for the sale of more aircraft were at an advanced stage.

Perhaps the deciding factor, finance aside, in Mexicana's choice of the Comet its exceptional field performance characteristics. These were ably demonstrated when a Mk.4 (G-APDA) visited Mexico City Airport in September 1958 during the Company's American sales tour. Mexico City Airport is at an altitude of 7,300ft (2237m) and endures high ambient temperatures for much of the year.

The first Mk.4C to fly at Hatfield flew on the 31.10.59. This aeroplane had been temporarily registered G-APMD by the Company. Being the first Comet to require certification for operation within the United States sphere of influence (Federal Aviation Authority being the relevant Certification Authority) it was necessary to get F.A.A. approval. de Havilland registered the aircraft G-AOVU for the certification process which was completed in March 1960. The aircraft was then re-registered XA-NAR and was officially delivered to Mexicana on 8^th June.

The first 4C actually delivered to the airline was XA-NAS which was handed over in January 1960. de Havilland had temporarily registered the aircraft as G-AOVV - again for certification purposes.

Therefore by spring 1960 Mexicana had two Comets. Extensive training and route-proving flights were undertaken with de Havilland staff. See Log. However initially things did not go smoothly for the airline. In May both Comets were grounded because of a strike by the airline's pilots over pay. They were demanding a 'substantial' increase in pay for operating Comets (as will be seen with other operators it had become the norm for jet crews to receive higher rates that other aircrews).

Mexicana retaliated by announcing that they had asked de Havilland to cancel the remaining three aircraft on order (actually two were options) and take back the two already delivered! That statement must have made a few hearts flutter in Hatfield! The matter was resolved.

Mexicana Comets were configured for 22 first class and 64 tourist class passengers. As elsewhere where Comets were introduced passenger demand was high and during the introductory period Mexicana and de Havilland were regularly achieving a utilization of more than 8 hrs a day with the two aeroplanes.

The third Mk.4C was delivered at the end of the year. Ex-G-ARBB had been registered XA-NAT 'Golden Knight'. It left Hatfield for Mexico City via Gander and Chicago on November 29^th. On board were two de Havilland directors and Mr Rovzara - who was Mexicanas’ Director of Public Relations. The flight set a new record covering 5880 miles in less than 15 hours! During November 1960 Mexicana began operating non-stop 4C services between Mexico City and Chicago with 5 to 10 flights a week.

Sadly, for both parties, financial difficulties meant that Mexicana's two options (allocated the registrations XA-NAD and 'NAE) were not taken up. These two airframes were eventually delivered to Sudan Airways.

Mexicana continued to expand it's routes though and still required more aircraft. Ex-BOAC Mk.4s found their way to Mexico. G-APDR was bought in December 1964 and re-registered as XA-NAZ (it was re-registered XA-NAP in 1966). In addition G-APDT was leased from BOAC in November 1965 - initially as XA-POW - it was later re-registered in 1966 (while still on lease) as XA-NAB. It was returned to the Corporation in December 1969.

[See above. One other ex-BOAC aircraft found it's way to Mexicana - but not for use by themselves. G-APDI (c/n 6428) was en route for Aerea of Equador. Aerea needed to obtain F.A.A. certification for the Mk.4 and Mexicana were well placed to make the modifications. 'DI was re-registered HC-ALT.]

When Comets were surplus to requirements Mexicana leased a 4C to Aeronaves de Mexico.

What became of their other Comets? XA-NAP a Mk.4 was sold to Channel Airways in June 1971. XA-NAR, XA-NAS and XA-NAT were phased out of service in December 1970 and eventually found their way to Westernair of Albuquerque (as N888WA, N999WA and N777WA respectively) and then on to various U.S. buyers including Redmond Air Inc. In 1980 'NAR was said to be in storage at Paine Field-Everett, Washington. 'NAS was stored at Chicago's O'Hare airport until recently and 'NAT was derelict at Mexico City airport. What a waste!

QANTAS

Qantas was founded in November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. Sir Miles Thomas in his Autobiography 'Out on a Wing' says that his friend W. Hudson Fysh - Chairman of Qantas - was dead set against ordering Comets. It seems that the airline had had many disappointments with products produced by British manufacturers previously and they were not prepared to take the chance with the Comet. Qantas believed that Lockheed products were superior.

Qantas did however operate one Comet - G-APDR - which was leased from BOAC for a short period in 1960. It retained the Corporations markings during the charter.

