FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO 2 MILLION PASSENGERS

Even a quick mental flip through the history of Gibraltar's mercantile community reveals a remarkable string of success stories... often linked to the entrepreneurial skills by which local businessmen have turned adversity to their advantage.

And though many of the early trading firms — built in the 18th and 19th centuries on a platform of serving the garrison's needs then expanding into Spain and Morocco — had British roots, more often than not their full development and real growth were spurred by immi grants from other parts ofEurope... particularly from Genoa, Naples and Malta.

Genoa, as a medieval city state whose fleets dominated Mediterra nean trade for more than a century, bred particularly hardy and adap tive entrepreneurs, traits which seemingly marked not only the wealthy merchant classes but the simpler peasantry. And it was from the commercial seeds sown by two relatively humble Genoese Gaggero brothers that Gibraltar's Bland group of companies has grown to become a major player in the tourist market of the western Mediterranean with a 2,000-strong staff working for its companies in Britain, Gibraltar, Spain and Mo rocco.

In local business circles the names of Bland and Gaggero are almost synonymous and the Group's success saga is closely in terwoven with a single family's determination to succeed. It is also a story of the up-and-downs span ning the efforts of more than five generations of the Gaggeros as they built an international business from ownership of a seedy pub on Cas tle Steps to the aircraft, ships and bus fleets of today.

"And there certainly have been many'downs'as well as'ups'in the process of our growth," admits Joe Gaggero CBE who stepped down as chairman of GB Airways - the Bland flagship company -in favour of his son James in January this year.

Like many of the Genoese fami lies who settled in Gibraltar after fleeing the Napoleonic turmoil of their homeland at the end of the 18th Century, the Gaggeros came from humble backgrounds and the family still has the account books of one of the earliest enterprises when,in the early 1800s,"a greatgreat grandfather owned a pub on what was then the notorious Cas tle Steps," Joe Gaggero explains.

But from pub-keepers the

Gaggerosswitched to shipping and two brothers Joseph and Manuel worked their way up the ladder on the staff of M.H.Bland, who had opened a .shipping agency on the Rock in 1810 and by 1861 had ex- eration has made a mark on the his torical evolution of the group.

"The first two developed passen ger and cargo shipping routes as well as port facilities in Gibraltar and Morocco. For many years the services were concentrated on de veloping the passenger and car ferry link between Gibraltar and Tangier."

"Along the line there have been mistakes and miscalculations... in cluding setting up a company to make heated dog-kennels for the US market and a venture in Paris where our American associates turned out to be CIA agents who were using the premises to 'bug' French government departments... We got out of that one very quickly when we uncovered what they wore doing," he told me during a recent visit to the Rock.

Gaggero is justifiably proud of the family's success and traditions, but doesn't shy from the mishaps. "They've all been part of the cor porate learning curve," he chuck les.

Though now headquartered in the UK — where, as well as own ing and operating Britain's fifth largest airline, its travel and holi day operation Cadogan Holidays (founded in 1950) was voted the UK's best specialist tour operator for six consecutive years- the Bland Group remains at heart Gibraltarian and its story of multimillion-pound international suc cess has its roots on the Rock.

It also exemplifies the entrepre neurial skills and the ability of the Rock's business community to overcome the sortof difficulties and pressures which today Gibraltar again faces. For the family's initial venture into the airline business with a single amphibian flying be tween Gibraltar and Morocco was not a resounding success.

Founded by Gaggero's father George (later Sir George) in 1931, Gibraltar Airways operated a Saro Windhover amphibian which pio neered flights across the Strait to Tangier.

Joseph — the grandfather of the present group chairman — became chairman and was followed in his turn by Sir George. And each gen coal bunker trade was the core busi ness together with salvage opera tionslinked to the Bland ship repair yard.The evolution post World War 11 was a complete diversification into travel and aviation — greatly extending the geographical spread of our activities — whilst maritime

"My father was the main share holder but the project wasahead of its time and neither Gibraltar nor Tangier were ready for it," Gaggero explains." Without a runway at Gib — the airstrip was not yet built the service proved unviable and ceased after a short time. However the name was kept alive and the, company was kept going by Bland which during World War II repre sented Imperial Airways/BOAC in

Gibraltar."

Following the development of the airport in World War II, in 1947 — with three seven-seater de Havilland Rapide bi-planes - the airline was revived to provide third- level scheduled flights within a radius of 300 miles of the Rock in conjunction with what was then British European Airways.BEAhad similar deals with Air Malta and Cyprus Airways - providing links to its trunk services to London.

"Initially we also experimented with routes into Spain, though these were not successful," Gaggero recalls."The Rapide's fu selage was canvas and the biplanes flew at a maximum speed of 100 mph and were a far cry from the 189-seater Airbus 321s we use to day wlrich cruises at more than 500 mph...and is considerably more comfortable." This year GB Air ways expects to carry more than two million passengers on 23 routes to destinations in Europe and North Africa,he adds proudly.

But though its first planes may have been "light-weight", the airline's aspirations were not. Even after 1958, when Spain withdrew any bi-lateral routes out of Gi braltar, "a formula was found which allowed us to continue a link from the Rock to Madrid." The air- the Moroccan coast,returning with supplies for the garrison. Steamdriven, they also found a lucrative niche in towing sailing ships through the Strait against adverse winds — not only to avoid delays but to prevent attacks by the Barbary Coast pirates!)

"Though the closure of the bor der and the economic pressures this imposed on Gibraltar was one of the'dips'during my career with the group, we were able to maintain a life-line route to London with Brit ish Airways so that — in spite of Franco's efforts the Rock's tourist economic mantle was not cracked," he says.

"Like other Gibraltar concerns we had to be resilient under con siderable pressure in a community with a relatively small infrastruc ture.

"But we not only survived...we managed to continue to grow and develop.

"As a company we learned a lot in those 20 years...it was bit like a game of Snakes and Ladders successes meant moving up the ladders and set backs sent us slithering down the snakes—but we got there!"

When the border reo pened it became clear that no airline could survive "doing one route" and in line also played a significant part in the development of Malaga which eventually was to outstrip Gibraltar and develop its own in ternational airport — in the years between 1954 and 1964 when Gi braltar was still the "gateway" for travelers to the nascent Costa del Sol.

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"It was not for want of trying to develop routes into mainland Eu rope that the Gibraltar side of the air business lessened," Gaggero stresses. "But political circum stances were against us."

The closure of the border could have presaged lean times for the airline and the group, but in the best Gibraltarian tradition the Gaggeros turned adversity to ad vantage,strengthening ties and ex panding business in Morocco... where,though the original air links had failed,the original Bland ships had built up a thriving trade in the latter half of the 19th century.

{Those multi-purpose early ves sels shipped cargo and passengers from Gibraltar to various points on

1989, to meet the need for greater volumes of trade and passengers, as GB Airways,the company trans ferred its operations and base to the UK."We now have an established international structure centred on the UK which is heavily involved not only in air transport but in UK tourism and serving operations in the Western Mediterranean," Gaggero says. "Globally to be a game-player you have got to have volume and accessibility."

But though the group's head quarters are in Britain and Gaggero's home is now there, his heart remains solidly in Gibraltar.

"1 would dearly love to see all the recent problems that have be set Gibraltar put behind us," he says."That would ensure the com munity could enjoy the tremen dous aspirations for the future in relation to all that is going on in Europe.All the ingredients are here - we are respected internationally, the community has a lot of resil ience and our track record is good..."

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