If you thought low-cost air travel started with Ryanair and easyJet, think again. Michael O'Leary and Stelios Haji-Ioannou weren't even born when the British air transport industry took its first steps towards the freedom of choice and lower fares today's passengers enjoy. It was on 6 June 1953 that the first post-war scheduled international flight to be undertaken by a British independent carrier took off for Belgrade. Until then, government policy meant scheduled operations could only be conducted by the two nationalised airlines, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways.
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