Freddie Laker

Sir Frederick Alfred Laker (born August 6 1922), better known as Sir Freddie Laker is a legendary British airline owner. He was one of the first airline owners to introduce the so called No-frills airline system, one which has proven to be a very successful system worldwide.

Bankruptcy

In 1982 the company went bust, owing over £250 million. There were numerous reasons for this - Britain and the world were in recession, the other airlines were making a loss by competing with Laker, Laker Airways had expanded too quickly in the late 1970s, buying a large fleet of Douglas DC-10s at just the wrong time. Also, the DC-10's patchy safety record at that time (the mid-70s had seen a string of fatal crashes involving the aircraft) was scaring off potential customers and was yet another nail in the coffin for Skytrain. The fallout descended into litigation and confusion.

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Laker was undaunted and almost immediately attempted to re-launch the airline on the back of a strong public following (a relief fund gathered over a million pounds, helped by endorsement from The Police, who had used Laker to tour America). It was not until the early 1990s that Laker, by now living in the Bahamas, got off the ground again, moving his operations base to Nassau, from where the airline still flies. For those of a certain age Sir Freddie Laker remains the acceptable face of capitalism, a big man who took on big business, burned brightly for a time, and failed gloriously.

Related Topics:
The Police - Nassau

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Laker is also famous for his famous quote to fellow airline entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Stelios Haji-Ioannou to "sue the bastards"; this being a reference to the bullish tactics of British Airways to try and force the no-frills upstarts out of business.

Related Topics:
Stelios Haji-Ioannou - British Airways

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As a tribute to Laker Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways later named one of its Boeing 747s The Spirit of Sir Freddie.

Related Topics:
Virgin Atlantic Airways - Boeing 747

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External Link:

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www.lakerairways.co.uk - A website dedicated to Laker Airways, a source of information and a contact point for ex-crew members.

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