Today

This is not the website of Jersey Airlines. That would be impossible, since the company disappeared in 1963 when it was absorbed by the British United Group. No, this is a website dedicated to all those who worked for that great independent airline, founded in 1948 by Maldwyn Thomas, which started services with a single de Havilland Rapide and ended them as launch customer for the Handley Page Dart Herald. Inbetween, its aircraft became a familiar sight throughout Europe.

Today, a lone Jersey Airlines aeroplane survives. The de Havilland Heron Duchess of Brittany was saved in 1990 by a group of former staff and operates every summer from the Island – a sort of flying time-warp. It is cherished not only by those who own it but also by hundreds of islanders who remember it serving the Channel Islands nearly fifty years ago.

By the time Jersey Airlines International was sold it employed hundreds of pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground staff. This website is for them, and for members of a new generation who want to learn more about a noble chapter in the annals of British aviation. Through fondly-held memories we are setting out to capture – forever – the spirit of Jersey Airlines.