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
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 Vics Viking Garage near the Uncle Charlies 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. |
? |
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 Treks first jet aircraft, later in LUXAIR colours. |
LX-LGV | Boeing 707 - Type C | June 1972 |
LX-LGQ and LX-LGR | Boeing 707 | ? |
LX-LGU | Boeing 707 - TypeB | 1978 |
LX-LGT and LX-LGS | Boeing 707 | 1978 |
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. |