British Caledonian was a UK airline formed in 1970 through the merger of British United Airways and Caledonian Airways. Operating out of London Gatwick, they were the second long-haul airline for Great Britain.
As with almost any independent airline in the UK, they were eventually taken over by British Airways. Happily, the airline had some very distinctive television advertising which is worth checking out.
British Caledonian TV Ads
First off, we start with a commercial from 1979, very of its era with a pleasantly generic jingle. Look out for the call centre lady with her massive microphone, the very British humour and of course the casual misogyny typical of the time.
Remember the song California Girls by The Beach Boys? Well, the lyrics were rewritten for the next three, going on about all the various girls. It culminates with the singer wishing they all could be Caledonian girls!
Each one has a different lyric, which must have kept some copywriter in business. In their final year, the marketing was a bit more staid, being somewhat more late 1980s corporate.
As previously mentioned, the airline ended up merging into British Airways that year and the fun Caledonian girls were pretty much consigned to history. I wonder if any of them still work for BA today.
Overall Thoughts
It’s great seeing these British Caledonian advertisements and I think it was an inspired decision to use California Girls with a twist for their jingle. It reminds me of the Up Up and Away song being repurposed for TWA and Australia’s TAA (which had some great TV commercials worth checking out!).
Airline ads are a really great window into the era they were produced. It shows the fashions and attitudes of the day, which are in many cases quite different to today, so I always like seeing them.
What do you think of these BCal TV ads? Did you ever fly with the airline and if so, what were they like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Eddie Cuperus via Airliners.net
I did see the “Caledonian Girls” one somewhere before, long after BCal was history. The top photo however just SCREAMS LGW in the early 80’s to me. Tri-jet Central.
Hahaha! Doesn’t it just… it’s a pretty cool shot. Those were the days!