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British Airways

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This article deals with the modern airline British Airways. For the 1930s airline of similar name see British Airways Ltd.

British Airways is the largest airline of the United Kingdom, and the largest in Europe. It is also one of the largest airlines in the world, with the greatest number of flights from Europe to North America.

History

British Airways was formed in 1974 from the merger of the state owned British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways (BEA). During the fiscal year ending 2002, BA carried 40 million passengers on revenues exceeding GBP 8 billion. The flag carrier was privatised and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1987 by the Conservative government of Mrs. Thatcher.

Current Operations

British Airways is based at London Heathrow Airport in London, England. It also has a commanding presence at Gatwick. BA has succeeded in dominating Heathrow to the point that the airport is commonly referred to as Fortress Heathrow within both the airline and its competitors.

As an incumbent airline, BA had grandfather rights to around 36% of takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow, many of which are used for the lucrative trans-Atlantic market. Some competitors, such as Virgin Atlantic, bmi British Midland and United Airlines, assert that this stifles competition and some political think tanks recommend an auction of slots. In recent years British Airways has been buying slots from other airlines including United Airlines, SN Brussels and Swiss International Air Lines, and now owns about 40% of slots at Heathrow.

Some British Airways services are operated by various subsidiaries and franchisees including British Airways Citiexpress, British Mediterranean Airways, Sun-Air (Denmark) and Loganair. 

British Airways is a founding member of the oneworld airline alliance.

British Airways owns just under 20% of Qantas, and are very closely aligned on the Kangaroo routes (such as sharing revenue). Until 1998 BA owned Go Fly Limited, a low-cost susbsidiary, the airline is now part of Easyjet.

British Airways are pioneering the use of "flat beds" in the premium cabins on their long-haul routes and have the most flat beds of any airline on their aircraft.

Fleet

Up until recently for its main fleet, BA has traditionally been a Boeing customer. This has been always been a subject of controversy, as many feel that as a British carrier, BA should support the British manufacturing industry and buy Airbus jets. The company has defended its decision by arguing that with the exception of the 777 fleet, it has always equipped its Boeing aircraft with British made Rolls-Royce engines. This goes back to the 1960s, when BOAC were replacing its accident-prone Comet aircraft with Boeing 707s - a condition was placed on the company that it used Rolls-Royce power for the new jets.

However, it has operated non-Boeing planes in the past mainly as a result of takeovers and joint agreements with other airlines. One example of this were those planes acquired through the buyout of British Caledonian Airways in the 1980s, and successfully operated both the Douglas DC-10 and Airbus A320 for a number of years. The latter was significant, as BA's successful operations with the ex-BCAL A320s led to it placing a huge order for the type (and its smaller brother the A319) to replace its own ageing fleet of Boeing 737s. BA is also rumoured to be in secret talks with Boeing over its proposed 747-Advanced (which will compete with the Airbus A380), despite public announcements that it plans to reduce the size of its 747 fleet in favour of the 777.

The regional fleet is much more varied, and some of these aircraft are shared with BA's partner subsidiaries.

British Airways was an operator of the famous Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic airliner. BA had a daily Concorde service between London and New York. It was announced (on April 10, 2003) that, after October 24, 2003, they would cease scheduled services with Concorde, due to depressed passenger numbers and increasing maintenance costs. The last day of its Saturday-only London Heathrow to Barbados Concorde flight was on August 30, 2003.

Main fleet

Regional Fleet & Subsidiaries

Destinations

British Airways flies to destinations in Europe, North America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

The list does not include cities only served by British Airways Citiexpress, GB Airways, British Mediterranean Airways, or other affiliated regional carriers.

Africa

Asia

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Southwest Asia

Europe

North America

United States, Canada, and Mexico

Bermuda and the Caribbean

Oceania

South America

Other facts of interest

  • British Airways and Air France were the only two Concorde operators.
  • The airline is the largest operator of the Boeing 747-400, with 57 aircraft.
  • British Airways aircraft generally use the Airline call sign "Speedbird" in ATC radio transmissions. On UK Domestic routes some flights use "Shuttle" as their call sign.
  • During the 1990s, British Airways repainted (and re-named) many of their airplanes in colour schemes relating to countries they fly to.
  • British Airways has featured prominently in recent James Bond films, most notably an air-air shot of a BA 747 in Die Another Day.

IATA Code

British Airways uses the IATA designator code BA.

External links

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