History Of An Airline Feature British Airways

The second installment of our History Of An Airline Feature will be examining the world famous British Airways, the flagship carrier for the United Kingdom. We will be looking at the history of the airline as well as the aircraft it has used and what its plans are for the future.

Origins

British Airways is the largest airline in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. British Airways history can be traced all the way back to 1924 when the four main airlines in the UK namely Instone Air Line, Daimler Airways, British Air Marine Navigation and Handley Page Transport formed an alliance to create Imperial Airways. Imperial Airways was responsible for flying routes to Australia and Africa keeping the route of the British Empire strong.

Imperial Airways were not the only airline operating in the UK at the time however, as many smaller groups were running flights as well. In 1935 a merger of these small airlines created British Airways Ltd which was then nationalised along with Imperial Airways in 1939 forming the British Overseas Airways Corportation (BOAC). After the Second World War BOAC continued to run long-haul flight services which were flown under the banner of South American Airways. South American Airways reverted back to being named BOAC in 1949. All domestic and continental European flights were then operated by a newly-named airline, British European Airways (BEA) which took over the flight routes of all the independent UK airlines that were operating at the time. Towards the end of the 1950's the airline needed to invest in newer aircraft to meet the demand and decided upon the Lockheed Constellation, the Boeing Stratocruiser (below) and a version of DC-4 equipped with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, which met the task perfectly.

Travel on such aircraft was a far cry from today and flying was also for the rich or famous. For an example of what the cabins were like in an aircraft such as the Stratocruiser take a look at the images above kindly supplied by Boeing.

1950's

The 1950's saw the beginning of the jet age for the airline with the arrival of the DeHavilland Comet. In 1952 the aircraft was flying in the BOAC livery to Johannasberg providing a much faster flight than was previously possible by the airlines prop-driven aircraft. A number of crashes involving Comets grounded the fleet in 1954 whilst British Authorities investigated the causes. After extensive tests it was discovered that the square nature of the windows on the aircraft were creating cracks that over time were leading to catastrophic failiures in flight. The Comet was withdrawn from service and modified however by this time many of the airlines had moved to rival Boeing, all but ending the British involvement in constructing commercial airliners. If it had not been for these failiures then Britain may still be leading the world in commercial airliner construction.

1960's

The 1960's saw the beginning of the package holiday boom and for the entire airline industry this meant dramatic change was necessary. In the early 1960's the Boeing 707 was ordered with a much greater range and passenger capacity than the DeHavilland Comet and were used to great effect until the Vickers VC-10's were ready for service in the latter half of the 1960's.

1970's

With the package holiday boom continuing into the 1970's the airline formed BEA Airtours to meet the demand which was done to great effect. A merger followed in 1972 between BEA and BOAC that was made under the British Airways Board, and in 1974 the two airlines were completely merged to form British Airways. In January 1976 British Airways along with Air France introduced one of the most famous aircraft to ever fly - Concorde. The aircraft still to this day has not been surpassed for speed and beauty and was able to travel at twice the speed of sound. It could fly from London to New York in a staggering three hours and thirty minutes compared to a regular sub-sonic service from an aircraft such as a Boeing 747 which flies the route in approximately eight hours.

The early 1970's had also seen another new aircraft enter service with British Airways, and like Concorde was unique and highly impressive. It was the world famous Boeing 747 'jumbo jet' that could carry more passengers than any other airliner in service at the time and can be seen above along with Concorde.

1980's

In February 1980 the first of British Airways short-haul jet airliners were delivered from Boeing which were the new 737-200 model. British Airways ordered 44 of these aircraft which were then updated with newer versions when, in the mid-1980's, the 737-400 updated model was released with a greater passenger capacity (below). The airline also took delivery of the Boeing 757 at this time which is also shown below.

In 1981 Sir John KIng was appointed Chairman of British Airways and in 1983 placed Colin Marshall in the position of CEO of the airline. After KIng took over he managed to turn British Airways into a successful profit-making organisation that had been seriously struggling before he had arrived. British Airways then emerged as one of the profitable airlines of that time and was the first occasion we heard the slogan still used today that British Airways is 'The Worlds Favourite Airline.'

KIng was criticised however for some of his methods, such as the shedding of many jobs in the early years of his role. This led him to make generous offers to staff willing to leave which were shouldered by the taxpayer. This, of course, went on to benefit a privatised British Airways in the future, a move many see as unfair.

