SKYTRAIN

HISTORY: SKYTRAIN started in the early 1970s when the LAKER AIRWAYS and its owner battle with aviation authorities in the UK and US to gain approval for a low-cost, "no frills" transatlantic service to link London and New York daily during the peak summer period from May to September and four times a week during the remainder of the year. Since approval for Skytrain was not forthcoming for several years, Laker Airways needed alternative work to keep its long-haul planes busy. Skytrain was inaugurated between London Gatwick and New York JFK on 26 September 1977. It recorded a profit in excess of £2 million in its first year of operation. Laker Airways (and SKYTRAIN program), collapsed in the early morning of 5 February 1982 with debts of £270 million, the largest corporate failure in Britain.