GB Airways

An Airbus in British Airways colors taxis to the runway at Gatwick, destination Málaga or Marrakech. If you took a photo like that between 1995 and 2008, you may not have caught a BA aircraft at all – but one from GB Airways. The airline from Gibraltar flew for over a decade as a franchise partner of British Airways and was almost impossible to recognize from the outside. This page explains where GB Airways came from, how the franchise worked, which aircraft it flew and why easyJet took it over in 2008.

GB Airways at a glance

GB Airways was a historic British scheduled airline with roots in Gibraltar. It was founded in 1931 as Gibraltar Airways, an offshoot of the Gibraltar shipping company M. H. Bland – today’s Bland Group. For decades the airline was closely tied to British state aviation, first to BEA, later to British Airways. In 1989 it moved its operational headquarters to Britain, into The Beehive building at London Gatwick Airport.

From 1995 GB Airways flew as a full British Airways franchise partner: with BA flight numbers, in BA livery and with BA uniforms. The network concentrated on the western Mediterranean, the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. At the end of October 2007 easyJet announced the takeover, and at the end of March 2008 flight operations under the GB Airways name ended.

Codes, callsign and flight numbers

• IATA code GT: GB Airways’ own airline code.
• ICAO code GBL: the three-letter identifier for air traffic control and flight plans.
• Callsign GEEBEE AIRWAYS: a phonetic spelling of the letters “G” and “B”.
• BA flight numbers: Under the franchise, GB Airways sold its flights under the British Airways code, from the number range BA6800 to BA6999.

This last point is exactly what makes GB Airways tricky when it comes to assigning photos and logbook entries. A boarding pass with a BA flight number doesn’t tell you that British Airways actually operated the flight. How codeshare and franchise models work in general is explained in the article Codeshare flights explained.

From Gibraltar to Gatwick: the history

Flying boat and the Great Depression

The beginnings were modest. In 1931, in the middle of the Great Depression, the shipping company M. H. Bland founded an airline of its own: Gibraltar Airways. It started with a single Saunders-Roe Windhover flying boat with up to six seats and connected Gibraltar with Tangier on the other side of the strait. According to the history of Gibraltar Airport, however, flying in this first phase lasted only a short time.

In World War II the company represented the British airlines Imperial Airways and BOAC locally. That created an early link to British state aviation that would last for decades.

GibAir and the partnership with BEA

In 1947 the company took over ground handling at Gibraltar Airport and began a close cooperation with British European Airways (BEA). The British airline took a stake in the company, which now operated as GibAir. In the 1950s GibAir flew the Douglas DC-3, the workhorse of the postwar era. In 1961 BEA and GibAir agreed to plan and market the connections from Gibraltar to London and Madrid together.

Later the Vickers Viscount joined the fleet, a British turboprop with four propeller turbines and large oval windows. From the 1980s the airline operated as GB Airways, at first still headquartered in Gibraltar.

1989: moving to Gatwick

In 1989 came the decisive step: the operational headquarters moved to Britain to gain more room for growth. The new home was The Beehive building at Gatwick. The fleet at that time consisted of Boeing 737s in a livery of its own with red and blue stripes.

1995: franchise with British Airways

In 1995 GB Airways became a full franchise partner of British Airways. British Airways gave up its financial stake in the process, and the Bland Group remained the owner. From then on all aircraft flew in BA colors, the crews wore BA uniforms, and the flights ran under BA flight numbers. The franchise agreement was set to run until 2010.

Through British Airways, GB Airways was also linked to the alliance oneworld as a so-called affiliate member. Its passengers therefore collected miles and used benefits in the oneworld network, even though the airline itself was not a full member.

The route network: sun, Mediterranean and North Africa

The GB Airways network was clearly geared toward destinations in the south. In 2001 the airline served 21 destinations in the western Mediterranean and North Africa, and the offering grew further later. Typical routes from the three British locations:

Base	Role	Example destinations
London Gatwick (LGW)	Main base, largest part of the network	Málaga, Palma, Faro, Tunis, Marrakech
London Heathrow (LHR)	A few based aircraft	Casablanca, Faro, Málaga, Marrakech, Tangier
Manchester (MAN)	Small base, flights marketed as “BA Connect”	Heraklion, Innsbruck, Malta, Paphos, Salzburg

What stands out is the focus on Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula – a legacy of its Gibraltar origins. Tangier, where the 1931 flying boat already flew, stayed in the network to the very end. Destinations like Málaga, Faro and Palma de Mallorca were also part of the core.

One short episode is the Madrid–Gibraltar route: GB Airways launched it in May 2007 as a BA franchise but already discontinued it on September 30, 2007. If you’re interested in the unusual airport where a main road used to cross the runway, you’ll find the right locations in the guide Plane spotting in Gibraltar.