In February 1987 British Airways was floated on the London Stock Exchange and was eleven times oversubscribed when shares were initially offered. In April 1988 British Airways took over British Caledonian but kept the name by changing the name of its charter service British Airtours to British Caledonian. In 1992 Dan-Air was also taken over by British Airways but in this instance the name was not kept alive.

1990's

As far back as 1988 it had become clear to British Airways that Virgin Atlantic, led by entrepreneur Richard Branson, was beginning to challenge some of their flight routes, including the ones on which they made the most profit. British Airways are then said to have embarked upon a campaign of 'dirty tricks' which culminated in a legal case with Branson suing British Airways and KIng for libel in 1992. British Airways counter-sued Branson leading to a trial in 1993. However British Airways admitted defeat and settled the case paying Branson £500,000 and £110,000 to his airline Virgin Atlantic. Branson then divided the money between his staff naming it the 'BA Bonus.'

Lord King retired from his role in 1993 and and Colin Marshall his CEO took over the role. Marshall appointed Bob Ayling as Managing Director and King had a role specifically created for him, that of President. He became President Emeritus in 1997 and kept the role until his death in July 2005.

1995 saw a wind of change within the airline as it decided to re-brand some of its aircraft for Asian flights. Due to political sensitivities the union flag was replaced on the tail fins of some British Aircraft flying on its routes to Taiwan as well as the airline name being changed to British Asia Airways. This practice was also followed by Qantas who named themselves Australia Asia Airways when flying to Taiwan. Flights to Taiwan were ended in 2001 however due to a lack of profit on the route.

In 1996 a new Chief Executive was appointed, Bob Ayling who took control of British Airways during a difficult time for the airline. Competition was at a premium during this period and coupled with high oil prices saw British Airways struggle to make substantial profit. BA management and unions disagreed and the dispute cost the airline hundreds of millions of pounds. Drastic measures were needed, and in a contentious decision Ayling rid the airline of its union flag tailfins in favour of 'world design tailfins' to show the airline as more cosmopolitan.

Ayling managed some important developments for the airline however with cost savings of £750 million as well as successfully establishing the no-frills airline Go in 1998. He was also responsible for reducing the capacity of the airline by cancelling orders for Boeing 747's and replacing them with Boeing 777's (above). He also took the step of ordering many Airbus A320 aircraft to modernise the airlines short-haul fleet of aircraft which can be seen below.

2000 Onwards

British Airways hit turbulent times in 1999 announcing a 50% slump in company profits. As a result Ayling was removed from his position in March 2000 and Rod Eddington replaced him. Staff cuts followed soon after and when the September the 11th attacks occured the workforce was cut even more. In 2004 British Airways sold its 18.5% share in Qantas but would continue to share revenue. The sale really helped the airlines debt as the price they got for the sale was an impressive £425 million.

In March 2005 it was announced that the former boss of Aer Lingus Willie Walsh would be taking control from Rod Eddington when he retired in September 2005. Willie Walsh is still in control of British Airways despite calls for him to step down recently after the fiasco that has been Heathrow Terminal 5.

Terminal 5

Heathrow Terminal 5 was built purely for the use of British Airways. At a cost of 4.3 billion it was an impressive and ambitious project to ease the strain on Heathrow Airports other four terminal buildings. The terminal was oficially opened by the Queen on the 14th of March 2008 and opened to the public on the 27th of March.

Problems occured almost immediately with the baggage system becoming overwhelmed with the number of items being put on them. Members of staff also appeared to not have been trained adequately and computer systems did not appear up-to-scratch. A huge build-up of baggage occured that still has not been remedied and the whole fiasco could have cost Willie Walsh his job. Walsh however has decided to stick to his role and ensure that he clears up the current mess in the terminal. Two directors have left British Airways recently however which is said to be as a direct result of the problems that have occured.

The Future Of British Airways

British Airways currently has many aircraft on order for delivery in the future. The airline has 32 orders for Airbus A320 short-haul aircraft as well as 10 orders for Boeing 777 long-haul airliners. In late 2007 British Airways also announced their orders for the brand new 'superjumbo' the Airbus A380 which is the largest commercial airliner in the world.

The order currently stands at seven A380's whilst the other brand new airliner, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (above), is also on order with British Airways with 24 ordered with a further option of 18 available. These are expected to arrive between 2010 and 2014.

Images courtesy of: kpmarek Boeing Media www.sxc.hu

Published by: Jon Vickery