ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the end of the “Fly British” policy, under which British airlines had been obliged to purchase domestically produced aircraft. From 1962 to 1963, BOAC sustained heavy losses on the North Atlantic route due to stiff competition from Pan Am. The British government, concerned about the condition of the domestic aircraft industry, continued to urge BOAC to purchase domestically produced aircraft. However, the government also hinted at a possible future British purchase of American airlines. This was fully realised when BOAC, in ordering a fleet of next-generation long-haul wide-body airliners, chose the Boeing 747. Britain was effectively forced to withdraw from the manufacture of long-haul aircraft. BOAC improved its management through the use of American airliners and the liquidation of traditional “imperial obligations”, such as operating Empire routes and the “Fly British” policy. But this came at a significant cost to British manufacturing.
