Orion Airways

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Orion Airways was the house airline of British tour operator Horizon Travel, established in 1979 and based at East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington, England. The airline began flying on 28 March 1980 with Boeing 737-200s, sending package-holiday passengers sunward at a time when the charter business was very much a contact sport.

Orion grew beyond Horizon’s own holiday programs, taking work from other tour operators and adding scheduled holiday services from East Midlands and Birmingham in 1986. Its fleet progressed from Boeing 737-200s to 737-300s, and later included Airbus A300s—more seats, more sangria, more chances for a boarding pass to become a family heirloom.

Corporate turbulence arrived quickly. Bass acquired the Horizon group in 1987; Thomson Travel then acquired Horizon, including Orion Airways, in 1988. Thomson already had Britannia Airways, so Orion’s independent run was headed for the departure board.

Our Orion Airways collection celebrates the chocolate-brown tail, orange “O,” and gold-and-orange cheatlines of a distinctly 1980s British holiday airline. Orion’s final flights operated on 26 January 1989, after which its operations and much of its fleet were integrated into Britannia Airways. A tidy little airline ghost, preserved before the gate closes.