Here is the latest data on British civil airlines, routes and equipment. Note some of the orders etc relate to 1941 data.
State-Owned Airlines
British Overseas Airways Corporation B.O.A.C.
Routes;
Poole-Foynes-Lisbon-Azores-Bermuda-Baltimore returning Bermuda-Lisbon-Poole four times weekly (flying boat)
Poole-Marignane-Valetta-Cairo-Habbaniya-Bharain-Jiwani-Karachi-Calicuta-Colombo-Rangoon-Sinagpore three times weekly (flying boat)
Poole-Marignane-Valetta-Cairo-Habbaniya-Bharain-Jiwani-Karachi three times weekly, this service connects with Qantas flying boat service to Australia (flying boat)
Croydon-Lydda-Karachi-Mumbai twice weekly
Croydon-Paris six times daily
Croydon-Paris-Brindisi-Athens-Alexandria-Cairo daily
Croydon-Lisbon-Safi-Cleito three times weekly
Croydon-Foynes shuttle flights for trans-Atlantic flying boat services when required
Cairo-Wadi Halfa-Khartoum-El Fasher-El Geneina-Maiduguri-Kano-Lagos twice weekly
Croydon-Lisbon-Gibraltar three times weekly
Cairo-Lydda-Baghdad-Basra three times weekly
Cairo-Luxor-Port Sudan-Aden three times weekly
Cairo-Nicosa-Ankara twice weekly
Cairo-Athens daily
Cairo-Damascus-Baghdad-Tehran three times weekly
Cairo-Port Sudan-Jeddah weekly
Cairo-Wadi Halfa-Khartoum-Malakal-Juba-Kisuma-Nairobi-Mombasa twice weekly
Cairo-Wadi Halfa-Khartoum-Malakal-Juba-Kisuma-Nairobi-Entebbe weekly
Cairo-Luxor-Wadi Halfa-Khartoum-Malakal-Juba-Kisuma-Nairobi-Kigali weekly
Cairo-Wadi Halfa-Khartoum-Jeddah-Kisuma-Mombasa-Dar es Salaam-Lindi-Maputo-Durban weekly (flying boat)
Lagos-Libreville-Luanda-Walvis Bay twice weekly (flying boat)
Rangoon-Mergui-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore three times weekly
Rangoon-Mergui-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore-Palembang-Jakarta three times weekly
Rangoon-Mergui-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore-Brunei twice weekly
Rangoon-Bangkok twice weekly
Rangoon-Pye-Mandalay-Myitkyina four times weekly
Rangoon-Mandalay-Kuming weekly
Singapore-Saigon-Hong Kong twice weekly (flying boat)
Bermuda-Nassau-Kingston-British Virgin Islands-St.Kitts & Nevis-Montserrat-Barbados twice weekly (flying boat)
Kingston-Bermuda-Baltimore weekly (flying boat)
Currently operates a fleet of; 24 Armstrong Whitworth A.W.27 Ensign (twelve 40-seat all passenger and twelve 24-passenger & mail aircraft), 5 Avro 685 York (all on order), 6 De Havilland D.H.86 Dragon Four, 14 De Havilland D.H.91 Albatross (six mailplanes and eight 22-seat airliners), 17 De Havilland D.H.95 Flamingo, 8 Douglas DC-3, 4 Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow, 2 Short Scylla, 1 Short Mayo, 21 Short S.23 Empire C Class, 3 Short S.26 G Class and 11 Short S.32 Sandringham (with 9 more on order).
British European Airways B.E.A.
Routes;
Internal routes serve the following British airports; Gatwick (London), Heston, Rochford (Southend), Crawley, Brighton, Eastleigh (Southampton), Exeter, Cardiff, Bristol, Cambridge, Luton, Coventry, Birmingham, Speke (Liverpool), Blackpool, Manchester Ringway, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Speke-Belfast four times daily
London-Speke-Dublin twice daily
London-Antwerp-Brussels twice daily
London-Brussels-Cologne-Basle-Zurich daily
London-Amsterdam three times daily
London-Brussels-Frankfurt-Berlin twice daily
London-Copenhagen daily
London-Milan-Rome daily
London-Coldmere-Oslo-Stockholm daily
London-Istres-Marseilles three times weekly
London-Paris-Stuttgart-Vienna-Belgrade-Athens daily
Luton-Hamburg three times a week
Bristol-Bordeaux-Madrid daily
Southend-Ostend three times daily summer and three times weekly winter
Ringway-London-Brussels-Frankfurt-Munich-Prague daily
Exeter-Brest-Bordeaux daily summer only
Brighton-Le Havre four times daily summer only
Edinburgh-Belfast twice daily
Edinburgh-Exeter-Dublin twice daily
Currently operates a fleet of; 11 Airspeed AS.6 Envoy Series II/ III; 6 Avro 652D (another 18 on order), 10 Avro 685 York (all on order), 3 De Havilland D.H.84 Dragon, 6 DH.86 Dragon Four (all mailplanes), 29 De Havilland D.H.89 Dragon Rapide, 22 De Havilland D.H.95 Flamingo (plus 20 Flamingo Mk II on order), 3 Junkers Ju-52 (all mailplanes), 6 Lockheed Model 10 Electra, 14 Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra and 4 Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar (all on order).
Independent Airlines
Air Malta
Operates flights to Taranto, Italy and Catania, Sicily and a longer daily route to Cairo via Alexandria as well as charter work. The fleet comprises two DH.84, three Percival Q.6 Petrel and one Douglas DC-2.
Arabian Airways Ltd, Aden
Operates a single Short Scion on local charters and a weekly service to Muscat, Oman.
Allied Airways (Gandar Dower) Ltd., Dyce Airport
Aberdeen-Wick-Kirkwall three times a week and Aberdeen-Wick-Kirkwall-Sumburgh daily (except Sundays) with two DH.89 Dagon Rapides.
