History of British Airways
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
(BA), the United Kingdom's
national airline A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...
, was formed in 1974 with the merger of the two largest UK airlines,
British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...
(BOAC) and
British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...
(BEA), and including also two smaller regional airlines,
Cambrian Airways Cambrian Airways was an airline based in the United Kingdom which ran operations from Cardiff Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport between 1935 and 1974. It was incorporated into British Airways when BOAC, BEA, Cambrian and Northeast merge ...
and
Northeast Airlines Northeast Airlines was an American airline based in Boston, Massachusetts that chiefly operated in the northeastern United States, and later to Canada, Florida, the Bahamas, Los Angeles and other cities. It was acquired by and merged into Del ...
. The merger was the completion of a consolidation process started in 1971 with the establishment of the British Airways Board, a body created by the British government to control the operations and finances of BOAC and BEA, which initially continued to exist as separate entities. British Airways acquired the supersonic
Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
in 1976, operating it on transatlantic services. The same year it assumed sole operation of international flights to North America and Southeast Asia from rival
British Caledonian British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
. The formation of
Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and w ...
in 1984 began a tense rivalry, which led to "one of the most bitter and protracted libel actions in aviation history". Under the leadership of Chairman Sir John King and CEO
Colin Marshall Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge (16 November 1933 – 5 July 2012), was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords. Early and family life Marshall was educated at University College School, an independent schoo ...
, British Airways was
privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in February 1987, and in July of the same year, it launched the controversial takeover of British Caledonian. Following privatisation, British Airways entered a period of rapid growth, leading to the use of the slogan "The World's Favourite Airline", and dominated its domestic rivals during the early 1990s. Faced with increased competition and higher costs in the mid-1990s, CEO Bob Ayling led a restructuring effort, leading to trade union clashes; the carrier also invested in regional European airlines, courted international airline partnerships, and attempted a controversial ethnic livery rebranding campaign. In the early 2000s, CEO
Rod Eddington Sir Roderick Ian Eddington AO FTSE (born 2 January 1950) is an Australian businessman. He was first appointed to the board of News Corporation in 1999, still serves on News Corp board and also serves on the board of another of Rupert Murdoch' ...
implemented further cost cuts, the retirement of Concorde, and the removal of ethnic liveries. Under Willie Walsh, who became CEO in 2005, British Airways faced a price-fixing scandal, moved its primary hub to
Heathrow Terminal 5 Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Terminal 5 is currently used exclusi ...
, and experienced threats of industrial action, leading to a strike in March 2010. On 8 April 2010, it was confirmed that British Airways and
Iberia Airlines Iberia (), legally incorporated as ''Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal'', is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Founded in 1927 and based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from i ...
had agreed to a merger, forming the
International Airlines Group International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is an Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its global headqua ...
, although BA continues to operate under its own brand. The combined airline became the world's third-largest carrier (after
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
and
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
) in terms of annual revenue.


Origins and formation

On 31 March 1924, Britain's four pioneer airlines that started up in the immediate post war period—
Handley Page Transport Handley Page Transport Ltd was an airline company founded in 1919, soon after the end of the First World War, by Frederick Handley Page. The company's first planes were Handley Page Type O/400 bombers modified for passenger use. They flew a Lo ...
,
British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd was a short-lived British airline operating flying boats across the English Channel in 1923 and 1924. It merged with three other airlines in 1924 to form Imperial Airways. Formation British Marine Air Navig ...
,
Daimler Airway Daimler Airway was an airline subsidiary of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA)'s Daimler Company. It was created to use some of the assets of the failed ventures Airco and its subsidiary, Aircraft Transport and Travel, which was acquired ...
s and
Instone Air Line Instone Air Line was an early British airline from 1919 to 1924. Along with other private airlines of the time, it was absorbed into Imperial Airways. This airline is not to be confused with Instone Air Line (1981) of Stansted, which operated ...
—joined to form Imperial Airways Limited, developing routes throughout the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
to India, some parts of Africa and later to
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, Australia. Meanwhile, a number of smaller UK air transport companies had begun operating, and by 1935 many of these had merged to form the original privately owned
British Airways Ltd. British Airways Ltd was a British airline company operating in Europe in the period 1935–1939. It was formed in 1935 by the merger of Spartan Air Lines Ltd, United Airways Ltd (no relation to the US carrier United Airlines), and Hillman's ...
Following a government review, Imperial Airways and British Airways were nationalised in November 1939 to form the
British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...
(BOAC). Post-war, BOAC continued to operate the majority of long-haul services in Britain, other than routes to South America; these were flown by British South American Airways, which was merged back into BOAC in 1949. Continental European and domestic flights were flown by a new nationalised airline,
British European Airways Corporation British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...
(BEA), which compulsorily took over the scheduled services of existing UK independent airlines. On 2 May 1952, BOAC became the world's first airline to operate jet airliners; the inaugural flight with the
de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...
 1 was from London to
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
. However, the Comet's service introduction was plagued by structural problems and accidents, leading to its withdrawal in 1954 and replacement with the upgraded Comet 4 models in 1958. The first attempt to create a new combined British airline through the merger of BOAC with BEA arose in 1953 out of inconclusive attempts between the two airlines to negotiate air rights through the British colony of
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. The Chairman of BOAC, Miles Thomas, was in favour of the idea as a potential solution to a disagreement between the two airlines as to which should serve the increasingly important oil regions of the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. In this proposal, Thomas had backing from the
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
at the time,
Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician. ''The Times'' obituary c ...
. However, opposition from the Treasury blocked the idea, and an agreement was reached instead to allow BEA to serve
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, and in return to leave all routes east and south of Cyprus to BOAC. However, the solution was not entirely satisfactory to BOAC, as BEA's effective control of
Cyprus Airways Cyprus Airways (Greek: Κυπριακές Αερογραμμές) is the flag carrier airline of Cyprus, based at Larnaca International Airport. It commenced operations on 1 June 2017. History Cyprus Airways resumed operations in 2016 after win ...
gave it the ability to continue to serve destinations ostensively ceded to BOAC, including Beirut and Cairo by using Cyprus Airways as its proxy. In 1967, the government established a committee of inquiry into Civil Aviation under Sir Ronald Edwards. The Edwards Committee reported in 1969 and one of its recommendations was the formation of a National Air Holding Board to control finances and policies of the two corporations. The recommendation was enacted in 1971 with the passing of the
Civil Aviation Act 1971 Civil may refer to: * Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights * Civil disobedience *Civil engineering * Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a m ...
, which formed a British Airways Board to control all the activities of BOAC and BEA, including the newly formed BEA Airtours subsidiary which targeted the emerging
package holiday A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...
business. Consequently, in 1972 the BOAC and BEA managements were combined under the newly formed British Airways Board, with the physical operations of the separate airlines coming together as British Airways on 1 April 1974, under the guidance of
David Nicolson Sir David Lancaster Nicolson, FCGI, FIMechE, FIProdE, FIMgt, FRSA (20 September 1922 – 19 July 1996) was a British business executive and politician who played a key role in setting up British Airways and served for five years in the Eur ...
as chairman of the board. At the time it was the biggest merger in the aviation industry, creating the world's largest network of routes for the new unified company to harness. In 1975, British Airways was headquartered in the Victoria Terminal in London. Its international division was headquartered at Speedbird House by Heathrow Airport, while its European division was headquartered at Bealine House,
Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is an area in the London Borough of Hillingdon in West London, and in the historic county of Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...
, Middlesex. The regional division was headquartered in Ruford House,
Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...
.


