On 7 July 1948, a Silver City Bristol Freighter operated the first cross-Channel air ferry service, between Lympne near Folkestone in Kent and Le Touquet on France's northern Côte d'Opale coast, with good road connections from and to London and Paris respectively. The new service, which initially operated on a seasonal charter basis, became a year-round scheduled operation in 1949. In the beginning, there was a flat £32 one-way fare to take a group of four passengers along with their car across the Channel. Once opposition from British European Airways (BEA) to the carriage of passengers travelling without vehicles was overcome, a new fare structure was introduced. For example, a group of four travelling with a small car was charged only £27, while the comparable fare for four people travelling with a large car remained at £32. By the end of 1949, this operation fully utilised five Freighters, which carried 2,700 cars and 10,000 passengers. These figures represented a significant increase over the previous year when only 178 cars and their occupants, as well as some motorcycles and bicycles had been carried until the end of the season in September.