Aviation News – June 2018

Barcelona, Belfast, Copenhagen, Faro, Malta,

Palma, Paris Orly (BA switched to Charles de

Gaulle airport the following year) and Tel Aviv.

In 1976 Athens and Larnaca were added.

The TriStar achieved a smooth entry into

service with good dispatch reliability from the

start, although punctuality was impacted for a

time while ground staff adjusted to the larger

aircraft’s characteristics. On June 1, 1975

the TriStar was introduced on the Heathrow-

Belfast route, the first UK domestic schedule to

be operated by a widebody airliner. However,

a week earlier, on May 23, it had been enlisted

for ‘Glasgow Shuttle’ duties to cope with extra

demand caused by the England v Scotland

football match at Wembley.

The destinations served by BA’s TriStars

varied throughout the type’s time with the

airline. Some early proposed short-haul points

• such as Dublin, Copenhagen and Gibraltar


• proved unsuitable or were unable to sustain
  the TriStar’s passenger volume. Other types
  replaced them, enabling the L1011 to move on
  to some longer haul points in the Middle East
  and India. Abu Dhabi, Bombay (Mumbai),
  Dhahran, Delhi, Dubai, Kuwait and Tehran
  became TriStar routes in 1976. Some were
  configured for 38 in first class and 202 in the
  tourist section for these services. The airline’s
  L1011s, however, received numerous cabin
  configurations during their careers.
  Such was the success of the big jet that
  British Airways leased in an Eastern Airlines
  example in October 1978 and the TriStars
  were frequently seen at other destinations,
  substituting for other types, operating charters
  or on lease to British Airtours. While some
  European points had lost TriStar services by
  1980, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Nice and Rome
  were now receiving the L1011. As -500s and
  -200s joined the fleet, the aircraft was also
  sent further afield at: Amman, Baghdad,
  Bangkok, Bermuda, Cairo, Calcutta (Kolkata),
  Dacca (Dhaka), Doha, Jeddah, Karachi,
  Kingston, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Manila (the
  furthest point from Heathrow served), Mexico
  City, Nassau, New York JFK, Panama City,
  Rawalpindi and Singapore.

SPACIOUS

In their original configuration, the British

Airways TriStars accommodated 20

passengers in first class and 300 in tourist,

but with the ability to switch to 330 seats in an

all-tourist class layout. In its advertising British

Airways made much of what it called the ‘high,

wide and handsome’ 18ft 11in (5.77m)-wide

passenger cabin, with its near-vertical side

walls affording ample headroom throughout.

First class seating was six abreast in a 2-2-2

layout and 36in (91cm) seat pitch, while tourist

seating was ten abreast in a 3-4-3 layout and

34in (86cm) pitch, separated by two 15in-wide

(38cm) aisles.

Cabin side walls and ceilings were finished

in light grey. Seats were covered in warmer

hues with the Yorkshire woollen cloth in four

colour combinations of yellow/gold, orange/

red, red/purple and a cooler blue/green,

all finished in large floral patterns typical of

the era, while cabin bulkheads featured the

intriguing and whimsical murals of designer

Rowland Emett.

British Airways created three ‘cabin

service centres’, one at the front of each

passenger cabin and, in common with other

TriStar operators, located a galley below

deck. This was linked to the main cabin by

two trolley lifts and boasted six ovens and

six refrigerators as well as space for an

expanded range of duty-free goods, and even

had its own small external window providing

some natural light. The airline planned a

cabin crew complement – including the new

position of Flight Purser – of 14, depending

on flight length and type of meal service.

BEA had stopped naming aircraft after

its first jets, the Comet 4Bs, but this tradition

was revived when British Airways accepted

its initial TriStars – the aircraft being named

after varieties of rose. In 1984 when BA

introduced the new Landor-designed colour

scheme, the jets were renamed after bays

around the British coastline. Two -200s,

which had originally been leased to charter

subsidiary British Airtours, joined the BA fleet

and retained their Airtours avian names.

The TriStar was popular with passengers

and crew for its spaciousness and its smooth,

quiet ride. With a relatively small fleet, there

was a sense of community among the

dedicated cadre of flight and cabin crew and

there was always a waiting list to work on the

aircraft. David Valenta-Nash, a former cabin

crew member who served on the long-haul

routes recalled: “It was a great aircraft –

thoughtfully designed for crew. Its only real

drawback for us was that it flew in a nose-up

attitude, which made pulling the service trolley

‘uphill’ hard work. If you [accidentally] let go of

the trolley it would always roll towards the rear.”

The roomy below-deck galley was

appreciated by crews. “The crew member

working the galley was very busy and spent

almost the whole flight down there, cooking

the meals for the entire aircraft. They would

send the trolleys up to the main deck in the

lifts – communicating with the crew above by

intercom – and serving the other cabin crew

with their meals when they came downstairs

for a meal break. In addition, they would

prepare the drinks and duty-free trolleys

and closing the bar at the end of the flight.

Once a year we would have an emergency

drill. They’d fill the galley with smoke and

you’d have to escape by lifting a hatch and

climbing up the narrow lift shaft to the

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 33

TriStar G-BLUS Laggan Bay, one of two -500s leased from Air

Lanka primarily for South American routes. BA Heritage Centre

HRH Princess Margaret christens British

Airways’ first TriStar 500, G-BFCA, which became

Princess Margaret Rose. BA Heritage Centre

30-34_jetliners_tristarsDC.mfDC.mfDCDC.indd 33 03/05/2018 16:46