British Airways

British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Waterside (en), close to its main base of operations located at London-Heathrow Airport. It has a second hub at London Gatwick Airport and its third main point of operations is served through its subsidiary, BA Cityflyer, based at London City Airport. British Airways is the largest UK-based airline in terms of fleet size, international flights and international destinations. British passengers whose home airport is not in London must connect with their flights through the city after the airline cut all its transoceanic flights from all other British airports.

The company's board of directors was established in 1971 to manage the operations of the two nationalized airlines, BOAC and BEA, and two smaller regional airlines, Cambrian Airways (Q) of Cardiff and Northeast Airlines (Q) of Newcastle upon Tyne. On March 31, 1974, the four companies dissolved to form British Airways (BA). After just over thirteen years as a nationalized company, it was privatized in February 1987 as part of the privatization plan undertaken by the Conservative government of the time. The airline soon expanded its boundaries with the acquisition of British Caledonian (BCAL) in 1987 and Gatwick-based airline Dan-Air (Q) in 1992.

Despite long being a major Boeing customer, British Airways placed a major order for Airbus aircraft in August 1998 with the purchase of 59 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. In 2007, it placed another large order, which marked the beginning of its long-range fleet replacement, consisting of twelve Airbus A380s and twenty-four Boeing 787s. The centerpiece of the long-range fleet is the Boeing 747-400; With 57 examples in service, the airline is the largest operator of the type in the world.

British Airways is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Iberia L.A.E. and the now-defunct Canadian Airlines. Oneworld has since grown to become the third largest airline alliance after SkyTeam and Star Alliance. Prior to its merger with Iberia, which would create the International Airlines Group, BA was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a stock on the FTSE 100 stock index.

On November 12, 2009, the airline announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Iberia. The merger between the two airlines has created the third largest airline in the world in terms of annual revenue and the second largest group in Europe. The merger was confirmed on April 8, 2010, and its conclusion was expected by the end of the same year. On July 14, 2010, the European Commission granted the two airlines permission to merge and allowed American Airlines to cooperate with the merged entity on transatlantic routes to the United States of America. British Airways eventually merged with Iberia on January 21, 2011, to formally create International Airlines Group, IAG.

British Airways was the airline sponsor of the 2012 Summer Olympics. On May 18, 2012, it transported the Olympic flame from Athens International Airport to Culdrose Naval Station, from where it was carried by various dignitaries, including which include Lord Sebastian Coe, Princess Anne and David Beckham.

History

Vickers Viscount of British Airways that the company used in the seventies and eighties.

In 1967, the government established a Civil Aviation Inquiry Committee under the head of sir Ronald Edwards. The Edwards committee announced in 1969 in one of its recommendations the need to establish a state entity that would bring together all the activities of the air market to control the finances and policies of the two state airlines, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways Corporation. (BEA). The recommendation was implemented in 1971 with the publication of the Civil Aviation Act 1971, which in turn gave rise to the British Airways Board to control all activities.

British Airways was founded in 1974, when the boards of BOAC and BEA were brought together under the newly founded British Airways Board. After two years of fierce competition with British Caledonian, Britain's second largest airline at the time, the The government changed its aeronautical policy in 1976, for which reason competition on long-range routes has been prohibited since then.

In 1976, managers bought the first Concorde, which was an absolute financial flop: it drove the national company into such losses that it required government intervention and drew much criticism from the press.

In 1981, the airline was instructed to begin preparing for privatization by the Conservative government under the leadership of Sir John King, later Lord King. The company's main objective was to return to positive annual economic results that would enable it to survive. King was recognized for his transformation of this money-losing giant into one of the most profitable airlines in the world, while many other large airlines were doomed to failure. The flag carrier was privatized and listed on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987 under the Conservative mandate. In July 1987, British Airways absorbed the "second" British airline, British Caledonian, in a process harshly criticized.

In 1992, the company expanded its network through the acquisition of Dan-Air, a financially troubled Gatwick-based airline, which gave it a sharp increase in presence at the airport. In March 1993, rapid expansion continued with the founding of British Asia Airways, a Taiwan-based subsidiary, to operate flights between London and Taipei. During 1993, the airline expanded its business through the purchase of a 25% stake in the Australian airline Qantas in March and the acquisition of Brymon Airways in May, resulting in BA Connect.

The founding of Richard Branson's airline, Virgin Atlantic Airways, in 1984 began a strained relationship with BA. In 1993, the intense rivalry between the two airlines ended with British Airways being fined £610,000 for a campaign of 'foul play' against the airlines. against Virgin and around £3 million in legal costs from Virgin. British Airways' campaign against Virgin included recordings of Virgin Atlantic customers and confidential documents belonging to Virgin. After a legal process, the former was forced to pay Virgin's damages and legal costs and, in addition, the British management had to apologize for the "dirty game" campaign.

Hawker Siddeley Trident of British Airways with the booklet present in 1974-1984 with the enlarged "British" titles.

Six months after the 'foul play' campaign, Lord King resigned as Chairman in 1993 and was replaced by former MP Colin Marshall, while Robert Ayling took over as CEO. Achievements under his management included £750 million worth of cost cuts and the creation of Go in 1998. However, a year later, in 1999, the company reported a profit decline of 84 percent, its worst in seven years. In March 2000 Robert Ayling was removed from his post and British Airways announced Rod Eddington as his successor. Eddington's mandate was based on further downsizing in the workforce, in response to falling demand following the September 11 attacks in 2001. On September 8, 2004, the airline announced that it was selling its 18, 5 percent shareholding in Qantas.

