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British Airways

Summary: This article deals with the modern airline British Airways. For the 1930s airline of similar name see British Airways Ltd. British Airways (IATA designator:BA) is the largest airline of the United Kingdom and Europe. It is also one of the largest airlines in the world. British Airways flies to destinations in Europe, North America, ...

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British Airways

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article deals with the modern airline British Airways. For the 1930s airline of similar name see British Airways Ltd. British Airways (IATA designator:BA) is the largest airline of the United Kingdom and Europe. It is also one of the largest airlines in the world.

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

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

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

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

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

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

British Airways aircraft generally use the Airline call sign "Speedbird" in ATC radio transmissions. On UK Domestic routes some flights use "Shuttle" as their call sign. The airline's International Air Transport Association designator is BA. British Airways is a founding member of the oneworld airline alliance.

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

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

Table of contents
1 Destinations
2 Aircraft fleet
3 Other facts of interest
4 External links

Destinations

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

Africa

Asia

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Southwest Asia

Europe

North America

United States, Canada, and Mexico

Bermuda and the Caribbean

Oceania

South America

Aircraft fleet

Other facts of interest

  • British Airways and Air France were the only two Concorde operators.
  • The airline is the largest operator of the Boeing 747-400, with 57 aircraft.
  • During the 1990s, British Airways repainted (and re-named) many of their airplanes in colour schemes relating to countries they fly to.
  • British Airways has the greatest number of flights from Europe to North America.
  • British Airways has featured prominently in recent James Bond films, most notably an air-air shot of a BA 747 in Die Another Day.

External links

List of Aircraft - Aircraft Manufacturers - Aircraft Engines - Aircraft Engine Manufacturers
Airlines - Air Forces - Aircraft Weapons - Missiles - Years in Aviation

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This article is from Wikipedia. This article was up-to-date as of 8 May 2004 - See live article
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