Challenging Adversity

Explores the continuing story of Britain's 'other' airlines.

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On 1 January 1964, a new chairman of BOAC took up his post and the whole airline industry was waiting for the publication of the Edwards Report, which would have far-reaching consequences for all the participants, and many of their passengers, in that industry. The Edwards Report also marked the start of the gradual diminution of the government's controls on both the state corporations which it owned, and the independent airlines which it tried, not always very successfully, to regulate.

Guy Halford MacLeod explores this fascinating story in a follow-up to 'Born of Adversity', using arguments and comments of parliamentarians to illustrate the themes of the book: industry structure, government interference, confusion of purpose, competition, deregulation. Set against the bigger background of world events, the book will chart the fortunes of British Airways and industry icons like Freddie Laker and Richard Branson, and explains the consequences of European deregulation and the growth of the internet, which enabled newcomers like Easyjet, but has also led to the gradual disappearance of package tours and charter airlines.