Back British Airways Afrikaans الخطوط الجوية البريطانية Arabic الخطوط الجويه البريطانيه ARZ British Airways AST British Airways Byelorussian Бритиш Еъруейс Bulgarian ব্রিটিশ এয়ারওয়েজ Bengali/Bangla British Airways BS British Airways Catalan British Airways Czech
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| Founded | 31 March 1974 | ||||||
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| AOC # | 441 | ||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Executive Club/Avios | ||||||
| Alliance | Oneworld | ||||||
| Subsidiaries | |||||||
| Fleet size | 244 | ||||||
| Destinations | 206[2] | ||||||
| Parent company | International Airlines Group | ||||||
| Headquarters | Waterside London, England | ||||||
| Key people | |||||||
| Revenue |  £3,693 million (2021)[4] | ||||||
| Net income | £1,900 million (2021)[4] | ||||||
| Website | britishairways | ||||||
British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.[5][6]
The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers carried, behind easyJet. In January 2011 BA merged with Iberia, creating the International Airlines Group (IAG), a holding company registered in Madrid, Spain. IAG is the world's third-largest airline group in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest in Europe. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the FTSE 100 Index. British Airways is the first passenger airline to have generated more than US$1 billion on a single air route in a year (from 1 April 2017, to 31 March 2018, on the New York-JFK – London-Heathrow route).[7]
BA was created in 1974 after a British Airways Board was established by the British government to manage the two nationalised airline corporations, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, and two regional airlines, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. However, it marked 2019 as its centenary based on predecessor companies.[8] After almost 13 years as a state company, BA was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, Dan-Air in 1992, and British Midland International in 2012.
It is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, the now-defunct Canadian Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after SkyTeam and Star Alliance.
- ^ Airways, British. "British Airways' Short-haul Gatwick Subsidiary, BA Euroflyer, Reaches Significant Milestone Following Receipt of Air Operator's Certificate and Operating Licence". mediacentre.britishairways.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
- ^ "British Airways on ch-aviation". ch-aviation. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Davies, Rob (12 October 2020). "BA chief Alex Cruz steps down as airline reels from pandemic". ft.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Annual Report and Accounts 2021" (PDF). iairgroup.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ Dron, Alan (6 January 2017). "British Airways aims to mitigate strike effect". Air Transport World. Washington: Informa. Archived from the original on 12 January 2017.
- ^ "Get to know the flag carriers of the European countries". AirMundo. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ Reed, Dan. "New York-London Is The World's First Billion-Dollar Airline Route". Forbes. New York. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^ "British Airways' Centenary Launches with a Love Letter Featuring the Best of British Talent". British Airways (Press release). London: International Airlines Group. Archived from the original on 8 February 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.