A British Airways BAC 1-11 with the Landor Book.

In September 1998, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Iberia L.A.E., Qantas and the now-defunct Canadian Airlines, the managers signed an agreement to form the Oneworld airline alliance with the goal of improving their ability to compete with the growing members of Star Alliance. Oneworld began its operations on February 1, 1999 and has continued to grow since its founding to include eleven airlines plus two pending entry, thus leading it to become one of the largest airline alliances, behind only SkyTeam and Star Alliance.

In September 2005, new CEO Willie Walsh, formerly a pilot and later head of Aer Lingus, took the reins of the company.

In January 2008, British Airways introduced its new subsidiary, OpenSkies, which would be tasked with taking advantage of the liberalization of transatlantic traffic rights between Europe and the United States. OpenSkies flies non-stop from Paris to New York and Washington D.C.

In July 2010, the British airline received permission from the European aviation regulators, the European Commission, to merge with the Spanish airline Iberia, and to coordinate with American Airlines the policy of tariffs and transatlantic scheduled routes. On July 20, 2010, the United States Department of Transportation approved the agreement with American Airlines, putting an end to the decision made on February 13, 2010. The agreement is expected to help save the British carrier £560 million each year once inter-airline overcharges have been fully abolished. British Airways ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange on 21 January 2011, after approximately twenty-four years as a permanent member of the FTSE 100. The move was made in preparation for the merger with Iberia, while the merged entity, International Airlines Group, became the company's current trading name.

On 4 October 2010, British unveiled one of its latest Boeing 757s (G-CPET) in a 'retro' livery, to celebrate the retirement of its 757 fleet after twenty-seven years of service. The aircraft, named Stokesay Castle, is decorated in a livery identical to the one worn by the 757 during its introduction into the fleet, as a launch customer, in February 1983. This aircraft carried out its last passenger flight on 6 November 2010, proceeds from the flight were donated to the Flying Start charity run jointly by British Airways and Comic Relief.

The Concorde

Concorde of British Airways at London-Heathrow Airport.

Along with Air France, British was one of only two airlines to operate the supersonic Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde aircraft; the inauguration of its first supersonic passenger flight was in January 1976, from London-Heathrow to Bahrain. Services to the east coast of the United States, for which Concorde had been designated, opened with a flight to the airport from Washington Dulles on May 24, 1976, and with flights to New York JFK Airport beginning on September 22, 1977. These destinations were soon followed by Singapore in cooperation with Singapore Airlines as a continuation of the flight to Bahrain. Operations The Concorde soon expanded with the inauguration of charter flights in 1982 and a flight to Miami (operated as a continuation of the flight to Washington) that began in March 1984. Other interesting destinations suggested for the Concorde include Tokyo in Japan and Sydney, Australia were never seen as viable in reality.

King recognized the prestige that the Concorde brought to the airline and, by acquiring the rights to the government, made them profitable in just one year. According to British Airways managers, occupancy figures for the aircraft went from 40-45% passenger capacity to 65% average passenger capacity per flight used in 1985. BA used the Concorde to win business customers and secured service improvements in return flights aboard Concorde for executives affiliated with the airline, a key factor in winning executives over its transatlantic competitors. Although the company did not provide hard numbers, journalists estimated that the Heathrow to New York service generated an annual operating profit of £20 million in the early 2000s.

Following the Air France Concorde crash in Paris and the drastic reduction in demand for air travel following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, it was announced on April 23, 2003 that both Air France and British Airways would cancel all its Concorde flights at the end of October 2003, after twenty-seven years of service. Concorde's last commercial flight took place as BA002 from New York JFK to London Heathrow on October 24, 2003.

IAG, the controversial merger with Iberia

British Airways and Iberia announced their merger in April 2010, leading to the emergence of International Airlines Group, one of the world's largest airlines.

On 30 July 2008, British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia, both former Oneworld partners, announced a plan to merge that would see the two workforces unite in a stock transaction while keeping their brands separate, much like to what happened between KLM and Air France in their own merger agreement. On November 12, 2009, the British airline confirmed that it had reached an agreement to merge with Iberia. The merger between the two European airlines would give rise to the third largest airline in the world in terms of annual revenues and the second largest group in Europe. The agreement was endorsed on April 8, 2010, and the process was expected to be completed by the end of 2010. On October 6, 2010, the alliance between British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia formally began operations for the first time.

However, the merger process is still highly controversial. British Airways acknowledges, in the IAG Registration Document, published in the CNMV on October 26, 2010, that one of its serious risks is that the "obligations contracted by its two Defined Benefit Pension Plans are substantial and are subject to variation", recognizing in the last actuarial valuation a deficit of 3,700 million pounds, an amount that even exceeds the capitalization of the entire new merged company IAG (approx. 4,000 million euros). However, British Airways does not hesitate to state in its 2011 Annual Report ("Annual Report and Accounts Year ended 31 December 2011") the possibility that even the deficit in 2013 is even greater. The British Pensions Regulator (Pensions Regulator) has extensive powers contained in article 1 of the Pensions Act 2004 (Pensions Act 2004) by which it can impose on Iberia or IAG, due to its relationship with British Airways, the obligation of a additional financial support to the aforementioned deficits of the pension plans of the British employees.

The British company owned a 13.5% stake in Iberia but received 55% of the shares of the new combined group, which it was decided to call "International Airlines Group", while Iberia shareholders would receive the remaining 45% of the company. The entity that has resulted from the merger operates 419 aircraft, transports more than 62 million passengers annually and operates to more than 200 destinations. Cost cuts of about 400 million euros are expected each year. The operational headquarters are located in London but the executive headquarters are located in Madrid. Board meetings will take place in Madrid after the company has been incorporated under Spanish law as a "sociedad anónima" (anonymous society), and the company that brings together both airlines will pay all taxes in Spain.