1970s: Consolidation and Concorde

The newly formed British Airways had inherited a mix of aircraft from its predecessors. It quickly retired the Standard VC10s that had come from BOAC and the last
Vickers Vanguard The Vickers Vanguard was a short/medium-range turboprop airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs. The Vanguard was developed during the mid-to-late 1950s in response to a specification issued by ...
s from BEA. It also ordered the
Hawker Siddeley 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption by Hawker Siddeley. ...
for use on Scottish routes to enable the
Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Visc ...
to be retired. The first
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comme ...
was delivered in October 1974, and introduced in January 1975; more TriStars were ordered in following years. The management of British Airways resisted political pressure to purchase the new
Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...
, stating that it had no requirement for the aircraft; this rejection complicated Britain's integration into the European Union. Instead, the company planned to acquire American-made planes such as the
Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its mai ...
; in 1976 the British government approved the purchase of multiple
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
aircraft. An innovation on 12 January 1975 was the British Airways Shuttle service from Heathrow to
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
(and later
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
), which allowed a walk-on no reservation service with a "guaranteed seat" – this latter feature facilitated by backup aircraft or sometimes transfers to British Midland flights. The
Secretary of State for Trade The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...
,
Peter Shore Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney, (20 May 1924 – 24 September 2001) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and former UK Cabinet, Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry int ...
, reviewed the Government's aviation policy and in 1976 announced a "spheres of influence" policy that ended dual designation for British airlines on all long-haul routes.Thomson (1990), pp. 316–7 British Airways and
British Caledonian British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
, the second-biggest airline in Britain, were no longer permitted to run competing scheduled flights on long-haul routes. British Caledonian had to withdraw from East Africa and from the London-New York and London-Los Angeles routes in favour of BA. In return, British Caledonian became the sole British flag carrier to the entire South American mainland, taking over routes formerly served by British Airways to
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...
and
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. In 1976, British Airways commenced flying
Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
, making it one of two airlines to own and operate the
supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
Aerospatiale-BAC airliner. Simultaneously with
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
, BA inaugurated the world's first supersonic passenger service on 21 January, a daily service between Heathrow and
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
becoming one of the airline's hallmarks. Initially, Concorde was a financial burden, required of the national carrier by the government, and it attracted criticism from the press as a white elephant. Several significant destinations suggested for Concorde, such as Tokyo, Japan, and Sydney, Australia never emerged as viable in reality. In 1981, Sir John King, later Lord King, was appointed Chairman of British Airways with the mission of preparing the airline for privatisation. King recognised the prestige that Concorde brought to the airline, purchased them outright from the government, and was turning a profit within a year. According to British Airways' management the aircraft broke even on flights holding around 40–45% of passenger capacity; in 1985 the average passenger capacity in use per flight was at 65%. BA used Concorde to win business customers, guaranteeing a certain number of Concorde upgrades in return for corporate accounts with the airline—a key factor in winning business from transatlantic competitors. Although the carrier did not disclose specific numbers, media reports estimated that the Heathrow to New York service made an annual operating profit by the early 2000s (decade).