Bahamas Airways Ltd., Oakes Airport, Nassau
Formed by Sir Harry Oakes, Bart., in November 1936 with a Douglas Dolphin amphibian and a Luscombe seaplane for air club (The Nassau Flying Club) and charter use. A Grumman Widgeon is on order for delivery in late 1941.
Bermuda Flying School, Darrel’s Island Seaplane Station
Formed in early 1940 with two Luscombe seaplanes, the chief instructor is an American, Mr E. Stafford. Some charter work is undertaken.
British West Indian Airways Ltd., Barbados
Operates Barbados-Trinidad four times a week, Barbados-Trinidad via Grenada, St Vincent and St. Lucia weekly return and a weekly ‘round Robin’ Barbados-Antigua-St.Christopher-Antigua-St.Christopher-Antigua-Barbados. It has two Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra and two Lockheed Model 10 Electra.
British Guiana Airways Ltd., Georgetown
In October 1937 received a three-year agreement with the government which agrees a subsidy and a set per-hour fee with a guaranteed minimum of 30 hours a year in return for first call on the airline’s services. It operates a passenger and mail service to the Mazaruni gold and diamond mines and the Rupununmi cattle fields. It has a single DH.89 (on loan).
Burma and Malaya Air Services Ltd., Mandalay
Operates
Has a fleet of two DH.84 Dragon, three De Havilland D.H.86 Dragon Four and one DH.89 Dragon Rapide and seven Percival Q.6 Petrel. Four DH.95 Flamingo Mk II are on order.
Channel Island Airways Ltd., The Airport, Jersey
Operates services to the Channel Islands from London, Southampton, Brighton, Exeter and Dinard, France. The fleet comprises four DH.89, two Airspeed AS.6 Envoy and two DH.95 Flamingo.
Elder Colonial Airways, Lagos, Nigeria
In January 1935 Imperial Airways completed negotiations with the Air Ministry for the creation of a route from Khartoum in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to Nigeria. It was intended for the flights to terminate in Lagos, but because there were no airports which were suitable for operations, the flights terminated in Kano, and passengers connected to Lagos by train. Imperial Airways required an airline to operate between Kano and the Elder Dempster Lines docks in at Lame in Togo. Imperial Airways (West Africa) Limited was jointly formed between Imperial and Elder Dempster on 7 November 1935, and it was operated as Elders Colonial Airways. Imperial Airways (now BOAC) owns a half stake in the company and supplies all aircraft and personnel. Imperial Airways loaned a DH.86 Dragon Four. A weekly service from Kano to Porto-Novo in Benin commenced on 25 June 1938 with an Armstrong Whitworth Atlanta. Once an airport was opened at Lagos flights were undertaken direct from Sudan and Elder Colonial Airways now operates daily Kano-Porto Novo and Kano-Lame routes with two DH.86 Dragon Four on loan from BOAC.
Great Western & Southern Airlines Ltd., operates Land’s End to the Scilly Islands on weekdays with a single DH.89.
Isle of Man Air Services Ltd., Isle of Man Airport, Derbyhaven
Operates a route to Speke (Liverpool) three times daily (except Sundays) and a twice daily route to Belfast and a daily route to Dublin with six DH.89 and one DH.84.
Kenyan Air Services, Nairobi
Operates a daily service in Kenya on the Mbeya-Dodoma-Nairobi route with an extension to Kisumu. There is a twice weekly route Nairobi-Kampala (Uganda) and a weekly service to Kigali (Rwanda) and twice-weekly route to Dar es Salaam. It has a fleet of five DH.89, three Junkers Ju-52 and one DH.90 Dragonfly.
Msir Airwork S.A.E.
This Egyptian company operates an eleven-times weekly service to Lydda, Jerusalem (Palestine) and Beirut (Syria) from Cairo and also services to Cyprus via Lydda. This firm also operates all the internal Egyptian routes with five DH.89, four DH.84 one DH.90 and three Airspeed AS.5 Courier.
Palestine Airways
The State-run airline of Palestine which operates services from Jerusalem to Amman, Jordan and shorter routes within Palestine. It has important Royal Mail and government transport contracts. It operates a fleet of two Fokker F.VII, two DH.84, five DH.89 and one DH.90 Dragonfly. Two DH.95 Flamingo Mk II are on order.
Railway Air Services Ltd., Speke Airport, Liverpool
Operates London-Liverpool-Isle of Man-Belfast daily, London-Glasgow daily, Liverpool-Belfast four times daily (except Sundays) and Glasgow-Liverpool three times daily (except Sundays). Has a fleet of four Airspeed AS.6 Envoy, 6 DH.86 Dragon Four, four DH.95 Flamingo airliners (with four Flamingo Mk II on order) and 14 Avro 652C. Another six Avro 652D are on order.
Scottish Airways Ltd., Renfrew Airport, Glasgow
Routes are Inverness to the Orkneys twice daily, Inverness to the Shetlands daily (except Sundays), Inverness to the Hebrides three times a week, Glasgow to Islay (via Campbeltown) twice daily (except Sundays) and Glasgow-Tiree-Benbecula-North Uist-Stornoway daily (except Sundays).
Fleet comprises four DH.89 Dragon Rapide and five DH.84 and three DH.95 Flamingo airliners. One DH.95 Flamingo Mk II is on order. Some aircraft still carry Western Isles Airways Limited livery, but the firm is a wholly owned subsidiary.
West Coast Air Services Ltd., Speke Airport, Liverpool
Operates Liverpool to Dublin twice daily and London-Dublin daily (except Sundays) with four DH.89 Dragon Rapide and one DH.86 Dragon Four. Six Avro 652D are in the process of delivery.