On July 14, 2010, the European Commission granted both airlines permission to merge as well as permission to include American Airlines in the cooperation between ticket prices and the schedule of transatlantic regular routes of the three airlines. airlines. On July 20, 2010, the United States Department of Transportation approved the agreement with American Airlines, which marked the achievement of the idea gestated on February 13 of the same year. It was expected that the agreement could materialize in operations before the end of 2010. The alliance with American Airlines is expected to bring about a £230 million cost cut to British Airways, in addition to the £330 million cut expected each year with the merger with Iberia.

In September 2010, Willie Walsh, the CEO of IAG, announced in Mumbai that the new emerging group planned to acquire other airlines, specifically those from emerging markets. He also gave a short list of twelve possible airlines that would be likely to be included in the new group that had just been created. Among all the others, LAN Chile, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Qantas, Aer Lingus, Finnair, Kingfisher Airlines and Japan Airlines stand out.

The two airlines finally concluded their merger process on January 21, 2011. Shareholders of British Airways and Iberia approved the merger on November 29, 2010, creating the world's third largest airline by revenue annual.

Iberia Airbus A319 with retro librea.

Corporate affairs

British Airways is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is one of the main shares of the FTSE 100 Index under the title of International Airlines Group after the merger of the British airline with Iberia on January 21, 2011, which began its listed as a security on January 24, 2011.

Headquarters

Waterside, British Airways headquarters.

A British Airways Boeing 747-400 with a Oneworld special notebook at London-Heathrow Airport, England.

The company is headquartered at Waterside, in Harmondsworth, London Borough of Hillingdon, England. Construction of Waterside was completed in June 1998 to replace the former headquarters of British airline Speedbird House, on the airport grounds from London-Heathrow. This former headquarters is commonly known as "Birdseed House".

Financial Profile

* Recalculated by entry in BA Connect executive regional airline calculations.

Operations

British Airways destinations and British Airways franchises. United Kingdom Destinations of British Airways Destinations operated only by British Airways franchises.

The airline has a Type A Operating License from the UK Civil Aviation Authority, which allows it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with twenty or more seats.

British Airways is the largest airline in Great Britain in terms of fleet size, international flights and international destinations, and until 2008 it was also the airline with the most passengers carried. It carried 34.6 million passengers in 2008 but rival low-cost carrier easyJet carried 44.5 million passengers in the same year, making it the first to take the title from the company.

British Airways' main base of operations is at London-Heathrow Airport (west of London, England) but it also has a significant presence at London-Gatwick Airport and once had an important base of operations at Manchester Airport. However, the Manchester hub and international flights from outside London were canceled after the airline sold its subsidiary, BA Connect, due to poor profits. Passengers wishing to travel internationally with BA either to or from a UK regional destination must now make a transfer in London. Heathrow Airport in particular is dominated by the airline, holding 40% of the permits landing and takeoff times available at the airport.

On March 27, 2008, the British company moved at least half of its operations team, equipment and aircraft to the new Terminal 5. The vast majority of the airline's flights to and from Heathrow operate from the Terminal 5, with the exception of a few flights that are operated from Terminal 3. Operations at T3 of this company include long-haul codeshare flights to European destinations.

In August 2007, British Airways agreed to plead guilty and pay a $300 million fine after being exposed by the United States anti-fraud unit for conspiring to fix air cargo prices.

In November 2010, the British airline was fined €104 million by the European Commission following an investigation into agreements to agree on ticket prices.

Subsidiaries, franchises and shareholding

Affiliates

• BA Cityflyer
• OpenSkies
• British Airways World Cargo
• BAMC and British Airways Engineering

BA Cityflyer is a subsidiary with Embraer aircraft and is based at London City Airport. In December 2008, it signed a contract with Embraer to modernize its fleet with eleven Embraer E-Jet aircraft that will replace the existing Avro RJ aircraft. BA Cityflyer operates around 250 weekly flights from London City Airport.

The company was previously the sole owner of Airways Aero Associations Limited, which operates the British Airways Flying Club and has its own airport under the British Airways brand at Wycombe Airpark, High Wycombe.

With the creation of an open skies agreement between Europe and the United States in March 2008, the British company established a new subsidiary airline called OpenSkies (formerly known as "Project Lauren"). airline started its operations in June 2008, and currently flies directly from Paris to New York JFK and Washington Dulles.

The former BEA Helicopters was renamed British Airways Helicopters in 1974 and operated passenger and oil rig support flights until its sale in 1986.

Franchises

• Comair, based in South Africa, franchise since 1996.
• Sun Air of Scandinavia, based in Denmark, franchise since 1 August 1996.

Shareholding

• British Airways has a 13.5% of shares on the Spanish Iberia airline.
• British Airways obtained 15% of the actions of the British regional airline Flybe, after the sale to the latter of BA Connect in March 2007.
• BA also has 10% of the shares in InterCapital and Regional Rail (ICRR), the company that manages the operations of the Eurostar.

British Airways World Cargo

BA is, through its subsidiary British Airways World Cargo, the 12th largest cargo airline in the world based on annual air freight tonne-kilometres. BA World Cargo offers the opportunity for global cargo transportation through the routes operated by the parent company. In addition to its core fleet, BA World Cargo has three Boeing 747-400F aircraft wet leased from Global Supply Systems on a permanent contract basis, as well as the use of empty cargo space on freighters operated by other companies. Specialized cargo services give British Airways World Cargo the opportunity to reach destinations not available on the passenger route network. In 2010, it was announced that BAWC would lease three Boeing 747-8Fs from Global Supply Systems to replace existing 747-400s. Replacement aircraft are painted in a parent airline paint scheme.