1980s: Privatisation and dirty tricks

As British Airways headed towards privatisation, Sir John King hired
Colin Marshall Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge (16 November 1933 – 5 July 2012), was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords. Early and family life Marshall was educated at University College School, an independent schoo ...
as CEO in 1983. King was credited with transforming the loss-making giant into one of the most profitable air carriers in the world, boldly claiming to be "The World's Favourite Airline", while many other large airlines struggled. The airline's fleet and route map were overhauled in the early years of King's tenure, with brand and advertising experts being recruited to change the airline's image. Over 23,000 jobs were shed in the early 1980s, though King managed the considerable trick of boosting staff morale and modernising operations at the same time. Offering generous inducements for staff to leave led to record losses of , to the cost of taxpayers but to the benefit of the future privatised company. At Marshall's direction, the airline consolidated most of its long-haul operations in 1986, including Concorde services, at the newly constructed
Heathrow Terminal 4 Heathrow Terminal 4 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London, England, situated to the south of the southern runway, next to the cargo terminal. It is connected to Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 by the vehicular ...
. Terminal 4 would remain as BA's hub at Heathrow Airport for the next 22 years. Due in part to a recession and rising fuel prices, aircraft such as the
Hawker Siddeley Trident The Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident (originally the de Havilland DH.121 and briefly the Airco DH.121) is a British airliner produced by Hawker Siddeley. In 1957, de Havilland proposed its DH.121 trijet design to a British European Airways (B ...
, Vickers Super VC10 and
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
were quickly phased out of service, and planes such as the
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
were acquired in their place. In an effort to increase the use of the operational Concorde fleet, King allowed the planes to be chartered for special services. Concorde services to
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
in cooperation with
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in ...
began, in addition to a service to
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
by 1984. In the 1980s, British Airways regarded Concorde as its flagship, both prestigious and profitable. The flag carrier was privatised and floated on the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
in February 1987 by the Thatcher government, the initial share offering was nine times oversubscribed. The privatisation of British Airways was regarded as very successful by industry observers, perhaps the most successful of a series of companies divested by the state in this era. Four months later, in July 1987, BA announced the controversial takeover of Britain's "second" airline,
British Caledonian British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
. The acquisition led to concerns regarding competition; within the industry it was widely acknowledged as a mutually agreed rescue deal to avoid the latter's collapse. The Caledonian name was kept alive, the charter subsidiary
British Airtours British Airtours (stylised as British aırtours) was a British charter airline with flight operations out of London Gatwick and Manchester Airports. Established as BEA Airtours in 1969, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways (B ...
being rebranded as
Caledonian Airways Caledonian Airways was a wholly private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British charter airline formed in April 1961. It began with a single 104-seat Douglas DC-7C leased from the Belgian flag carrier Sabena.''Flyi ...
. In 1992, BA absorbed
Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...
-based British carrier
Dan-Air Dan-Air (Dan Air Services Limited) was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London shipbroker, shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, it operated cargo a ...
. Soon after British Airways' privatisation,
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...
's
Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and w ...
began to emerge as a competitor on some of BA's most lucrative routes. Following Virgin's highly publicised mercy mission to
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
to fly home hostages of
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
in 1991, King is reported to have told Marshall and his PA Director
David Burnside David Wilson Boyd Burnside (born 24 August 1951) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2001 to 2005. Burnside was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for ...
to "do something about Branson". This began the campaign of " dirty tricks" that ended in Branson suing King and British Airways for
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
in 1992. King countersued Branson and the case went to trial in 1993. British Airways, faced with likely defeat, settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson and a further £110,000 to his airline; furthermore, BA was to pay the legal fees of up to . Branson divided the compensation among his staff, the so-called "BA bonus". British Airways and Virgin Atlantic continued to be noticeably bitter and active rivals for many years afterwards.


