The Sir Freddie Laker Historical Society
Laker Airways465 photographs

Laker Airways Passengers

Laker Airways Skytrain made history by bringing affordable transatlantic air travel to ordinary people for the first time. Before Skytrain, a return flight from London to New York cost the equivalent of several weeks' wages for most British workers. Sir Freddie's no-frills service changed everything, with one-way fares starting at just 59 pounds.

These photographs capture the passengers who made Skytrain such a success — families, students, holiday-makers, and business travellers who could finally afford to cross the Atlantic. The images of passengers queuing overnight at Gatwick Airport became iconic symbols of the democratization of air travel.