Reg Pycroft

His name will be only familiar to elderly patrons of the travel transport scene but Reg Pycroft, who has died at the age of 85, invented low-cost air travel with Jetsave in the early 1970s well before Fred Laker’s 1977 Skytrain.

Amazingly Pycroft retired at the age of 42 although the name Jetsave has lingered on as part of TUI and is the registered title of a Heathrow chauffeur service.
 
After National Service in the RAF Reg worked for a number of now forgotten airlines.  Transatlantic travel was a cartel rigidly controlled by IATA, and BOAC the British element.  In 1972 with restrictions eased he jumped in by introducing Jetsave, contracting aircraft from the then British charter airlines he knew, and mainly the major American carrier TWA.
 
Jetsave ended up carrying some 250,000 passengers annually and, apart from the large vacation operation it pioneered to Florida and California, it had a very large ‘seat only’ business especially to Canada, where Reg had negotiated a long-term aircraft lease arrangement with Canadian Pacific.
 
He was very much ‘hands on’, with a quote that has stood the test of time “my management is walking around the office daily, including the post room – amazing what one picks up this way – every aspiring businessman should talk to his troops every day”.
 
After ten very successful years he sold out to the Grade organisation, the theatre and TV group.  Later in life he became friendly with Colin Marshall (Lord Marshal of Knightsbridge) and acted as consultant to British Airways.  He was a true airline man.

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

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Peter Barron, United Kingdom

I was very fortunate to have worked with Jack Hilton, another giant of the trans-Atlantic market, who had worked for TWA, USTS and Braniff. During that time at Braniff he introduced me to Reg Pycroft and we worked closely with George Clay of American Airplan. I also met Freddie Laker on an Air Florida flight where I was fortunate enough to fly in the same cabin as him. I have always considered myself very fortunate to have met and worked with such giants of the British aviation scene in the second half of the last century. Their legacy speaks for itself today.

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John Jones,

I remember Reg with affection and respect. Jetsave joined the ABC revolution in 1973. On 1st April 1973 Laker operated the first ever ABC MAN/YYZ and carried 73k ABC pax that year 179k 1974 and 229k 1975, 55% of the total carried by British airlines.

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Tony Cocklin,

Reg Pycroft was an 'A List' industry figure of the 1970s - stylish in personality and entrepreneurial spirit. He founded Jetsave in about 1972 when the CAA introduced the ground-breaking seat-only Advance Booking Charter system to replace the old,restrictive affinity group charter scheme on mainly trans-Atlantic routes. These flights could be organised by holders of the newly-created Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL). Reg's Jetsave was probably the first - certainly most well-known - of these pioneering UK ATOL holders. Others included Airplan, set up by former BOAC executive, George Clay; and Golden Lion Travel, a British Caledonian Group subsidiary. As others followed, the ABC operators formed their own trade association, the Advanced Booking Charter Operators' Council (ABCOC). Interesting, pathfinding days.

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