1990s: Changes, subsidiaries and growth

During the 1990s, British Airways became the world's most profitable airline under the slogan "The World's Favourite Airline". In 1992, it bought the small German domestic airline Delta Air Transport and renamed it Deutsche BA. By the time it was sold in June 2003, Deutsche BA was operating 16 and had 800 staff. British Airways also entered the French market in 1994 by purchasing a 49.9% stake in
TAT European Airlines Transport Aérien Transrégional was a French regional airline with its head office on the grounds of Tours Val de Loire Airport in Tours. It was formed in 1968 as Touraine Air Transport (TAT) by M. Marchais. Air France acquired a minority stak ...
, and 70% of
Air Liberté Air Liberté (later known as Air Lib) was an airline in France founded in July 1987. Air Liberté was headquartered in Rungis.''World Airline Directory''. Flight International. 26 March-1 April 1997.44 Air Lib was headquartered in Orly Airport ...
in 1997, seeking to challenge the dominance of
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
. 1993 was a highly significant year of expansion and change for British Airways, as it purchased a 25% stake in Australian airline
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
, a 24% stake in American airline
USAir US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon b ...
, and wholly acquired
Brymon Airways Brymon Airways is a British former airline with its head office in the Brymon House on the property of Plymouth City Airport in Plymouth, Devon."World Airline Directory." ''Flight International''. 24–30 March 199961 "Brymon House, Plymouth Cit ...
to form
BA Connect BA Connect was a wholly-owned subsidiary airline of British Airways. It was headquartered in Didsbury, Manchester, England, it operated a network of domestic and European services from a number of airports in the United Kingdom on behalf of Bri ...
.Doganis (2006), p. 76 BA had planned to acquire as much as a 44% share in USAir, but backed down following a lack of approval from the US government; developing a significantly larger presence in the North American market remained a major priority of British Airways throughout the 1990s. Another crucial event in 1993 occurred as BA formed
British Asia Airways British Asia Airways Limited was a subsidiary of British Airways formed on 20 January 1993, based in Taiwan, to operate between London and Taipei via Hong Kong. History Due to political sensitivities, national airlines operating flights to th ...
, a subsidiary based in the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
), to operate between London and
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
. Owing to political sensitivities, British Asia Airways had not only a different name but also a different livery, the Union Flag tailfin being replaced by the
Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
s 英亞 (English Asia). Perhaps the most symbolic change to British Airways in the turbulent year of 1993 came when Lord King stepped down as chairman of the company and was replaced by former deputy
Colin Marshall Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge (16 November 1933 – 5 July 2012), was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords. Early and family life Marshall was educated at University College School, an independent schoo ...
.
Bob Ayling Robert John Ayling (born 3 August 1946), also known as Bob Ayling, is a British retired lawyer and businessman who has worked with a variety of high-profile companies and organisations. From 1996 to 2000, he was the CEO of British Airways. He al ...
, who later took on the role of CEO, was appointed
Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
by Marshall. Lord King was appointed as President of British Airways, a role created specifically for him and which he retained until his death in July 2005. In 1995, British Airways began planning for its future corporate headquarters at Harmondsworth Moor, to supplant its then-headquarters at Speedbird House at Heathrow Airport. British Airways also used some of its prosperity to upgrade and replace much of its fleet. Aircraft acquisitions included the
Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...
and the
Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap bet ...
, aimed to phase out the remaining
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comme ...
s and
McDonnell The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom I ...
. Six of the disposed TriStars ended up seeing service as aerial refuelling tankers in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
. Another acquisition was BA's first purchase from
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
of
A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...
aircraft. In 1995, British Airways signed a franchise agreement with
GB Airways GB Airways was a British airline; prior to its sale, it was headquartered in "The Beehive," a former terminal building, at City Place Gatwick, London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The airline was originally created as ' ...
, the airline at the time had been operating flights to holiday destinations for a number of years from Gatwick. The agreement was set to last until 2010 and the airline would operate all aircraft under the British Airways brand. By the time that GB Airways was sold to
EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...
in 2007 GB Airways had grown to operations out of Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester,
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and
East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...
, the deal was worth £103.5 million. The franchise agreement ended on 29 March 2008. A new source of competition emerged during the 1990s in the form of the
budget airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as ''no-frills'', ''budget'' or ''Discounts and allowances, discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high e ...
; new companies such as
Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...
and
EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...
emerged, rising to prominence using a no-frills and low-price approach to gain marketshare from the traditional carriers. In the wake of deregulation, these airline companies would prove to be an increasing source of competition domestically to British Airways. A small handful of short routes also came under pressure from modern
high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
systems, such as the
Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
service between London, Paris, and
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.


1996: Bob Ayling era

In 1996, British Airways, with its newly appointed CEO Bob Ayling, entered a period of financial turbulence due to increased competition, high oil prices, and a strong pound. The airline's management clashed with trade unions over planned changes, Ayling taking a hardline stance; the resulting disruption from the confrontations cost the company hundreds of millions of pounds. With several strikes and BA's restructuring plans stalling, investors became frustrated. Over time, the company was seen as being less active and successful than its peak in 1993, causing its share value to suffer. In 1996, relations between British Airways and
USAir US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon b ...
, in which BA held a stake then valued at , soured, despite Ayling's preference to "remain a major investor in USAir", and BA later sold its share in the company. Ayling had also pursued partnership and antitrust immunity with American Airlines, however this was unsuccessful due to the conditions placed on the deal by regulatory authorities,Doganis (2006), p. 67 the most painful of which would have been the sacrifice of
landing slot __NOTOC__ A landing slot, takeoff slot, or airport slot is a permission granted by the owner of an airport designated as Level 3 (Coordinated Airport), which allows the grantee to schedule a landing or departure at that airport during a specific t ...
s at Heathrow, and in part caused the breakdown of the partnership with USAir as well. In 1997, Ayling dropped BA's traditional Union Flag tailfin livery in favour of world design tailfins, in an effort to change the airline's image to be more cosmopolitan; several members of the senior management had expressed negative opinions of nationalism within the company. This move quickly came under fire by the media for making hundreds of employees redundant while squandering money on expensive rebranding. Several influential figures, such as former Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, spoke out against abandoning the Union Flag scheme and BA turning its back on the nation. British Airways' long-time rival,
Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and w ...
, took advantage of BA's public relations blunder and adopted the British flag along with the slogan "Britain's national flagcarrier", recognising the value and prestige of bearing the flag. Ayling eventually declaring the fleet would sport a dual livery; half Union Flag, half the world design tailfins. On 6 June 1999, he announced that all newly delivered and overhauled BA planes would bear the Union Flag, based on a design first used on Concorde; the cosmopolitan scheme was abandoned. Benefits during Ayling's leadership included cost savings of £750 million and the establishment of the successful, but highly subsidised, Go in 1998. Go was a
low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
intended to compete in the rapidly emerging "no-frills" segment. After four years of successful operations British Airways searched for a buyer for Go, eventually the airline was sold off to venture capitalists 3i and later merged with
EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...
. Ayling also sought a reduction of capacity, cancelling orders in favour of the and rationalising BA's short-haul fleet with new Airbus A320 aircraft. However, BA began discussions with Airbus for the eventual procurement of the
Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
, a very large passenger jet. In September 1998, British Airways became a founding member of the
Oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...
global airline alliance, along with American Airlines,
Canadian Airlines Canadian Airlines International Ltd. (stylized as Canadi›n Airlines or Canadi‹n Airlines, or simply Canadian) was a Canadian airline that operated from 1987 until 2001. The airline was Canada's second largest airline after Air Canada, carr ...
,
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...
, and
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
. As part of the marketing alliance, member airlines combined
frequent-flyer program A frequent-flyer program (American English) or frequent-flyer programme (British English) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program ...
benefits and streamlined inter-airline connections. Waterside, the current British Airways head office, officially opened in 1998. In late 1999 British Airways agreed to another franchise agreement with the small Dutch regional airline Base Regional Airlines. The airline operated out of
Eindhoven Airport Eindhoven Airport is an airport located west of Eindhoven, Netherlands. In terms of the number of served passengers it is the second largest airport in the Netherlands, with 6.2 million passengers in 2018 (well behind Schiphol, which serves mo ...
to six destinations across Europe including Hamburg, Zurich, and London Heathrow. The franchise agreement was the third to be made with an international airline since Comair and
Sun Air of Scandinavia SUN-AIR of Scandinavia A/S, usually shortened to SUN-AIR, is a Danish regional airline headquartered in Billund, with its main base at Billund Airport. It operates scheduled services as a franchise of British Airways using their name and corpor ...
.


