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TEA Trans European Airways


Taken at Brussels in July 1991, one of the 12 B737-300 wearing the last color scheme with the 12 stars of Europe.  (Photo: Skystef)

 

Base: Brussels
IATA: HE
ICAO: HE, TEA
Fleet:

3x B720 (OO-TEA, OO-TEB, OO-TYA),

4x B707 (OO-TEC, OO-TED, OO-TEE, OO-TYC) +1x leased from Air Arctic Icelandic (TF-AEA),

23x B737 (OO-LTA, OO-LTB, OO-LTC, OO-LTD, OO-LTE, OO-LTF, OO-LTG / OO-XTG, OO-LTJ, OO-LTK, OO-LTL, OO-LTM, OO-LTN, OO-SDB, OO-SDC, OO-TEH, OO-TEJ, OO-TEK, OO-TEL, OO-TEM, OO-TEN, OO-TEO, OO-TYB, OO-TYD +1x leased from Aéromaritime (F-GFUE),

2x A300 (OO-TEF, OO-TEG)
History: TEA Trans European Airways was formed on November 9 1970 by Georges Gutelman, initially to provide cheap charter services for students via his tour operating system T.I.F.A., but becoming a leading charter and inclusive tours company in Belgium. Operations started in May 1971 from its Brussels base with the delivery of a B720. TEA was the second company to buy an A300 which was delivered on November 17 1974. With the oil crisis starting in 1978 several aircraft were leased to other airlines like Egyptair, Quebecair, Bahamasair, Southwest Airlines, America West, Kabo Air, Nigeria Airways, Pan Am, British Midland, El Al, Rotterdam Airlines. In 1979 long haul routes were applied but refused by the Belgian CAA due to protectionism of the Sobelair/SABENA group. In 1987 a first foreign subsidiary was formed in Turkey, later followed by subsidiaries in France (1987), Switserland (1988), United Kingdom (1988) and Italy (1990). On June 10 1990 scheduled services were started to London Gatwick, in September followed by Athens, Barcelona, Nice and Las Palmas. The rapid growth led to financial troubles and finally to the bankrupt on October 15 1991. Two companies emerged from TEA: European Airlines and Eurobelgian Airlines.

 

Belgian Airlines