• Highland Express Airways

After parting company with Virgin Atlantic, co-founder and prominent US law practitioner Randolph Fields set about establishing a new transatlantic airline in late 1984 under the title, Highland Express, designed to capitalise especially on the visiting friends and relatives’ market. An experienced board and senior management team was assembled from amongst former top executives from British Airways, British Caledonian, Air UK and Virgin. Initial plans envisaged the lease of three ex-All Nippon Airways Lockheed TriStars, operating scheduled flights from the airline’s projected base at Prestwick, Birmingham and London-Stansted to New York and Toronto at low-fare levels starting from £99. But the would-be airline’s initial licence application was rejected early in 1985 on grounds of under-capitalisation. On appeal, a slimmed down operation envisaged the use of a single leased British Airways TriStar flying between Prestwick and New York only, while the proposed launch date slipped to March 1986.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to generate more capital, a share floatation had been launched in February 1986, but although the public response was encouraging, the hoped for interest from large institutional investors was not forthcoming, resulting in at £500,000 shortfall in required start-up capital. Following eventual Civil Aviation Authority approval, a sole ex-American Airlines Boeing 747-100 financed by Citicorp, entered service on 30 June 1987, but after only five months’ operations ongoing financial difficulties and the slow take-up in advance bookings forced the company into liquidation on 11 December 1987. Despite optimistic noises by the new chairman, industrialist Sir Ian McGregor, the hoped-for rescue package never materialised.