2000: Rod Eddington era

In 1999, British Airways reported a 50% drop in profits, its worst since privatisation. This was compounded by the majority of BA subsidiary companies running at heavy losses as well; the company reacted by selling several. In March 2000, Bob Ayling was removed from his position and, in May, British Airways announced
Rod Eddington Sir Roderick Ian Eddington AO FTSE (born 2 January 1950) is an Australian businessman. He was first appointed to the board of News Corporation in 1999, still serves on News Corp board and also serves on the board of another of Rupert Murdoch' ...
as his successor. Eddington set about the termination of several investment programs, such as in
Olympic Airways Olympic Airlines ( el, Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways for at least four decades, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located ...
, and cutting the workforce, the process being taken still further in response to the slump caused by the
9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
in 2001. BA's share price dropped from 760p in May 1997 to only 150p in September 2001, showing how heavily the company had been hit. With the crash of
Air France Flight 4590 On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground. It was the only fatal Concorde a ...
in 2000, 9/11, and escalating maintenance costs, the future of Concorde was limited, despite expensive safety modifications made after the Air France accident. It was announced on 10 April 2003 that in October that year BA would cease scheduled services with Concorde, due to depressed passenger numbers. The last commercial Concorde flight from New York to London was on 24 October 2003. The airline retained ownership of eight Concordes, which were placed on long-term loan to museums in the UK, U.S. and Barbados. During Eddington's leadership, there were several other fleet changes. A publicly well-received decision of Eddington's was to completely end the use of ethnic liveries on aircraft, announcing in May 2001 that all of BA's fleet would be repainted in a variant of the Union Flag design used on Concorde. All
Boeing 747-200 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to ...
s and older
Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
aircraft were retired in 2001 and 2002 in an effort to cut costs, and interest was expressed in the upcoming
Boeing 7E7 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...
and the since-cancelled
Boeing Sonic Cruiser The Boeing Sonic Cruiser was a concept jet airliner with a delta wing– canard configuration. It was distinguished from conventional airliners by its delta wing and high- subsonic cruising speed of up to Mach 0.98. Boeing first proposed it i ...
. In late 2001 the franchise agreement with Base Regional Airlines was ended after just over two years of operations, the airline had filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations. From 2002, BA strongly marketed the full-service nature of its remaining domestic flights by the use of principal airports, and provision of complimentary food and drink. This came as a response to low-cost operators' aggressive pricing, even though its main full-service UK rival bmi later also abandoned some "frills" on its domestic network. In June 2003, the German subsidiary, Deutsche BA, was sold to investment group Intro Verwaltungsgesellschaft. On 8 September 2004, British Airways announced that it was to sell its 18.5% stake in
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
, but would continue the alliance (such as sharing revenue), particularly on the
Kangaroo Route The Kangaroo Route refers to air routes flown between Australia and the United Kingdom via the Eastern Hemisphere. The route by definition found its name following the unique mode of travel of the kangaroo, as planes historically achieved the ...
. The raised was used to reduce the airline's debt. Lord Marshall, who had been appointed a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
in 1998, retired as chairman in July 2004 and was replaced by Martin Broughton, former Chairman of
British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the large ...
. On 8 March 2005, Broughton announced that former
Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...
CEO Willie Walsh would take over from Rod Eddington upon his retirement in September 2005. Walsh pledged to retain the full-service model on its much reduced UK network as a means of distinguishing BA from the competition, and that customers were willing to pay extra for higher service levels.


