British Civil Aviation in 2000

4 January
Buzz, a low cost subsidiary of KLM United Kingdom begins operations with eight 110 seat BAe146 aircraft. Based at London Stansted Airport, the carrier flies to Paris, Lyon, Vienna, Berlin, Milan, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, and is in competition with Ryanair, Easyjet and Go for the rapidly expanding ‘no-frills’ budget air travel market.

April
Britten-Norman goes into receivership due to cash flow problems, lays of 112 workers and is put up for sale.

1 July
British Midland becomes the 15th airline to join the Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline grouping. The alliance was formed in 1997 and by now has a fleet of some 2,000 aircraft, carrying 282 million customers to 800 destinations in more than 130 countries world-wide every year.

26 July
Agusta and GKN Westland helicopters announce their intention to consolidate their business as AgustaWestland.

October
British Midland announces it will commence flights to the United States destinations from Manchester in the Spring of 2001.

December
The British Airports Authority (BAA) announces a £90 million package of investments in passenger facilities for Gatwick Airport’s North terminal and London City Airport announces its best year to date, handling 1,580,234 passengers, a 14% increase from 1999.

December
British Airways, Air France and Delta Air Lines begin talks to form a new alliance that could result in the break up of the OneWorld group.

December
Rolls-Royce is confirmed as the engine supplier of choice for the Airbus A3XX, following selection of its Trent 900 engines as the powerplant for the Singapore Airlines order.