 OLYMPIC AIRWAYS

This airlines origin dates back to the merger of some smaller Greek airlines - T.A.E., Hellos and Aero Metaforaia Ellados - in 1951. In effect T.A.E. simply became a bigger operator and as such became recognised as the Greek National Airline. It was nationalised fully in 1954.

In April 1956 it was taken over by Aristotle Onassis who had built up an enormous shipping empire and become a multi-millionaire into the bargain. He obtained (by having the power to do so) from the Greek Government a 50 year concession to handle the airline as part of his empire. In 1957 it was announced that when the takeover was complete he planned to rename T.A.E. as Olympic Airways.

Onassis was determined to take Olympic into the jet age and saw tremendous financial and operational advantages in a consortium agreement with another major airline - preferably one already experienced in operating jet-airliners. With this objective the whole Olympic setup was reorganised and on July 20^th 1959 a consortium agreement was signed in Monaco with BEA.

Lord Douglas of Kirtleside, Chairman of BEA., represented the British airline and Onassis represented Olympic. The agreement had to be submitted to the Greek Government for their approval before it could take effect. Approval was duly given. Both parties expected the arrangement to generate much new traffic and they planned to offer more first class seats on their respective routes. It was intended that each airlines identity would be maintained and in fact there was no sale or exchange of stock involved.

de Havilland too were pleased with the agreement. For in addition to the seven 4Bs BEA. had on order it was decided that Olympic would need another two to supplement the fleet.

The announcement of the order was made at the time of that of the agreement. Further details were that BEA. would provide operating crews for the initial period while crew training took place. The contract provided for delivery of the two Olympic 4Bs in early 1960 and under BEA's earlier contract their deliveries were due to commence in October 1959.

(Incidentally the Olympic order brought the total Comet Mk.4 variants to 36 - BOAC19, Aerolineas Argentinas 6, East African Airways Corpn. 2, in addition to the above).

The first 4B delivered (ex-G-APYC) was registered SX-DAK and named 'Queen Frederica'. It was handed over to Olympic on 26^th April 1960. This aeroplane was flown to Athens four days later and in doing so set a record time of 3 hrs 14 min.

The second aeroplane - SX-DAL (ex-G-APYD) and named 'Queen Olga' - was handed over on 14th May. First Olympic scheduled services began in conjunction with BEA. on 18^th May 1960. Joint routes flown were along the axis London-Athens. Services were offered too via Rome, Paris, Zürich, Frankfurt, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Operating from Athens the airline served Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Nicosia, Beirut and Cairo. Olympic also linked up with another BEA. associate company Cyprus Airways.

The Olympic Comets were identical to BEAs and configured for 22 first class and 64 economy class passengers. However their operation was different in that, unlike BEA., Olympic used a flight engineer as part of their three man crew.

As with BEA. initial training courses took place at Hatfield and this included ground engineers of which approx. 50 were trained for Olympic. Later training became a joint project undertaken by, and with, BEA.s already experienced crews. Olympic were also able to make use of BEA.'s flight simulator when it became operational. The joint arrangement made the purchasing of a flight simulator even more cost effective for BEA.

Without doubt the Comet was a great success. It had great passenger appeal and Olympic had found an economic way of moving into the jet age.

As the traffic grew Olympic found it needed another aircraft to supplement it fleet. On 14^th July 1960 they leased a 4B from BEA. which initially retained its British registration - G-APZM - but was given the name 'Queen Sophia'. This 'loan' became a long term lease and in April (13^th) 1966 the aircraft was re-registered SX-DAN (retaining the same title). This particular aircraft was eventually returned to BEA. in March 1970 prior to sale to Channel Airways.

The BEA fleet increased through 1961 as more deliveries were made and it was decided that Olympic needed yet another 4B. So on 25^th March 1961 - G-ARDI - was leased to Olympic bringing their operational fleet to four aircraft. As with the previous leased aeroplane, 'ZM, 'DI took a name - in this case 'Princess Sophia' - but retained its British registration - that was until becoming SX-DAO in April 1966. This lease expired in November 1969 when the aircraft was returned to BEA. It too was eventually sold to Channel Airways.

For a number of years the 50 year concession looked to be just another Onassis coup. The airline went from strength to strength. Then in the early seventies came the Oil crisis and, on top of that, an internecine war broke out in Cyprus. All airlines operating in the Mediterranean area were affected but Olympic Airways in particular saw it's profits slump badly. After a number of falling returns in 1974 Onassis decided that enough was enough and pulled out of Olympic.