British Airways opened a global cargo center at Heathrow in the late 1990s. As an advanced automated cargo handling centre, it can handle high value, unusual, or perishable cargo, handling 80,000 tonnes each BA World Cargo also handles cargo at London's Gatwick and Stansted airports, and, together with British Airways Regional Cargo, at all major regional airports throughout the UK.

Union Relations

A number of brands and unions are represented among the staff working for British Airways, including:

• BALPA, which presents the pilots
• BASSA, which represents some of the cabin crew members
• Unite the Union for other employees

British Airways, under the management of Bob Ayling, faced massive days of strikes by cabin crew at a cost of over £1 billion which meant no return to profits by the company until 1997. The airline's cabin crew did not demonstrate again until 2009. After several days of strikes, and the cost-cutting program implemented by Ayling, the morale of the staff was greatly affected, which influenced the quality since then. The airline was very successful in obtaining a protocol accepted by more than 1,800 managers and 220 union representatives. The work process was focused on strengthening the collaboration between the two groups.

In 2005, a wildcat strike was carried out by union representatives to protest Gate Gourmet's decision to fire 670 workers and replace them with agency staff after the non-renewal of the contract with British Airways. It has been estimated that this strike cost the British airline over thirty million pounds and also grounded 100,000 passengers.

In October 2006, a dispute arose over the right of a Christian check-in worker to wear a religious symbol visibly. The worker lost his appeal in the labor court in January 2008.

In 2007, cabin crew attempted to stage demonstrations to protest wage changes imposed by company management. Although demonstrations were called, they were canceled before reaching the appointed date, which, however, caused the British airline to lose eighty million pounds sterling.

Relations between British Airways and unions have been turbulent, especially in 2009 and 2010 with a desire to carry out various proposed changes to the working conditions of aircraft crews in the face of the global financial crisis. It was planned to hold a demonstration around December 2009 to protest the changes in working conditions that would cause even greater damage when the planned actions were combined with Christmas 2009. This union action was blocked by the filing of a complaint in the courts that declared the attempted strike illegal. Another attempt to go on strike was attempted in February. Following failed negotiations to stop the strike action in March, the company threatened company action for those who took part in the demonstrations. The allegations made in The Guardian newspaper that the company had consulted on how to undermine the operation of the unions in the airline were shown to be false.

New protests were announced for May 2010 and British Airways filed a new complaint on a technicality that was initially accepted but later rejected during what was purported to be the first day of the protests. The strike attempts were delayed after members of the Socialist Workers Party broke off negotiations between airline officials and union leaders from Unite the Union. Negotiations were later called off when Unite co-leader Derek Simpson was exposed. when he used his personal Blackberry to update his Twitter account with the progress of the confidential negotiations under the service of the Acas conciliation department.

Destinations

British Airways aircraft at London Heathrow Terminal 5.

British Airways serves approximately 150 destinations, including six domestic destinations. It is one of only ten airlines that flies to all five permanently inhabited continents (the other nine airlines are Air China, Delta, Etihad, Emirates, LATAM Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, South African Airways, and United Airlines).

Collaboration

Commercial

Codeshare Agreements

In addition to the codeshares inherent to those maintained with members of the Oneworld alliance, and their franchises and affiliates, the airline has codeshare agreements with:

• Aer Lingus
• airBaltic
• Bangkok Airways
• China Eastern Airlines
• China Southern Airlines
• LATAM Brazil
• LATAM Chile
• Loganair
• TAAG Angola Airlines
• Vueling

Technology

In April 2000 the British company selected Amadeus' Altéa platform to replace its passenger service system known as BABS. Migration to the new reservation and inventory system was completed in 2002.

Fleet

With the exception of BOAC's Boeing 707 and early Boeing 747 variants, the airline formed in 1972-4 inherited a fleet of aircraft of primarily British origin. In the 1980s it introduced the Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 to its fleet, which were soon followed by the Boeing 747-400, Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 in the 1990s.

Boeing aircraft for British Airways are designated customer code 36, which appears in their aircraft designation as a suffix, as follows: 737-436, 747-436 and 777-236.

Although the company uses a large fleet of Boeing aircraft, it has always operated aircraft from other manufacturers. The aircraft present in British at the time of its creation were transferred from BEA (for example the Trident) and from BOAC (for example the VC10), and in the 1980s the airline acquired the Lockheed L-1011. DC-10s and Airbus A320-100s have also been operated through the acquisition of British Caledonian Airways in the 1980s. In August 1998, the British airline placed its first direct order with Airbus, for 59 A320/A319s, to replace its aging fleet of Boeing 737 and A320-100 aircraft. The company replaced its fleet of L-1011 tri-engine aircraft. and DC-10 for the most efficient twin-engine aircraft, Boeing 767 and 777 in the 1990s. In September 2007, it placed its first order for long-range Airbus aircraft, consisting of a firm order for twelve Airbus A380s and seven additional options. BA's Boeing 757s are currently withdrawn from active service in the BA fleet. the company.

