Skyways Coach-Air Limited

Skyways Coach-Air Ltd
IATA ICAO Call sign
SX
Founded1956
Ceased operations1971
HubsLympne Airport
Gatwick Airport
Fleet size8 aircraft
(5 Hawker Siddeley 748 Series 1,
3 Douglas DC-3
(as of March 1970))
DestinationsUnited Kingdom
Europe
HeadquartersLympne
Key peopleEric Rylands,
Gordon Sykes,
J.M. Warrell,
R. Chadwick,
J.L. Clarke,
J. McTaggart,
D. Clark,
Capt. R.H. Tapley

Skyways Coach-Air Limited was the world's first low-cost airline.

Skyways launched the first commercial coach-air operation in late-September 1955, involving a coach trip from Central London to Lympne, a cross-Channel Lympne—Beauvais air sector and another coach journey from Beauvais to the centre of Paris.

Skyways Coach-Air, which had remained a separate entity following the sale of sister airline Skyways Ltd to Euravia, got into financial difficulties in 1970. This resulted in a management buyout and the following year's formation of a new company trading as Skyways International to succeed the defunct Skyways Coach-Air. Skyways International was taken over by Dan-Air in 1972.