to the islands began the following month. In 1951, BEA launched a Glasgow–Jersey summer service with DC-3s, the airline's first direct service between Scotland and the Channel Islands. During that year's second half, it also successfully trialled de Havilland's Heron 1 demonstrator on its Channel Islands network. In April 1952, a new Exeter–Jersey route launched, which BEA contracted to its new independent associate Jersey Airlines. Two months later, a new paved runway opened at Jersey, which enabled the introduction of bigger, heavier aircraft types on BEA's (and other airlines') services to and from the island. In Summer 1953, BEA introduced "Elizabethan" class Ambassador aircraft on its London–Jersey route. Following the departure of BEA's last flight from Northolt to Jersey in October 1954, the airline's London – Channel Islands flights served the British capital exclusively via Heathrow. In 1955, BEA ordered two de Havilland Heron 2 series aircraft for use on its Channel Island feeder routes. These differed from the pair of 1B series Herons used on the airline's Scottish feeder network and air ambulance services in terms of their undercarriage; the series 2 had a retractable undercarriage while the series 1's was fixed. Following BEA's acquisition of a 25% minority stake in its regional associate Jersey Airlines and a subsequent transfer of routes from the corporation to the independent in 1956, the Heron 2s ordered by the former were delivered to the latter. BEA's withdrawal from Alderney, as well as from Southampton–Guernsey, Jersey–Dinard and Guernsey–Dinard, on 20 April 1956 coincided with the airline's last Rapide service in the Channel Islands. 1956 was also the year that saw Viscounts supplementing DC-3s/Pionairs on the corporation's Heathrow–Jersey route as well as a new summer service from Belfast to Jersey. BEA's acquisition of minority stakes in its independent associates Jersey Airlines and Cambrian Airways in 1956 and 1958 respectively resulted in the former's withdrawal from a number of mainly secondary routes serving the Channel islands, which were transferred to the latter. The launch of a new BEA summer weekend service from Aberdeen via Edinburgh to Jersey in 1957 was followed by the transfer of most of the corporation's London–Jersey and London–Guernsey flights from Heathrow to Gatwick when the latter reopened as London's second airport on 9 June 1958, in line with contemporary UK government policy to develop the airport. On 1 August 1960, a new paved runway opened at Guernsey, which enabled the introduction