The British Airways fleet includes the following aircraft as of December 2022:

British Airways Fleet

Airplane	Total	Orders	Squares
			F	J	W	M	Total
Airbus A319-131	30	-	-	var	-	var	132
							143
							144
Airbus A320-200	66	-	-	var	-	var	144
							168
							171
							177
Airbus A320-251N	19	6	-	-	-	180	180
Airbus A321-231	18	-	-	23	-	131	154
			-	54	-	123	177
			-	12	-	187	199
			-	-	-	205	205
Airbus A321-251NX	10	-	-	-	-	220	220
Airbus A350-1041	13	5	-	56	56	219	331
Airbus A380-841	12	-	14	97	55	303	469
Boeing 777-236ER	43	-	14	48	40	124	226
			12	48	32	127	219
			-	48	24	203	275
			-	40	24	219	283
Boeing 777-300ER	16	-	14	56	44	185.	299
Boeing 777-9	-	18 (24 options)	8	65	46	206	325
Boeing 787-8	12	-	-	35	25	154	214
Boeing 787-9	18	-	8	42	39	127	216
Boeing 787-10	4	8	8	48	35	165	258
Dornier 328JET-300	5	-	-	-	-	32	32	Operated by SUN-AIR of Scandinavia
Embraer ERJ-190	22	-	-	-	-	98	98	Operated by BA CityFlyer
Total	288	37	13.7 average fleet years (December 2022)

Destinations with Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-Dreamliner

Routes of the A380

These are the destinations currently with this team.

Boeing Routes 787-8 Dreamliner

These are the destinations currently with this team.

Boeing Routes 787-9 Dreamliner

Choice of engines

The majority (77%) of BA's fleet is powered by Rolls-Royce engines or the IAE alliance, of which Rolls-Royce is a major player. The remaining 23% of the fleet is divided equally between General Electric and the CFM International consortium:

Rolls-Royce

• The RB211-524 provides power to the entire fleet of Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 767 aircraft.
• The Trent 800 brings power to nineteen of the Boeing 777.

International Aero Engines (IAE)

• All Airbus A319 and Airbus A321, as well as thirty-seven Airbus A320, get their power from the different variants of the V2500.

General Electric

• General Electric GE90 brings power to twenty-seven of 777-200/-200ERs and to all Boeing 777-300ERs.

CFM International

• Different variants of CFM International CFM56 provide power to both Airbus A318 and all Boeing 737 and four Airbus A320.

Recent Aircraft Orders

British Airways has thirty-two aircraft order options with Airbus, eligible to source any of the A320 Family variants. It also has secured ten order options on Boeing 777 aircraft pending delivery.

On March 27, 2007, the company placed an order for four 777-200ER aircraft with options for four more, at a retail cost of more than $800 million based on list price. The company It has mentioned that this movement is due to fleet expansion planning. BA's first Boeing 777s were delivered with General Electric GE90 engines, but executives opted for the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 for the latest nineteen aircraft. This choice of engines has been continued with the recent order for four aircraft, where the Trent 800 has been chosen as the power base for the new devices.

British Airways has ordered 24 new Boeing 787 aircraft to replace the Boeing 767 in their fleet, starting in 2012.

On September 27, 2007, the company announced its largest order since 1998, ordering thirty-six new long-range devices. It ordered twelve A380s with an option for seven additional aircraft, and twenty-four Boeing 787s with an option for eighteen more aircraft to be delivered between 2012 and 2016. Rolls-Royce Trent engines were selected for both orders with the Trent 900, which will power the A380, and the Trent 1000, which will provide power to the 787s. The Boeing 787 will replace about fourteen Boeing 767 aircraft in the fleet while the Airbus A380s will replace twenty of the older Boeing 747-400s and will be mainly used to increase the capacity for flights from London Heathrow, as will be the case for the Hong Kong and Los Angeles routes.

In September 2009, British Airways began a special service between London City Airport and New York-JFK using two Airbus A318s configured with 32-seat convertible flats in business class only. service is operated under flight numbers previously reserved for Concorde, BA001, BA002, BA003, and BA004.

On August 1, 2008, the airline announced an order for six Boeing 777-300ERs and an option for four more as a measure to cover possible delays in the delivery of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9. Of the six aircraft ordered, four will be on a lease basis and two will be purchased directly by British Airways. On January 12, 2009, CEO Willie Walsh mentioned that the acquisition of the six Boeing 777-300ER aircraft did not indicate that the company would have dismissed the purchase of the Airbus A350 in its fleet renewal program and that "the airline expected to make its final decision by the end of the year."

Historical Fleet

British Airways Fleet, Seventy Years Airplane Introduction Withdraw BAC One-Eleven 1974 1993 Boeing 707-400 1974 1984 Boeing 737-200 1974 2001 Boeing 747-100 1974 1999 Boeing 747-200 1977 2001 Concorde 1976 2003 Hawker Siddeley Trident 1974 1989 Hawker Siddeley HS 748 1975 1985 Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1974 1999 Vickers VC10 1974 1983 Vickers Vanguard 1974 1975 Vickers Viscount 1974 1982

British Airways Fleet, 1980-2010 Airplane Introduction Withdraw Airbus A318 2009 2020 Airbus A320-100 1988 2007 Boeing 737-300 1988 2009 Boeing 737-400 1992 2015 Boeing 737-500 1996 2009 Boeing 747-400 1989 2020 Boeing 757-200 1983 2010 Boeing 767-200 1993 1996 Boeing 767-300ER 1990 2018 Boeing 777-200 1995 2020 Dash 8-100 1993 1998 Fokker 100 1993 1997 Saab 340 1990 1991 BAe 146-200 1989 1994 BAe ATP 1989 1994 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 1988 1999

Marketing

The main theme song for British airline advertisements is "The Flower Duet" composed by Léo Delibes. This, and the slogan 'The World's Favorite Airline', were introduced in 1989 with the launch of the iconic facelift ad. The slogan was retired in 2001, after being superseded in terms of passenger numbers by Lufthansa. However, the airline still uses the "Flower Duet" and the theme has been modified countless times since 1989. In 2007, the most recent version of this tune was introduced, with a new tagline, "Upgrade to British Airways" (Upgrade to British Airways).