2005: Willie Walsh era

In September 2005, new CEO Willie Walsh announced dramatic changes to the management of British Airways, with the aim of saving by 2008, the cost of the airline's move to its new hub at Heathrow's Terminal 5. Walsh presided over the sale of
BA Connect BA Connect was a wholly-owned subsidiary airline of British Airways. It was headquartered in Didsbury, Manchester, England, it operated a network of domestic and European services from a number of airports in the United Kingdom on behalf of Bri ...
to Flybe, stating "Despite the best efforts of the entire team at BA Connect, we do not see any prospect of profitability in its current form." BA retained a 15% stake in Flybe following the sale. In June 2006, the
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
(OFT) and the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
(DOJ) began investigating allegations that BA was
price-fixing Price fixing is an anticompetitive agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given ...
fuel surcharges on long haul flights. The allegations first came to light when Virgin Atlantic reported the events to the authorities after it found staff members from BA and Virgin Atlantic were colluding. Virgin Atlantic was later granted immunity by both the OFT and DOJ. The price-fixing probe led to the resignation of commercial director Martin George and communications chief Iain Burns. On 1 August 2007, British Airways was fined for price-fixing by the OFT, and the US DOJ subsequently announced that it would also fine British Airways () for price-fixing. Although BA said fuel surcharges were "a legitimate way of recovering costs", in May 2007 it had put aside for legal fees and fines. In July 2009 Steve Ridgway, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic, admitted he knew about the illegal price-fixing at his airline and did nothing to stop it. In January 2008, BA unveiled its new subsidiary
OpenSkies OpenSkies was a French airline owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) which operated under the Level (airline brand), Level brand prior to closing down, and before that operated under its own brand name. Its headquarters were located in ...
which took advantage of the liberalisation of transatlantic traffic rights, flying non-stop between major European cities and the United States. Operations between Paris and New York began with a single in June 2008. On 2 July 2008 British Airways announced that it had agreed to buy French airline
L'Avion Elysair SAS, operating as L'Avion (French for "The plane"), was an airline headquartered in Paray Vieille Poste, France, near Wissous. It operated business class-only long-haul service between Orly Airport, Paris and Newark Liberty International ...
for . L'Avion was fully integrated with OpenSkies in 2009. On 14 March 2008
Heathrow Terminal 5 Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Terminal 5 is currently used exclusi ...
, built exclusively for the use of British Airways at a cost of , was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
. Upon opening to passengers on 27 March 2008 serious problems immediately arose, many from staff confusion. The
baggage handling system A baggage handling system (BHS) is a type of conveyor system installed in airports that transports checked luggage from ticket counters to areas where the bags can be loaded onto airplanes. A BHS also transports checked baggage coming from airplan ...
failed completely, resulting in seven flights departing with no baggage loaded. In the first five days, a backlog of 28,000 bags built up and over 300 flights were cancelled. Walsh commented that it "was not our finest hour ... the buck stops with me". Two directors left BA in April 2008 over the troubled transition to Terminal 5. Walsh also declined his annual bonus over Terminal 5, despite record profits overall. By October 2008 Terminal 5 operations has settled and further long-haul flights were transferred over.


2009: Financial difficulties, disruptions and merger

On 30 July 2008, British Airways and
Iberia Airlines Iberia (), legally incorporated as ''Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal'', is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Founded in 1927 and based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from i ...
announced a merger plan that would result in the two airlines joining forces in an all-stock transaction. The two airlines would retain their separate brands similar to
KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
and
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
in their merger agreement. In the beginning of August 2008,
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
announced an alliance with BA and Iberia, allowing the two carriers to fix fares, routes, and schedules together. In addition to merger talks with Iberia, it was announced on 2 December 2008 that British Airways was discussing a merger with
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
. If British Airways, Iberia and Qantas were to combine as one company it would be the largest airline in the world. However, on 18 December 2008, the talks with Qantas ended due to issues over ownership. In November 2010, BA was fined €104 million by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
following an investigation into price-fixing. In June 2009, British Airways contacted some 30,000 employees in the United Kingdom, including Walsh, asking them to work without pay over a period of between one week and one month to save money. On 6 November 2009 the worst ever half-year loss in British Airways' history was reported to the public. A High Court decision sided with BA against
union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
opposition to restructuring plans, including a reduction in cabin crew in November 2009. On 14 December 2009 cabin crew at British Airways voted in favour of strike action over the Christmas period over job cuts and contract changes. On 17 December the ballot was ruled invalid by the High Court due to voting irregularities, thus the strike did not take place. On 6 March 2010
Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...
announced further strike action. More than 80 planes were grounded at
Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
on the first day; however, British Airways officials stated that 65% of flights were undisturbed. On 8 April 2010, it was confirmed British Airways and Iberia Airlines had agreed to merge, making the combined commercial airline the third largest in the world by revenue. The newly merged company is known as
International Airlines Group International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is an Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its global headqua ...
, both airlines continue to operate under their current brands. The merger is believed to be worth approximately , the new group has over 400 aircraft and flies to over 200 destinations across the world. As part of the deal, British Airways shareholders took a 55% stake in the company, headquartered in London, with the remainder owned by Iberia. Industry analysts have speculated that the merger makes a three-way tie-in with American Airlines more likely. Across April and May 2010, much of Western and Northern Europe had their airspace closed due to huge density ash clouds from the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. It was feared that aircraft could be damaged or could even crash due to engine ingestion of volcanic ash, as had famously troubled
British Airways Flight 9 British Airways Flight 009, sometimes referred to by its callsign Speedbird 9 or as the Jakarta incident, was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne. On 24 ...
in 1982. This affected all airlines operating within British airspace, leading to strong objections from companies such as Ryanair. Flights progressively restarted as the ash levels declined. On 4 October 2010, to celebrate the
Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its mai ...
fleet's retirement after 27 years, British Airways unveiled one of the 757s (G-CPET) in a "retro" Negus & Negus livery. This aircraft conducted its last passenger flight on 6 November 2010, the proceeds of which went to the charity Flying Start the charity partnership between British Airways and Comic Relief. In May 2017, BA's entire fleet was grounded for two days, due to a failure of their IT system, which the company believed to be caused by too many cutbacks in the company. In response to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, in July 2020 BA announced it planned to make 12,000 staff redundant. It also brought forward the retirement of its 31
Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...
s, with all retired with immediate effect.


