Northeast Airlines (UK)
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| Founded | 1951 (as BKS) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1976 | ||||||
| Hubs | Newcastle International Airport | ||||||
| Parent company | British Air Services | ||||||
| Headquarters | Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK | ||||||
Northeast Airlines (NEA) – formerly BKS Air Transport – was an airline based in the United Kingdom that operated as BKS from 1951 until 1970. NEA's operations and fleet were merged into British Airways in 1976.
The airline commenced operations in October 1951 from its base at Southend Airport as BKS Aero Charter flying a Douglas DC-3. (BKS were the founders' initials – i.e. James Barnby, Thomas Keegan and Cyril Stevens.) Further Dakotas were bought in 1952. For a couple of years it flew charters and freight until 1953, when it was granted permission to operate scheduled services between Newcastle, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The Dakotas continued in operation with BKS until the last of eight was sold in 1967. The airline's name was changed to BKS Air Transport at the end of 1953.
To expand, three Vickers VC.1 Vikings were acquired in 1955 to operate flights to Málaga. The next aircraft type was the pressurised Airspeed Ambassador. It was operated from 1957 and enabled the introduction of longer range scheduled services to Basle, Belfast, Bilbao, Dublin and Santander.
As the network grew, more scheduled flights were added, including Newcastle to London and other routes. In 1958 the Bristol 170 Freighter was added, followed by the Vickers Viscount in 1961. Further expansion in and out of London saw the introduction of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 in 1962 and the Bristol Britannia in 1964.
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