The logo of the British Airways runway marks the entrance to London Heathrow Terminal 5.

The advertising agency used for twenty-three years by British Airways was Saatchi & Saatchi, who created most of their most famous ads, including the current corporate image that gave them such good promotional results. However, after the conclusion of the collaboration contract with the company, Saatchi & Saatchi did an imitation of advertising elements for rival airline Silverjet in 2007. As of February 2007, the airline's advertising agency is Bartle Bogle Hegarty.

Prior to "The World's Favorite Airline#34;, advertising slogans were:

• "The best airline in the world."
• "We'll give you more care."
• Fly with the flag.

As far as the internet is concerned, in 2002 the presence of the British Airways brand was introduced and the airline was given the option to sell under its acronym and its IATA alphabetical airline code, "BA", as your internet domain (ba.com). The domain had previously been owned by Bell Atlantic.

British Airways is the Airline Sponsor of the Wimbledon Championship Tennis Tournament, and the Lead Airline and Number One Sponsor of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. British Airways is also the Official Airline of England for the World Cup of Soccer of 2018.

Boeing 747-400, G-BNLM, British Airways.

Tail drifts

From its formation in 1974, on some of its aircraft until all were repainted, British Airways aircraft carried a Union Flag scheme on their tail fins. The predominantly red tail scheme changed with the launch of a new livery designed by New York City-based design agency Landor Associates. The new drift was predominantly dark blue and carried the airline's Coat of Arms. On June 10, 1997, a highly controversial change took place over the use of British colors in ethnic logos and abstract images of the world, such as Delftware or Chinese calligraphy, for example. All designs were related to those countries included in the company's route network. This caused problems with air traffic control: whereas before controllers were able to track the pilot of the British airline plane, they now had serious difficulties in identifying them visually because each plane was painted in different colours. and distinct color schemes.

Several people took issue with the change from the traditional Union Flag scheme, including former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who covered the tail of a model British Airways plane with a scarf; this moment was captured on BBC News cameras. British Airways' quintessential rival airline, Virgin Atlantic, quickly adopted the British flag along with the slogan 'Britain's National Flag Airline'. On June 6, 1999, the CEO of the British company Bob Ayling announced that all British Airways planes were going to be repainted with the Union Flag, the Union Flag (Chatham Dockyard), based in the design first used on the Concorde.

Cabins

Short radius

UK Domestic is the economy class that the airline offers on its flights within the United Kingdom. Seat pitch is 31 inches on all of their aircraft and they have a single-class cabin configuration. Food on these flights depends on the destinations and the time of day. On flights within England before 10am, a cooked baguette breakfast is offered, while on flights to Scotland a cooked breakfast tray is offered. After ten in the morning there is a drink service with a small snack on all flights.

Euro Traveller short-range cabin.

Business UK is present in the same cabins as UK Domestic but offers the advantages of having a flexible ticket change and free access to the VIP lounges prior to the flight.

Euro Traveler is the name of the economy class that the company offers on flights from the United Kingdom to the rest of Europe. The separation between seats is 31 inches, except in the Airbus A321 where this separation is 30 inches. The food served on board depends on the "band" of destination (for example, band one corresponds to Paris, band two to Frankfurt, line three to Rome and line four to Athens). In slots one and two a bar service is served with the choice of sweet or savory appetizers, in slot three a piece of rolled meat is served and in slot four hot meals are served on their flights. On all flights before 10 am a cold breakfast is served and drinks are offered on board. In-flight entertainment is offered on tier four flights on all of its 767-300ER aircraft and on those A320-operated flights where the entertainment system is implemented.

Club Europe is the name of the short-haul business class offered by the British airline on all its short-haul flights (except those within the United Kingdom). Passengers have access to business lounges at most airports and have a full English breakfast service in the mornings or an 'extended breakfast' in the morning. on late morning flights (ham, salami, etc.) and a tea service on afternoon flights. Seat pitch in Club Europe class is 31 inches, the same as in Euro class Traveler on most planes. Club Europe usually has the same number of seats as Euro Traveler class, but with the caveat that the middle seat is never taken. As of September 2, 2009, Club Europe class seats in a 2-3 configuration on narrow-body aircraft, as this change was progressively adopted across the fleet. The resulting middle seat is also left free in this new configuration. Club Europe was originally introduced on 5 January 1988, along with Club World class, present in the business class cabin on British Airways long-haul flights..

Long radius

First (renamed 'FIRST' in 2009) is the first class service on British Airways long-haul flights and is offered on Boeing 777 and Boeing 787. There are fourteen cabins fitted out per plane, each one equipped with a two-meter bed, a 15-inch in-flight entertainment screen, plugs at each seat for laptops and mobile phones. The menus are improved from those of Club World, British Airways' long-haul business class product, offering more choice and better quality. Some airports have check-in counters specifically for first-class passengers, but at airports without first-class counters, these passengers use the Club World counters.

A new generation seat of the Club World class.

In 2009, the airline announced that the first major cabin change since 1996 was to open in January 2010, with minor changes. As part of its enhancement program, the airline has introduced a private concierge service provided by Quintessentially exclusively for first class passengers. The new cabin was originally scheduled to open on the London to New York route, but due to the blizzard on the East Coast of the United States it was finally opened on February 10, 2010, on the London to Chicago route..