Liveries and logos


Hybrid/transition liveries

File:Boeing 747-136, British Airways AN1861141.jpg, ex-BOAC
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
with "British airways" branding and Speedbird tail File:British Airways Cargo Merchantman Wheatley.jpg, ex-BEA Vickers Vanguard with "British airways" branding and Speedjack tail File:Northeast Airlines Trident 1E at Teesside Airport (1974) - geograph.org.uk - 852594.jpg, ex-Northeast Hawker Trident with "British airways" branding and Norjet tail.
The aeroplanes that British Airways inherited from the four-way merger between BOAC, BEA, Cambrian, and Northeast were initially given a livery nicknamed 'hybrid' or 'transition', using the text "British airways" (stylised with a lowercase "a" in Airways) to replace the original wordmark, but otherwise keeping the predecessor airline's livery. For instance, ex-BOAC aircraft retained the dark blue, grey, and white colour scheme with the golden ''
Speedbird The Speedbird is the stylised emblem of a bird in flight designed in 1932 by Theyre Lee-Elliott as the corporate logo for Imperial Airways. It became a design classic and was used by the airline and its successors – British Overseas Airways C ...
'' on the tail.


Negus livery and ''Speedbird''

File:Boeing 747-236B, British Airways AN2061351.jpg, 747 in "Negus" livery (photo from 1980, livery used 1974–1985) File:Boeing 747-2B4BM, British Airways AN0541447.jpg, 747 in "Landor" livery (photo from 1988, livery used 1984–2002) File:193ae - British Airways Boeing 747-436, G-BNLA@LHR,19.11.2002 - Flickr - Aero Icarus.jpg, 747 in "Utopia" livery and ''Chelsea Rose'' tail art (photo from 2002, livery used 1997–2006) File:747-400 BRITISH AIRWAYS SBGR (36812510614).jpg, 747 in "Utopia" and ''Chatham Dockyard Union Flag'' tail art (photo from 2015, livery used 2001–present) With its formation in 1974, British Airways' aeroplanes were given a new white, blue, and red colour scheme with a cropped
Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
painted on their tail fins, designed by Negus & Negus. British Airways selected the Negus & Negus design over competing entries from Lippincott & Margulies and Henrion. The "Negus" livery was phased in over a three-year period. It also adopted a blue version of the ''Speedbird'' logo from BOAC, moved to the nose of the planes, at the request of ex-BOAC staff. The contract for British Airways was then the largest
corporate identity A corporate identity or corporate image is the manner in which a corporation, firm or business enterprise presents itself to the public (such as customers and investors as well as employees). The corporate identity is typically visualized by ...
branding commission in Europe.
David Nicolson Sir David Lancaster Nicolson, FCGI, FIMechE, FIProdE, FIMgt, FRSA (20 September 1922 – 19 July 1996) was a British business executive and politician who played a key role in setting up British Airways and served for five years in the Eur ...
, the chair of British Airways, said it would present "a modern, efficient, confident and friendly face to the public". A Boeing 747 (EI-ASJ/G-BDPZ), originally delivered to
Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...
, was leased by British Airways in 1976 and partially repainted in "Negus" livery above the passenger windows, retaining Aer Lingus livery on the
cheatline An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia comprising color, graphic, and typographical identifiers which operators (airlines, governments, air forces and occasionally private and corporate owners) apply to their aircraft. As aircraft ...
and belly. Shortly after 1974, Negus & Negus convinced BA to drop "airways" from the wordmark and the aircraft were painted with just the word "British" for approximately a decade. One Boeing 757 (G-CPET) was returned to "Negus" livery with the abbreviated "British" wordmark in October 2010, just ahead of the retirement of the 757 fleet at the end of that month.


Landor livery and ''Speedwing''

In 1984, a new livery designed by
Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company maintains 26 offices in 20 count ...
updated the airline's look as it prepared for privatization. The ''Speedbird'' was changed to a red ''Speedwing'' arrow logo carried at the cheatline, just below the passenger windows, along the length of the fuselage. The "A" in Airways was now capitalized. The company's crest was added to the tailfin, along with the motto "To Fly To Serve"; that specific element received criticism from domestic designers. June Fraser, president of the
Chartered Society of Designers The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) is a professional body for designers. It is the only Royal Chartered body of experienced designers. Its membership is multi-disciplinary – representing designers in all design, disciplines including I ...
, wrote to ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' in protest, stating that "a barely distinguishable heraldic device perched incongruously above the remnants of the earlier instantly recognizable and appropriate solution" was an alarming development. A consonant look was applied to the Concorde, omitting the subsonic livery's blue belly. As with the prior Negus livery modified for the Concorde, the heat generated by supersonic flight required the fuselage to be painted in white. The Landor effort took eighteen months to complete at a cost of over  million. The new branding was intended to demonstrate "professionalism and precision" while being "simple, distinctive, and dignified". File:Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde 102, British Airways AN1847500.jpg, Concorde in "Negus" livery, blue Speedbird logo File:Aerospatiale-British Aerospace Concorde 102, British Airways AN1809355.jpg, Concorde in "Landor" livery, red Speedwing arrow File:G-BOAC 2 BAC-SNIAS Concorde 102 British Airways MAN 22MAY04 (11432526884).jpg, Concorde in "Utopia" livery, Speedmarque ribbon


Project Utopia/ethnic livery and ''Speedmarque''

