security when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in late 1971. The group was capitalised at £5 million at its stock market debut. This provided the funds to expand its charter business, build a network of regional scheduled services between secondary airports across Europe (with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom and Ireland), enter the transatlantic affinity group/ABC market and establish itself as leading fixed wing operator of oil industry support flights. It let the airline expand its fleet, leading to introduction of the One-Eleven, Boeing 707, Hawker Siddeley 748, Boeing 727,Boeing 737, BAe 146 and, eventually, the Airbus A300. Most were acquired second-hand. In 1972, Dan-Air co-founded Gatwick Handling, a Gatwick-based handling agent, with Laker Airways. Each owned 50% at its inception. By the mid-1970s, Dan-Air had become the second biggest resident operator at Gatwick after British Caledonian. From then on, it operated the largest of the UK independent airlines' fleets as well as Britain's largest charter fleet. Operating a large fleet comprising aircraft of various sizes gave the airline unrivalled flexibility among European charter carriers to meet the requirements of different tour operators. In the UK, Dan-Air was second only to British Airways in fleet size. For most of this period, Dan-Air had more than 50 aircraft, employed about 3,000 and by the end of the 1980s carried 6 million passengers annually, almost one-third on scheduled services. Dan-Air marked the 1980s with a corporate makeover. The first stage entailed a new fleet-wide livery. One Boeing 727-100, the airline's first pair of stretched Boeing 727-200 Advanced and its first Boeing 737 were first to appear in the new livery. The second stage gave the fleet widebody look interiors as each aircraft underwent maintenance. The final stage changed stationery, ticket wallets, timetable covers, airport signs and baggage tags as well as its logo in advertisements and public relations campaigns. By the time British Airways took over British Caledonian, Dan-Air had become Gatwick's second-largest slot holder, accounting for 16% of slots. Dan-Air provided the chairman of the Gatwick Scheduling Committee while British Caledonian, Gatwick's largest slot holder, provided the [slot] co-ordinator. Expansion overseas Dan-Air's first overseas expansion occurred during the Cold War in 1968 when Frank Tapling, the sales director, visited German tour operators to increase utilisation of the growing Comet fleet and take advantage of the fact that all airlines other than those headquartered in the US, the