On Sun, 9 Mar 2003 09:18:35 -0600, you wrote: >I came across an old Excalibur inflight magazine. Does anyone know what >happened to them? Were they associated with an UK IT operator? I seem to >recall they had a DC-10 for Orlando service and there were some = reliability >problems in which they received terrible press. Does my memory serve me >correctly? > My recollection is that Excalibur ws one of several UK charter airlines that failed in the 1980s and 1990s. Headquartered at East Midlands (EMA) but operating from LGW and MAN from 1992 with A320s (up to eight were leased plus a 737) to European destinations, mainly Mediterranean. Excalibur could not make money in the winter, but Scottish tour operator Globespan figured that they could solve this by operating the DC-10 to Australia, eg Glasgow-Sydney, in the winter. So, Gobespan bought Excalibur in 1995. At the time, Excalibur had been owned 40 percent by its directors and 30 percent each by investment firm 3i and by Air Malta. One DC-10 was leased from Skyjet but lasted for only a month until Excalibur collapsed in mid-1996. -- Visit Caribbean Aviation: http://www.caribbeanaviation.com/