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Airline pioneer Laker honored
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
It's been two decades since his pioneering airline, Laker Skytrain, went out of business. But Sir Freddie Laker remains a household name and a legend in the aviation world for bringing bargain fares to trans-Atlantic travel. After a six-year fight for regulatory approval to fly scheduled service from London to New York, Skytrain made its first flight on Sept. 26, 1977, for the unheard of price of $240 round trip. The following spring, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to commercial aviation and the British economy. Now 80, Laker was in the Tampa Bay area Thursday to receive another honor: the Tony Jannus Award, presented annually by the chambers of commerce in St. Petersburg and Tampa for contributions to commercial aviation. In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Sir Freddie talked about airline bailouts, who really killed Skytrain and an airplane called "the Accountant." Q: The U.S. airline industry had a disastrous year in 2001 and is expected to lose more than $7-billion this year. Besides the obvious problems with the economy and jitters over the Middle East, what's wrong with the big airlines? Laker: Maybe there are too many airlines, and (business fares) are too expensive. To me that's cross-subsidization -- business travelers subsidizing the tourists. It's their own problem. They've bought too many airplanes, and they paid some crazy prices for them. Q: So, you don't support the federal government's $15-billion bailout last year or the airlines' plea for help covering new security costs and lost business from the airport "hassle factor?" Laker: Any time there's a problem, the airlines always go to their government and get something for free, which is wrong. I've never taken any money from a government. If you're in business and you do something right, you make some money. And if you get it wrong you lose your money, not the government's money and not the people's money. Q. But one airline you admire, Southwest Airlines, took the cash grants from Uncle Sam. Laker: There's an old saying, which I guess is true, that if you're in business and someone wants to give you a gift horse, you don't throw it away. I've got my little business and haven't asked for any money. We are probably one of only about five airlines worldwide that are actually solvent. Q: Is Laker Airways (Bahamas) Limited still flying two 727s from cities on the East Coast to Grand Bahama Island? Laker: We're still doing exactly what we've been doing for the last 12 years. We fly 57 percent of the tourists to Grand Bahama Island, which is more than all the other people put together. There's 125-million people up the East Coast of the United States, so I don't bother getting people from Europe. They all use the mighty dollar, so of course you don't have money problems. The other thing is everybody speaks English, so it's a very easy operation. Q. Common wisdom is that Pan Am killed off Skytrain when it decided to match your trans-Atlantic fares. Is that true? Laker: At the end of the day, it was my government. We had a meeting in 1982 with the (government) minister, us and British Airways. They all said to match Laker (fares) is suicide. Then British Airways got through to (Pan Am). Within two hours they convinced BA that the real thing is we've got to get rid of Laker. As soon as they could get rid of me, they could move fares up. The minister called me and said, "Freddie, I've changed my mind." I said, "Minister, I'll be out of business in six months. You're talking about someone with so much money to lose, it's impossible." I missed it by a day. One day less than six months. Q. Is Skytrain the best adventure you've had during your 64 years in the airline business? Laker: Everyone thinks I'm going to say Skytrain when in fact it was -- with my own money -- building a turboprop airliner. My own team put it together. Q. And it was called the Accountant? Why that name? Laker: Because only an idiot would call it the Accountant. I was an idiot. Only one was made, the prototype. I made a deal with (a manufacturer) that they'd take my plans and prototype and would put it into production and give me a royalty. Then, I got a phone call from a friend who said, "Freddie, they're going to screw you. First, they'll tell you they don't like your airplane anymore. And secondly, they're going to have it built in India. Would you like to have a lawsuit in India?" All parts were sent to me. The chairman of Rolls Royce made me the engines . . . Marconi gave me the radio. So, I gave them all the pieces back and broke the rest up for scrap. -- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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