The fleet: from flying boat to Airbus

Over its long history the airline flew very different types. These are the main documented stages:

Type	Period (as far as documented)	Spotter note
Saunders-Roe Windhover	1931	Small flying boat with up to six seats, route Gibraltar–Tangier
Douglas DC-3	1950s	Classic piston-engine twin with a tailwheel
Vickers Viscount	among others 1980s	Turboprop with four propeller turbines and large oval windows
Boeing 737-200	late 1980s and early 1990s	Slim, long engines directly under the wing
Boeing 737-300/-400	1990s to early 2000s	CFM engines with a flattened underside
Airbus A320-200	2000s to 2008	Nine in the fleet at the end
Airbus A321-200	2000s to 2008	Six in the fleet at the end, more on order

In 2001 GB Airways operated seven Boeing 737-300s and 737-400s, which were gradually replaced by Airbus A321s. In March 2008 the fleet then consisted exclusively of first-generation Airbus jets: nine Airbus A320s and six Airbus A321s. More aircraft were on order. The average age of the fleet in early 2008 was just under five years – a young fleet that was correspondingly attractive for easyJet.

You can recognize the older Boeing 737-200 by its long, narrow engines hanging close under the wing. The 737-300 and -400, in contrast, have the thicker CFM56 engines with the typical flattened underside. How to reliably tell the generations apart is shown in the guide Telling Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart. For the Airbus era, Telling the A318, A319, A320 and A321 apart helps: the A321 is much longer and has two large doors each ahead of and behind the wing.

How to recognize GB Airways

With GB Airways you have to distinguish two eras.

The airline’s own livery until 1995: The Boeing 737s of the late 1980s had a mostly white fuselage with red and blue stripes. These ran downward at the nose and formed a kind of “chin strap” under the nose. On the tail the stripes continued, and a red arrow formed a diamond logo there.

The BA livery from 1995: After that, all aircraft flew in full British Airways livery. From the outside there was no obvious sign of GB Airways – you need the registration.

How the British registration system is built and how you look up old registrations is explained in the guide to British G- registrations.

The end: takeover by easyJet

Pressure from all sides

In the 2000s GB Airways came under pressure. On many Mediterranean routes, low-cost carriers with much lower fares were now flying. At the same time the airline reached the limits of the franchise model. In 2006 GB Airways posted losses. The owners brought in Kevin Hatton, a former BA manager, to lead the airline and explore options for the future. Talks with British Airways in 2007 produced no result, and BA did not use the purchase option anchored in the franchise agreement.

The sale to easyJet

On October 25, 2007 it became known that easyJet was buying GB Airways from the Bland Group. The price was £103.5 million. easyJet had already had a base at Gatwick since 2002 and used the takeover to grow there and in Manchester. On January 18, 2008 the British competition authority gave the green light.

Some parts were expressly not part of the deal:

• The Heathrow slots: They were sold separately to other airlines.
• The headquarters The Beehive: The building was left out, and jobs were cut in administration.
• Two Airbus jets: G-TTOB and G-TTOE went to British Airways.

At the end of March 2008 GB Airways flew for the last time under its own operation. Most of the aircraft and a large part of the staff moved to easyJet, and a few aircraft went to other operators. Exciting for spotters: some of the Airbus jets kept flying for easyJet afterward – the same aircraft under a new operator. easyJet later gave up the larger A321s again. British Airways moved its Gibraltar flights from Gatwick to Heathrow in 2009.

GB Airways next to other Gatwick airlines

For decades Gatwick was home to several independent British airlines. GB Airways fits in here but differs in its franchise model:

Airline	Period	Model
British Caledonian	1970–1988	Private scheduled airline with its own long-haul network
Dan-Air	1953–1992	Charter and scheduled, later taken over by British Airways
Air Europe	1978–1991	Leisure and scheduled airline, bankrupt in 1991
GB Airways	until 2008	BA franchise with roots in Gibraltar

Other British airlines also used the franchise principle, such as the Scottish Loganair, which likewise flew for larger partners for a long time. If you head to Gatwick yourself today, the Gatwick spotter guide helps you choose a location.

Spotter tips for historic shots

You won’t see GB Airways in scheduled service anymore. Still, the airline is fascinating – precisely because it hid itself so well. Many collections from Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester or Gibraltar contain GB Airways aircraft filed as British Airways. Going through your old photos, you may sometimes discover an airline you never knowingly saw.

When digitizing, work systematically: record registration, type, place and date, then compare with registry data. For shots from before 1995 the airline’s own livery helps; for later ones only the registration does. You’ll find general tips for old subjects in the guide Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky.

Common mix-ups

• Taking every BA Airbus at Gatwick for British Airways – between 1995 and 2008 it can also be GB Airways.
• Taking GB Airways for a BA subsidiary – British Airways held no shares after 1995; the airline belonged to the Bland Group.
• Taking GT for a current code – for old records the date counts; GB Airways hasn’t flown since 2008.
• Equating the BA flight number with the operating airline – under the franchise, GB Airways flew under BA numbers.
• Logging an A321 as an A320 – the A321 is much longer and has additional large doors.
• Crediting the takeover to British Airways – easyJet bought it; BA waived its option.

Conclusion

GB Airways came a long way: from a single flying boat between Gibraltar and Tangier in 1931, through GibAir and the partnership with BEA, to a British Airways franchise airline with a modern Airbus fleet at Gatwick. The franchise is exactly what made the airline invisible – passengers and many spotters took its aircraft for British Airways. In 2008 the story ended with the takeover by easyJet. Anyone sorting old photos today can find GB Airways only through registration, livery and date.