The Greek Government were obliged to step in and take control of the airline. The fleet was grounded pending a re-organisation - which was not completed until August 1975. Operations did not start again, however, until January 1976.

As mentioned above the two leased 4Bs were returned to BEA. and eventually sold to Channel Airways. This coincided with the phasing out of Comets by Olympic. SX-DAK and 'DAL (the two original purchases) were sold to BEA. in the autumn of 1969. As with the leased aeroplanes they too were sold to Channel Airways. Eventually all the Olympic operated Comets ended their flying days with Dan-Air, London.

SAUDI SA-R-7

This was probably the most unusual Comet produced. It was a 4C and was bought by the Saudi Arabian Government as the personal transport of King Ibn Saud. It was delivered on 15^th June 1962 with a striking dark green and yellow livery.

The nose was dark green and this swept back to form a point over the first cabin windows. From under the fuselage a dark green band emerged forward of the first cabin window and swept up and back along the fuselage above the cabin windows until it reached the rear passenger door where the top of the band continued to the tail-cone and the bottom swung down and just below the centre line forward. Below the centre line of the fuselage a fine yellow band ran from a point just under the cockpit side windows to just forward of the tailplane. The tail was a pale yellow and marked with SA-R-7 and a green flag with a crossed Saudi swords emblem in white upon it. The remainder of the fuselage was polished silver.

Sadly SA-R-7 crashed into the Italian Alps - in the Monte Matto mountains, near Cuneo, on route Geneva-Nice on the night of the 20^th March 1963. Members of the Saudi Royal family were on board. Amongst the crew were de Havilland Flight Engineer Ken Rouse.

SUDAN AIRWAYS

Sudan Airways was formed in 1946 and was wholly State owned. It operated various routes throughout Sudan and to Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Jeddah, Cairo, Beirut, Athens, Rome, Tripoli and London. In addition to regular scheduled flights Sudan Airways also operated charters flights.

The airline purchased two Comet 4Cs. (These were originally destined for Mexicana but due to financial difficulties the Mexicans options were not taken up). ST-AAW was the first aircraft delivered on 13^th November 1962 (previously pre-registered XA-NAD and G-ASDZ). Incidentally G-ASDZ was the original registration granted to de Havilland for a special occasion in 1962. Although the aircraft was ready to be handed over, Sudan's crew training was incomplete. de Havilland temporarily registered the aircraft so the Company's crews could fly the Comet out to Khartoum for the country's independence celebrations. Naturally the flight doubled up as a training flight.

The second aircraft ST-AAX (XA-NAE) was delivered the following month. (This was the last Comet - c/n 6463 - to be built at Hatfield.

The Comets saw more than ten years successful service with Sudan. Their first Comet to be withdrawn was ST-AAW which was initially put into storage at Khartoum in October 1973. Sudan Airways put the aircraft in the hands of a broker whose advertisement stated that the Comets were "in excellent condition with 'high remaining engine life and five to six years operation on spars'." Including spares the asking price was £170,000 each.

Later ST-AAW was flown to Britain and put into storage at Tees-side airport. Dan-Air purchased both aircraft in June 1975.

Transportes Aereos Portugueses (T.A.P.)

T.A.P. was founded as a Special Department of the Secretariat for Civil Aviation on 14^th March 1945. They operated Lockheed Super Constellations and these were superseded by Viscounts from BEA which were used on the London - Lisbon route. After BEA. began Comet services in early 1960 4Bs were switched to cover T.A.P. services between Madeira and London.

 UNITED ARAB AIRLINES

When Egypt and Syria joined forces to create the United Arab Republic in 1960 their respective national airlines - Syrian Airways and Misrair - were merged forming United Arab Airlines.

The Egyptian carrier Misrair was founded in 1932 as Misr Airwork and this became Misr air SAE in 1949. It was wholly Egyptian owned and was based at Cairo from where it operated to destinations in Europe, Africa and Asia. Syrian Airways was founded in 1946 and was based in Damascus from where it served the locality, other Middle East countries, Europe and North Africa.

Misrairs interest hardened after de Havilland demonstrated the Comet 4 to Misrair in Cairo when on route for Hong Kong on a pre-service proving flight. There had been persistent reports that the Egyptians were interested in the aircraft so the stop-over at Cairo was organised.

