Channel Air Bridge was a private British independent airline specialising in cross-Channel vehicle-cum-passenger ferry services. Freddie Laker started Channel Air Bridge as a sister airline of Air Charter on a provisional basis in 1954. Operations commenced in 1955. In 1958, Channel Air bridge took over Air Charter's vehicle ferry services. In 1959, both Channel Air Bridge and its sister airline Air Charter became part of the Airwork group. In 1960, Airwork joined with Hunting-Clan to form British United Airways (BUA). In 1962, BUA reorganised its vehicle ferry operations by merging Channel Air Bridge with Silver City Airways. This resulted in the creation of British United Air Ferries in 1963.

Following Freddie Laker's creation of Channel Air Bridge on an experimental basis in 1954, the newly formed airline commenced regular scheduled vehicle and passenger ferry services in April 1955 with four Bristol Freighters shuttling seven times a day between Southend and Calais. Channel Air Bridge's Bristol Freighters sported a red-and-white colour scheme. In 1955, Channel Air Bridge also took delivery of the first two of nine larger, "long-nosed" Bristol 170 Mark 32 Superfreighters. Eventually, Channel Air Bridge operated 24 daily round-trips between Southend and Calais and inaugurated additional vehicle/passenger ferry services from Southend to Ostend and Rotterdam. Southend—Ostend services were operated in partnership with Sabena.

By 1958, Channel Air Bridge was carrying almost 15,000 cars a year. A considerable proportion of this was traffic diverted from the Midlands, which would otherwise have used Silver City Airways, the original air ferry airline that had held a monopoly in this market prior to the arrival of Channel Air Bridge. 1958 was also the year Laker decided to transfer Air Charter's vehicle ferry services and Bristol 170 fleet to Channel Air Bridge, thus putting the latter solely in charge of this type of operation. During that year, Laker furthermore announced his decision to sell Air Charter, Channel Air Bridge and Aviation Traders to Airwork for £600,000 cash plus a further £200,000, subject to the valuation of stock. The deal became effective in January 1959, when all three companies joined the Airwork group.

...
Wikipedia