British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the UK's largest international scheduled airline and one of the largest airlines in Europe. They fly to over 550 countries around the world and have established themselves as major market players in both longhaul and shorthaul flights.

British Airways have different travel classes.

• First Class
• Business Class - Club World for longhaul journeys and Club Europe for short haul flights.
• Premium economy class – World Traveller Plus
• Economy class – World Traveller for longhaul flights, Euro Traveller to European destinations and UK Domestic for flights within the UK.

British Airways also has its own loyalty programmes for frequent flyers that provide additional benefits for passengers. The Executive Club is British Airways' main frequent flyer programme and is part of the network of frequent flyer programmes in the Oneworld alliance. The Executive Club has three tiers of membership - Blue, Silver and Gold.

History of British Airways

British Airways was founded in 1924 as Imperial Airways. It was a merger of Britain's four pioneer airlines, Instone Air Line, Handley Page Transport, Daimler Airways and British Air Marine Navigation.

During the same period smaller UK air transport companies had started flights and these merged in 1935 to form British Airways Limited as a privately owned company. Imperial Airways and British Airways were nationalised in 1939 to form the British Overseas Airways Corporation or BOAC. Continental European and domestic flights were flown by a new nationalised airline called British European Airways or BEA.

The British Airways Group was formed officially on 1 September 1972 and merged both companies, BOAC and BEA. These two companies were dissolved on 31 March 1974 to form British Airways or BA as it is well known by.

The company was privatised in February 1987 and floated on the London Stock Exchange. It expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1988 and some of the routes of the carrier Dan-Air in 1992 that was based in Gatwick.

In 1992 BA purchased the small German domestic airline Delta Air Transport and renamed it Deutsche BA. It was then sold in June 2003. They continued their expansion when In 1995 BA formed British Asia Airways, a subsidiary based in Taiwan, to operate between London and Taipei. This ceased operation in 2001.

Other British Airways Activities

British Airways is also involved in other activities and owns various subsidiary companies. Some of these include:

• British Airways World Cargo - British Airways World Cargo is one of the leading cargo airlines in the world, carrying freight, mail and courier traffic to 200 destinations in more than 80 countries. British Airways World Cargo's portfolio of products has been designed to provide straightforward freighting solutions that are simple to use and easy to understand.
• British Airways Engineering - British Airways Engineering is British Airways Plc wholly owned maintenance organisation, providing a wide variety of engineering services to British Airways and a number of other airlines. The company focuses on component repair facilities and supports a range of Boeing and Airbus components. It currently employs around 5500 staff at the main bases of Heathrow and Gatwick and more than 60 other locations around the world.
• British Airways also has been primary sponsor for the London Eye. British Airways had shares in the London attraction along with The Tussauds Group and until 2008 British Airways was part of the London Eye logo and branding.
• British Airways Holidays Limited for complete holiday packages to destinations all over the world.