Airlines of Spain 1960s-1970s – A Pictorial History
Photos from the Collection of Henry Tenby
Write up by Henry Tenby
The airline scene in Spain during the 1960s and early 1970s was very vibrant specially for airline buffs. The Spanish charter holiday market was already well established by this time with the flag carrier Iberia and sister company Aviaco complemented by a handful of local charter companies operating classic equipment on IT charters.
Aviaco Se210 Caravelle EC-AXU at Palma 1973.
In the late 60s and early to mid 1970s Aeroflete operated DC-3 and DC-4 passenger charters from a Madrid base as did SPANTAX with their famous Convair 880s, DC-7s, and DC-9-14, and IBERIA low cost sister company operated Fokker 27s and Caravelles. TAE had DC-7s, Trans Europa had DC-4s and DC-7s, and their was Air Spain with their Bristol Britannia and Air Spain with their DC-8-21 charter aircraft. It was a very colourful scene to say the least.
Many of these Spanish charter companies served the major airports of Europe including Zurich, Paris, London Gatwick and German centres too, flying holiday makers from cold climes down to the sunny beaches of Palma, the Canary Islands and sun spots and tourist destinations in Spain proper.
I am looking to purchase 35mm Kodachrome aircraft slide collections. Please contact me: henrytenby at gmail dot com
I have added a few TAP Portugal images as well.
Thank you very much for visiting this page, and enjoy!
IBERIA DC-3 EC-ALC at Madrid January 1973.IBERIA Fokker F28 EC-BVA early 1970s location not known.IBERIA Se210 Caravelle EC-AYD at London Heathrow circa late 1960s.IBERIA DC-8-52 EC-ARC at Madrid January 1973.IBERIA DC-8-52 EC-ARB c/n 45618 at Madrid September 1971 (Jon Proctor Ektachrome slide).IBERIA DC-8-52 EC-ARC with sister ship EC-BAV at Madrid September 1971 (Jon Proctor Ektachrome slide).Aviaco Fokker F27 EC-BPK at Madrid early 1970s.Aeroflete DC-4 EC-BSK at Madrid March 1973.Aeroflete DC-3 EC-ASP at Madrid April 1974.SPANTAX DC-9-14 EC-CGZ at Geneva August 24, 1974.SPANTAX DC-7C EC-BSP at Madrid March 1974.SPANTAX Convair 990 EC-BTE at Helsinki April 1974.Trans Europa DC-7C EC-BCI possibly at Zurich circa 1960s.Trans Europa DC-4 EC-BER at Madrid March 1974.TAE DC-7C EC-BEN at Madrid March 1974.TAP Portugal 727-100 CS-TBV at Zurich Kloten August 1978.TAP Portugal 707 CS-TBB at Zurich Kloten August 1978.VIASA DC-8-63 YV-C-VIA at Madrid June 1974.VIASA DC-8-63 YV-C-VIB at Madrid January 1973.VIASA DC-8-53 YV-C-VID at Madrid April 1974.Air Spain DC-8-21 EC-BXR at Palma November 1972.