In March 1953 Eagle was granted a licences
to operate a scheduled passenger service between London (Blackbushe)
and Belgrade via Munich. This was the airlines first sceduled passenger
route. In May 1953 Eagle ran a proving flight on this route with 26
passengers consiting of members of the press, Yugoslav diplomats and
travel agents. Eagle used one of its new Vikers
Vikings. The flight left Blackbushe on time, arrived in Munich on
time, were lunch was had, and then went on to Zemun airport in Belgrade.
The flight took 8 hours.
On the 6th June 1953, amid much ceremony,
Eagle Aviation started its first scheduled passenger service on this
route, using the Vickers Viking G-AKBH. The
company called the service "Air Link to Yugoslavia".
With this service Eagle had become the
first post WW2 airline to start an international scheduled service for
both tourists and businessmen.
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