Following this Misrair sent a delegation to Hatfield to discuss the purchase of one or two Comet 4s. Initially reports would not be confirmed by de Havilland but eventually it was announces that an order had been placed - valued at £3 million - for two aircraft plus spares.

However the deal depended on the outcome of some financial negotiations that were to begin in Cairo in January 1960.

Present was the President of the World Bank and the meeting had been called in a effort to find a way to allow the release of Egypts blocked sterling assets (worth £80 m) following Britains dispute with Egypt which culminated in the Suez Crisis. It was interesting that despite political differences Misrair thought that, on technical grounds, the Comet was without doubt the best aircraft for their purposes.

The carriers name was changed to Egyptair on 10^th October 1971.

U.A.A. ordered a large fleet of Comets - nine in total - but this was because 5 aircraft were lost in accidents! U.A.A. always purchased new aircraft and never leased any Comets. It was said that the Comet sold itself as the 'perfect aircraft for the job'. It was designed to operate from runways set at high altitude and generally experiencing high ambient temperatures - typical of conditions to be found throughout the U.A.A network.

When in 1961 U.A.A. ordered two more 4Cs (contract signed in Cairo on December 9^th for delivery in April 62) it took the total value of their Comet purchases to £8 million.

Because of accidents U.A.A. only succeeded in operating - for any length of time - four aircraft. These were registered SU-ALL, ALM, AMV and ANC and were all configured to seat 96. U.A.A. performed their own engine maintenance at their Cairo base and were, in fact, to be the last Comet operator on the African continent. Crew training too took place in Cairo.

SU-ALL had been delivered in June 1961, SU-ALM in July 1961, SU-AMV in April 1962 and SU-ANC in December 1962.

The Comets replaced Viscounts and expanded U.A.A's routes to Bombay, Karachi, Frankfurt and on the longer African routes. Towards the end they operated on internal routes (Luxor , Aswan) and on the shorter external routes, for example, to Benghazi, Amman, Damascus (from Cairo), Athens and Baghdad.

Of the five losses it was reported that not one was due to pilot error - all were due to 'natural causes'. The aircraft lost in accidents were: SU-ALC - which was delivered in June 1960 - was lost 10 Km from Tripoli Airport, Libya in January 1971. Another June 1960 delivery was SU-ALD which was lost 15 miles from Bombay in July 1963.

SU-ALE was delivered in December 1960 and lost when it crashed after takeoff from Munich in February 1970. The Comet had been obliged to make an emergency landing when fire broke out in the port wing shortly after takeoff. Eight passengers were injured slightly and four were treated in hospital for minor injuries. The aircraft was carrying 14 passengers and a crew of ten and was en route for Athens and Cairo. Before the takeoff it had been delayed at the airport for two hours. It came down some 400 yds. from the runway and only 150 yds. from suburban homes. Sabotage was quickly ruled out. Visibility was poor at the time and the runway was covered with slush and melted snow, condition that were similar to those that led to the loss of the BEA airliner at Munich in 1958.

SU-AMW joined the fleet in April 1962 but was struck by lightning and lost into the jungle 100 Km from Bangkok in July 1962. SU-ANI survived in service from February 1964 until in crashed at Addis Ababa in January 1970.

Gradually the remaining Comets were to be phased out and it was planned to have the withdrawal completed by April 1976 when they were to be replaced with Boeing 737s. One proposal was to convert the Comets to carry freight but the doors would not have been big enough and the necessary modifications would have been too expensive.

In U.A.A. hands the Comets got a hammering! Surviving aircraft required a complete refurbishment by Marshalls of Cambridge where they were gutted and fitted with new seats and interiors!

To sum up U.A.A. accidents-

SU-ALC crashed 10 Km from Tripoli Airport, Libya at Ben Gashir on the 2^nd January 1971.

SU-ALD crashed on the 23^rd December 1960 into the sea while en route Bangkok-Bombay some 15 miles from Bombay.

SU-ALE was lost on the 9^th February 1970 when takeoff was abandoned at Munich the aircraft plunging into a field.

SU-AMW was lost 100 Kms N/E of Bangkok into jungle on the Khao Yai Mountain, Thailand on the 19^th July 1962.

The last civil Comet (4C) SU-ANI belonging to U.A.A. crashed on the 14^th January 1970 when a wing struck the ground when landing at Addis Ababa.