Most of the long-haul fleet that is based at Gatwick Airport does not have first class seats as it is dedicated to flights to high capacity family holiday destinations; instead, it carries a three-class configuration made up of Club World, World Traveler Plus and World Traveler seats.

Club World is the name of the business class product on the long-haul flights of the British airline, on its Boeing 777 and 787 and Airbus A350 aircraft, and is also its only class service on its two Airbus A318 aircraft. Passengers have access to the departure lounges at most airports as well as a dedicated arrivals lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 5. On 13 November 2006, British Airways introduced a new Club World service, called Next Generation New Club World, which offered larger seats and entertainment service. The Club World cabin provides fully reclining seats and convertible beds, providing a width of half a meter and 1.94 meters long (2 meters long in the Next Generation New Club World cabins when not fully extended). There are twenty-four old-generation Club World seats mounted on Boeing 767-300ER aircraft; however, these will be replaced by the Boeing 787s that will feature the Next-Generation Club World class from 2012 onwards. There are forty-eight Next-Generation Club World seats on all British Airways Boeing 777s and as of 2007 there are fifty-two or seventy Next-Generation seats on Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Club World officially opened on January 5, 1988, along with the company's business class product for short-haul flights, Club Europe.

Cabina World Traveller.

World Traveler Plus is the premium economy class product offered by the British airline on all its long-range aircraft. World Traveler Plus features a thirty-eight-inch seat pitch, seven inches more than in World Traveler (British Airways' long-range economy class). Fewer seats per row, two armrests, one headrest are also offered, lumbar support, additional seat recline, and in-seat laptop power sockets. World Traveler Plus is located in a separate cabin from World Traveler and in a quieter location on the aircraft. On August 28, 2010, it was revealed a new World Traveler Plus cabin along with the new Thales entertainment system. This cabin is currently available on all 777-300ERs and will be rolled out to the entire long-haul fleet in the next two years. World Traveler Plus was officially launched in 2000.

World Traveler is the long-haul economy class offered on British Airways international flights to non-European destinations. World Traveler offers a 31-inch seat pitch, adjustable lumbar support and head restraints, seatback entertainment systems, a complimentary bar service and three interchangeable menus. The World Traveler product was introduced in 1991 and its last update was in 1998. On August 28, 2010, a new World Traveler cabin was introduced along with the new Thales in-flight entertainment system. This cabin is now available on all Boeing 747s, long-range Boeing 767s and all but sixteen Boeing 777s, which remain configured with twelve channels in the closed entertainment system.

Special cabin configuration

In 2001, British Airways introduced a ten-seat-a-row economy class configuration on the Boeing 777, an aircraft designed for nine-seat-a-row layouts. This was achieved by designing particularly wide and insulated seats, and was applied to two Boeing 777-200ERs with General Electric engines used primarily on Caribbean routes, and occasionally to Florida.

Seating Policy

In March 2001, it was revealed that British Airways had a policy of not seating adult males next to children who were assigned a seat next to them, even if the children's parents were somewhere on the plane. This led to allegations of sex discrimination, which airline executives admitted following Mirko Fischer's 2010 complaint which led to a lawsuit. The policy was repealed in August 2010 by providing seats to minors in a non-discriminatory manner within the airline. flight deck.

Airport VIP lounges

British Airways Concord Room at Heathrow 5A Terminal.

British Airways operates several different types of lounges for those passengers traveling in special classes and passengers with Silver or Gold status in the Executive Club frequent flyer programme, the airline's main loyalty programme.

Club World and Club Europe passengers, British Airways business classes, as well as Silver Executive Club card holders are authorized to use the company's seventy terraces or Executive Club lounges. Both lounges will be replaced by lounges Galleries Club.

First class passengers, as well as Gold Executive Club card holders, are entitled to use all sixty British Airways First Class lounges. The Concorde Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 and New York JFK Terminal 7 are only accessible to First Class passengers or Concorde or Premier Lounge card holders. The lounges will be replaced by Galleries First, an upgraded version of the first class rooms.

At airports where the UK airline does not have a lounge, a third-party-attended lounge is provided for passengers with status or in special classes. An arrivals lounge is also offered at Gatwick airport within the Sofitel hotel.

Loyalty Programs

British Airways runs two loyalty or frequent flyer schemes: the Executive Club is its main programme, and the other, highly exclusive, is known simply as Premier.

Executive Club

The Executive Club is part of the network of frequent flyer programs in the Oneworld alliance and is divided into three classes of association: Blue, Silver and Gold. Silver and Gold card benefits include access to VIP lounges and special reservation desks. Unlike most airline frequent flyer programs, the Executive Club maintains separate accounts for Avios and Loyalty Tier Points. Flights in higher classes of service, for example Premium Economy, Business or First Class, earn additional BA Miles and Tier Points. As of August 2009, Tier Points could be earned on any flight and class of service, which also includes reduced economy fares.

Earned miles expire after thirty-six months of inactivity.

Premiere

The airline runs a premium invitation-only loyalty program that brings many more benefits than the Executive Club Gold card, including increased BA miles earned per flight and access to the Concorde lounge regardless of flight class or service. It is only granted by the airline's board of directors and currently has 1,200 members.

