operation extended to Montreal, Baltimore, Washington and Nassau. Acquisition of first imported aircraft In 1958, Eagle acquired the first three of an eventual six Douglas DC-6s for long-range charter and scheduled operations. These were the airline's first pressurised aircraft. They were also its first imported aircraft (the initial batch of three had been sourced from the US). This acquisition marked an important change regarding UK airlines' aircraft procurement policies as new legislation permitted (for the first time) that aircraft imported from abroad – usually American models – could be paid for in dollars. The lack of access to foreign exchange to finance overseas aircraft purchases prior to the change in legislation had compelled all private UK airlines to equip their fleets either with British-built civilian/ex-military aircraft or war-surplus, foreign-built military transport planes that had served with the RAF Transport Command — mainly Douglas Dakotas. Their state-owned counterparts had to seek Government dispensation to import foreign aircraft, which was only granted when no suitable British alternatives were available. These measures had been designed during the early post-war years to conserve as much of Britain's scarce US dollar-denominated foreign exchange reserves as possible. Pioneering of low-fare scheduled services in the western hemisphere Eagle Airways (Bermuda) launched commercial operations in May 1958 between Bermuda and New York, competing head-on with three of the world's most powerful airlines – BOAC, Pan Am and Eastern Air Lines. Other regional services in the western hemisphere followed. Stimulated by low fares, traffic volumes on the Nassau—Miami and Bermuda—JFK sectors grew such that it was possible to run a four-times-a-day Viscount shuttle on the former and a similar, thrice-daily operation on the latter profitably. This increased Eagle's, as well as the overall British market share on these routes. This success provided the impetus for Eagle Airways (Bermuda) to launch weekly low-fare through-plane scheduled services to London with all-coach-configured DC-6Cs. The use of a foreign-registered aircraft on the London route enabled it to circumvent restrictive licensing provisions (including those contained in the forthcoming Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act, 1960) as it only applied to UK aircraft. Bermuda's status as a British colony furthermore meant that no reciprocal approvals from overseas authorities were needed. Eagle's new direct Bermuda—London flights were a cheaper and faster alternative to BOAC's DC-7C services which routed via New York. However, the terms of the licence permitting Eagle to operate scheduled services on this route required it