Trek Airways

From the beginning to the end. All the airline names, registration numbers, type of aircraft and year they were in service. ZS being the South African and LX the Luxembourg registration numbers.

SKYTRAVEL (1946-1947)

G-AGVB Wayfarer 1946/1947

?

DH-86 De Havilland Dominie 1947

                                                                              

PAN AFRICAN AIR CHARTER (1948)

?

Dakota DC-3

1948

                                                                                     

TROPIC AIRWAYS (1951-1953)

ZS-DFB Dakota DC-3 bought in 1950,ditched in the Mediterranean in 1952.
ZS-DGN Avro York 1952

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

MEREDITH AIR TRANSPORT (1953)name was later changed to
AFRICAN AIR SAFARIS

G-AMSU Dakota DC-3 1953

                                                            

TREK AIRWAYS (1953-1962)

ZS-DIY Dakota DC-3 1953 - first aircraft painted in Trek Airways colours.
ZS-DKH
(orig British reg. G-AHOT)
Viking (first one) 1954 - flew from 1957-1961 in Protea Airways colours, a second airline of Trek. It was sold in 1961 because of the complexity operating two different airlines. This plane also became a well-known landmark from 1961-1987 on top of Vic’s Viking Garage near the Uncle Charlie’s Interchange near Johannesburg/South Africa.
ZS-DKI Viking (second one) 1954
ZS-DNU Viking (third one) 1955
ZS-CIG Skymaster DC-4 1957 - this Skymaster performed an emergency landing on 3rd of September 1960 in the desert near Asyut, 250 miles south of Cairo. All lives were saved but the Skymaster burned out.
ZS-CIH Skymaster DC-4 1957
LX-SAF
(orig ZS-CIH)
Skymaster DC-4 1961 painted in Luxembourg colours.

 
                                                                 
TREK AIRWAYS/LUXAVIA (1963-1994)

?

2 Constellations L749 1962-1963
ZS-DTM / LX-LGZ L1649A Superstar Constellation February1964 in Trek colours as ZS-DTM, in 1965 in LUXAIR colours as LX-LGZ.
ZS-DVJ /
LX- LGX
L1649A Superstar Constellation March 1964 in Trek colours as ZS-DVJ and briefly in LUXAIR colours as LX-LGX. This plane, on delivery, flew non-stop from Oakland/San Francisco to Hamburg/Germany in 22 hours and 10 minutes, a record in those days. She now resides in the SAA Museum at Johannesburg International Airport (former Jan Smuts Airport) where she was painstakingly reassembled by SAA engineers.
ZS-FAB / LX-LGY L1649A Superstar Constellation July 1966 - this plane was sold as scrap metal and finally broken up at Jan Smuts Airport/Johannesburg.
LX-LGW Boeing 707 - Type A May 1969 Trek’s first jet aircraft, later in LUXAIR colours.
LX-LGV Boeing 707 - Type C June 1972

On 20 January1973 LUXAVIA was registered as a tour operator with LUXAIR being the airline carrying LUXAVIA’S customers. Trek remained only as the South African licence holder. The aircraft were from now on in full LUXAIR livery.

LX-LGQ and LX-LGR Boeing 707

?

LX-LGU Boeing 707 - TypeB 1978
LX-LGT and LX-LGS Boeing 707 1978

By 1978 LUXAVIA had four Boeing’s registered in Luxembourg. LX-LGW, LX-LGU, LX-LGT and LX-LGS.

LX-LTM(orig ZS-SPA)   Boeing 747-SP 1980 - only made a brief appearance. Reg. number was made up of the initials of Tom Meredith in honour of  the founder of Trek Airways.
LX-LGP Airbus A-300 December 1984 – bought from Air Singapore.
LX-LGX(orig ZS-SPB)  Boeing 747-SP 1988-leased from South African Airways.
ZS-SPB Boeing 747-SP In September 1993 the airline proudly reverted back to the original TREK AIRWAYS and the registration changed back from LX-LGX to ZS-SPB and she flew like that until closure on 11April 1994.

History of Luxavia

Home

1