Incidents and accidents

• In November 1974, British Airways Flight 870 from Dubai to Heathrow, operated by a Vickers VC10, who was abducted in Dubai, was forced to land in Tripoli to refuel the plane and fly to Tunisia. A crew member was killed before the kidnappers surrender voluntarily after eighty-four hours of kidnapping. Captain Jim Futcher was awarded the Medal of the Queen's courtesy, the flowered medal of the air pilots and air sailors of the founders, the gold medal of the Association of British Airlines Pilots and a Certificate of Good Make of the airline for their actions during the kidnapping, after having returned to the plane to continue their operations despite knowing that the hijackers were on board.

• On 10 September 1976, a British Airways 476 Trident 3B flight from London Heathrow to Istanbul collided in the middle of the air with an Inex Adria DC-9-32 near Zagreb, Croatia, which led to the 1976 Zagreb air collision. The fifty-four passengers and the nine crew members of the British company aircraft perished. This is the only fatal accident of British Airways since the company's formation in 1974.

• On 24 June 1982, flight 9, a Boeing 747-200, G-BDXH, City of Edinburgh It flew through a cloud of volcanic ash and dust from the eruption of Mount Galunggung, which caused serious damage to the aircraft, which included the failure of its four engines. The crew engineered them to remove the aircraft from the ash cloud and to reboot the four engines of the aircraft, but soon afterwards they stopped again. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport outside Jakarta. Nobody got hurt.

• On 10 June 1990, flight 5390, a flight operated by a BAC One-Eleven between Birmingham and Malaga, underwent a decompression in flight due to incorrect placement of insulation the previous day. The aircraft commander suffered significant injuries after being partially suctioned of the plane, however the co-driver landed the plane without further setbacks at Southampton Airport.

• On 2 August 1990, flight 149 landed at Kuwaiti International Airport four hours after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, resulting in the capture of all crew and passengers, as well as the destruction of the aircraft.

• On 11 December 2000, British Airways flight 2069 flew from London-Gatwick Airport to Nairobi underwent an attempted kidnapping while flying over Sudan. A Kenyan student with diagnosed mental illness accessed the Boeing 747 flight cabin that made the flight. As three crew members fought to hold the hijacker, the autopilot unconnected and the plane dropped about 10,000 feet (3048.0 m) with 398 passengers on board. However, with the help of the passengers, the pilots regained control of the aircraft, after successfully reducing the student with handcuffs and the plane landed without further setbacks. Passengers on board the plane included British singer Bryan Ferry and the socialist Jemima Khan.

• On 19 February 2005, the engine number two of a Boeing 747-400 G-BNLG it was burned (it occurred when the air flow was reversed as a result of reverse activation) and suffered internal damage after taking off from Los Angeles on a flight to London Heathrow with sixteen crew members and 351 passengers on board the aircraft. The crew turned off the engine and continued the upgrade and flight, according to the standard British Airways operation procedures for four-engine aircraft. Since he was incapable of following normal cruise speeds and altitudes, the plane was diverted to Manchester Airport, England. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was very critical with the captain's decision and accused the British company of operating their aircraft in dangerous conditions as regards aeronautical terms. In June 2006, the United Kingdom Air Accident Research Office recommended that the British and American authorities review the continuing flight policy and give their authorization to the right guide. This has never happened, but FAA has accepted the determination of the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority that the plane was not in flight condition.

The damaged remains of British Airways flight 38

• On 17 January 2008, British Airways flight 38, operated by a Boeing 777-200ER with registration G-YMMM, by flight from Beijing to London, landed about 1000 feet (304.8 m) from the 27L track of London-Heathrow Airport, and continued its slide on the ground to reach the threshold of the same track. This resulted in various damage to the landing gear, wing alloys, and motors, with the incentive to be this the first total loss of a Boeing 777. There were 136 passengers and sixteen crew members aboard. One person was seriously injured and twelve others suffered minor injuries. The initial report of the Air Accidents Investigation Office stated that the engines repeatedly failed their actions in the commands by requiring more power, already the order of the auto-push system or manual intervention came, with the start of the problems when the plane was 600 feet (182,9 m) and 2 nautical miles (3,7 km) of track 27L. In September 2008, the presence of ice in the fuel tank was reported to have caused the accident. In early 2009, Boeing sent an update circular to all its operators, to identify the problem as specific to the Rolls-Royce engine fuel flow heater.

• On 3 August 2014, British Airways flight 245, operated by the Boeing 777-200ER, with registration G-YMMB, in flight from London to Buenos Aires, he experienced a technical failure in which the pilots believed that they would go down in a bit to the sea while, in fact, everything was fine. The pilots announced the alleged problem and the entire crew prepared the passengers for a collision at sea. After 15 minutes the crew discovered that it was a false alarm and the flight followed its route normally until landing in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• On 9 September 2015, British Airways' 2276 flight, a Boeing 777-200 to London, was set on the track at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport after a 'castrophic engine failure' statement, forcing to abort the takeoff and start an emergency evacuation. The Boeing 777 was about to take off on its 10-hour flight to London Gatwick, when the plane suffered a motor crash. Videos and photographs of the scene showed the plane wrapped in smoke. One of the four airstrips at the airport was out of service after the fire, which started at approximately 16:22 local time, according to airport officials. All 159 passengers and 13 crew members escaped from the aircraft through emergency slides; 14 passengers were treated in nearby hospitals for minor injuries.^{[chuckles]required]}

• On May 27, 2017 the airline was forced to cancel its flights due to a failure in its systems. Some trade union representatives accused the incident to the subcontracting in India of the company's computer services, which led to the dismissal in 2010 of computer service personnel.

• On June 18, 2021, a Boeing 787-8, British Airways G-ZBJB, suffered a collapse of the front landing gear while on the Heathrow airport track. A spokesman for British Airways confirmed that there were no passengers on board the plane when the incident occurred.