In 1997, there was a controversial change to a new Project Utopia livery which used the corporate colours consistently on the fuselage with a lowered beltline; the Utopia livery included multiple tailfin designs. The variety of tailfin designs was intended to reflect the diversity of destinations and countries served by the airline's network of routes; British Airways called these "World Images" and they would become known as the "ethnic images". Examples included Delftware or Chinese calligraphy, meant to symbolize those countries. However, the Concorde fleet would have a unique tailfin design (named ''Chatham Dockyard Union flag'') based on a stylised, fluttering Union flag. This was reported to have caused problems with
air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
: previously controllers had been able to tell pilots to follow a BA plane, but they were now harder to visually identify. The art commissioned for the new tailfin designs also appeared elsewhere, such as brochures and ticket boarding jackets. Utopia also changed the ''Speedwing'' arrow to a ''Speedmarque'' ribbon logo, now carried closer to the nose, above passenger windows. File:Boeing 737-236-Adv, British Airways AN1629613 (cropped).jpg, Utopia fin (''Animals and Trees'' tail art) File:103dc - British Airways Airbus A320-100; G-BUSE@ZRH;11.08.2000 (5238214206) (cropped).jpg, Utopia fin (''Benyhone'') File:38bw - British Airways Boeing 737-400; G-DOCX@ZRH;23.08.1998 (8055984882) (cropped).jpg, Utopia fin (''Colum'') File:TAILS on Terminal 5 (10854129165).jpg, Current consistent use of ''Chatham Dockyard'' tail art Several people spoke out against the change, including the former Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, who famously covered the tail of a model 747 at an event with a handkerchief, to show her displeasure. BA's traditional rival, Virgin Atlantic, took advantage of the negative press coverage by applying the Union flag to the winglets of their aircraft along with the slogan "Britain's national flagcarrier". In 1999, with approximately half the fleet already repainted with Project Utopia livery, the CEO of British Airways,
Bob Ayling Robert John Ayling (born 3 August 1946), also known as Bob Ayling, is a British retired lawyer and businessman who has worked with a variety of high-profile companies and organisations. From 1996 to 2000, he was the CEO of British Airways. He al ...
, announced that all aircraft that had retained Landor livery would adopt the tailfin design ''Chatham Dockyard Union Flag'' originally intended to be used only on the Concorde, based on the Union Flag. After Ayling resigned in 2000, his successor,
Rod Eddington Sir Roderick Ian Eddington AO FTSE (born 2 January 1950) is an Australian businessman. He was first appointed to the board of News Corporation in 1999, still serves on News Corp board and also serves on the board of another of Rupert Murdoch' ...
, announced the entire fleet would receive the ''Chatham Dockyard Union flag'' tail in May 2001. The final aeroplane with a "Utopia" tail — an
Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
with ''Whale Rider'' artwork — was retired in 2006. From 2011 on, the company's crest is added back to aircraft.


Special liveries

British Airways repainted nine Airbus A319s to mark the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, the front section was painted a feather pattern in gold shade, and the ''Chatham Dockyard'' tail flag was also repainted in gold shade. The aircraft that transported the Olympic Flame from Athens to London also have a distinctive yellow, orange, and gold livery, named ''The Firefly''. BA launched direct service between London Heathrow and
Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
in 2013; to celebrate, the front of a Boeing 777 was painted to resemble a
giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...
. The frequency of service to Chengdu was reduced in 2014 before being suspended in 2017. In 2021, BA painted one
Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...
(G-TTNA) in what it called its ''Better World'' livery, using two blue shades to render the ''Chatham Dockyard'' tail flag and adding a coordinating finish to the front half of the aircraft and its engine nacelles. The strapline "Our most important journey yet" advertises BA's efforts to achieve Net Zero emissions.


Retrojets

In 2019, BA announced plans to repaint one of its Boeing 747 aeroplanes into a
retrojet Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...
BOAC livery, matching the scheme used on those aircraft between 1964 and 1974. The retro livery was chosen to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the firm, dating back to the formation of Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited in 1919. Other aeroplanes are planned to be repainted into retro liveries, but deliveries of new aircraft will continue in the current "Chatham Dockyard" livery. File:G-BYGC 21022019LHR (46446815144).jpg, G-BYGC in retrojet BOAC File:G-EUPJ 05032019LHR (32416591037).jpg, G-EUPJ in retrojet BEA File:G-BNLY 29032019LHR (47485070702).jpg, G-BNLY in retrojet Landor File:G-CIVB 23032019LHR (46565862055).jpg, G-CIVB in retrojet Negus On 22 February 2019, BA announced another retrojet livery. A modified BEA 'Red Square' livery used from 1959 to 1968 would be painted on an Airbus A319 (G-EUPJ), with grey wings instead of red to meet reflectivity requirements. Like the BOAC retrojet livery used on G-BYGC, the hybrid scheme using the "British airways" wordmark was not used. One week later BA announced that B747 G-BNLY would return to the Landor livery it wore upon delivery. The fourth and final retrojet livery was announced for G-CIVB on 15 March, a B747 to be repainted into Negus livery. Due to the worldwide
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, British Airways announced it would be retiring its remaining fleet of Boeing 747s in July 2020. The retrojet 'Negus' livery 747, G-CIVB, was purchased by
Cotswold Airport Cotswold Airport (formerly Kemble Airfield) is a private general aviation airport, near the village of Kemble, Gloucestershire, Kemble in Gloucestershire, England. Located southwest of Cirencester, it was built as a Royal Air Force (RAF) stat ...
for a nominal fee of in October 2020 and transformed into a "party plane" venue at a cost of . Similarly, G-BNLY (retrojet 'Landor') and G-BYGC ('BOAC') were preserved, with BNLY going to
Dunsfold Aerodrome Dunsfold Aerodrome (former ICAO code EGTD) is an unlicensed airfield in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh. It extends across land in the villages of Dunsfold and Alfold. It was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contracto ...
alongside G-CIVW (a 747 painted in Chatham Dockyard) to serve in the film and television industry, and BYGC going to the Bro Tathan business park as a permanent exhibit.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * * * *


External links

*
British Airways Heritage Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of British Airways British Airways
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
Price fixing convictions
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...