British Airways Airliners

  Government Herald Formation of B.O.A.C. 

7 October 1937 British Airways Ltd made survey flights London to Lisbon with two Lockheed 14s, one direct and one via Bordeaux. Another nonstop flight was made on 25th October and then, on 27 October a flight from Lisbon to Seville; these airlines flights were in connection with the projected route to West Africa and South America. From 1st November of the same year it became an offence to operate air services in the UK without a licence issued by the Air Transport Licensing Authority. On 11th November, the British government announced its intention to merge Imperial Airways and British Airways Limited to amalgamate in formation of  British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).

British Airways Limited Alliance Airlines Service

The compulsory Bill received Royal Assent on 4th August 1939, just prior to the commencement of World War II. The combined airlines companies began passenger airlines flight service operating from Gatwick Airport to Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmo using Lockheed monoplanes built by American Lockheed Aircraft Manufacturer. British Airways Limited and Imperial Airways formed an alliance with each other on 16th April 1939 to operate a joint airline network service form London to Paris. British Airways Limited was formed on 1st January 1936 from United Airways, Hillman’s Airways and Spartan Airlines.  12th June 1939 a Bill was introduced in the House of Commons for the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation, British Airways Limited and Imperial Airways Limited.

B. O. A. C. From 1941 to 1946 "The Ball Bearing Run"

From 1941 through to 1946 during World War II British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) operate special air service code name "the ball bearing run" using such aircraft as Lockheed 14, Mosquito, Catalina, Boeing 314 C Class and G Class flying boats like the Golden Horn and Golden Hind, Short S25 Sunderland III flying boats, along with converted Liberator and Lancaster bombers, Dakota DC3, Vickers Viking Canadair Argonaut, Handley Page Hermes and Boeing Stratocruiser.

BOAC Flew the First Practical Jet Airliner Service.

On 2nd May 1952 BOAC flew the world’s first practical airlines jet service which was the Comet G-ALYP jet airliner operating from London Airport to Johannesburg via Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe and Livingstone. 1st January 1960 BEA’s first airliner jet service began with the De Havilland Comet 4Bs. BEA was also the first airlines company to introduced cheap fares on international and domestic flight services.

BEA Airlines Introduced the World’s First Schedule Cheap Flight Air Fare.

1st November 1961 BEA introduced the world’s first cheap flight air fare on scheduled air flights routed between London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast on off-peak night services. 20th June 1962 BOAC and Cunard Steam Ship Company form BOAC Cunard Ltd to operate scheduled air services from Britain to the United States, Caribbean, Northern and South America. At the Beginning of January 1966 was the first services of the Boeing 707-336C an all-cargo aircraft linking London, Manchester and Glasgow with the United States of America and Canada.

Supersonic Concorde Jet Plane First Flight

First flight of Concorde 001 from Toulouse, France on 2nd March 1969 and Concorde 002 from Filton, UK on 9th April 1969. November 1969 British European Airways (BEA) became world’s first airline to publish an entirely computer-produced timetable. 14th April 1971 BOAC operated its first commercial Boeing 747 air plane flight G-AWNF from Heathrow International Airport to John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport USA.

BOAC and BEA Merged to Form British Airways

1st April 1974 the government announced its intention to merge BEA and BOAC to form British Airways. The British Airways Group was established on 1 September. BOAC and British European Airways (BEA) were dissolved on 31 March 1974 on the formation of British Airways. January 1975 British Airways introduced Lockheed Tri-Stars on European routes, initially to Brussels, Madrid, Malaga, Palma and Paris. On the 12th January 1975 British Airways launched Europe’s first no-reservation guaranteed seat walk-on Shuttle service from Heathrow to Glasgow. Same year of 1975Rolls Royce-powered Boeing 747-200 commercial Air Plane was launched with British Airways (BA).

British Airways' World's First Supersonic Passenger Airliner: Concorde

1976 saw BA's world’s first passenger supersonic plane services were inaugurated simultaneously on 21st January 1976 by British Airways to Bahrain (Concorde G-BOAA) and Air France to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar. 2nd November 1977 Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II flew from Barbados to Heathrow on Concorde G-BOAE at the end of her Caribbean tour. 22 November 1977 Concorde services opened to New York JFK and on 9th December 1977 to Singapore, an extension of the Bahrain service, in conjunction with Singapore Airlines. Concorde G-BOAD wore Singapore Airlines’ livery on its port side for use on the route. BA's seventh and final Concorde was delivered in June.

BA's Economic Survival Plan Due to the Big Rise of Fuel Prices

In December 1980 deliveries began of a fleet of new Boeing 737-236s Commercial Airplanes for use on British Airways’ European and UK domestic services, and by Gatwick-based British Air tours. Fuel prices were rising at the alarming rate of 70% per year. Immediate action came in the form of a survival plan, which called for unprofitable routes to be dropped, staff reductions and the early retirement of older aircraft. Many Trident 1s had already gone and these were followed by some Trident 2s, the Boeing 707s and the Super VC-10s

British Airways Plc and other British Airlines Competitors

On 1st April 1984 British Airways airline became British Airways plc. The Civil Aviation Authority review in July 19842 led to the publication of a White Paper  recommending a reduction in the size of BA's air fleet and the transfer of many route to their British competitors. After much pressure from the airlines company and its employees, the final result was the transfer during April 1985 of the Saudi Arabian routes to British Caledonian (BCAL) in exchange for the South American rights. 1986 saw the largest single commercial airliner order ever placed, made by British Airways Plc in August for 16 Boeing 747-436s Jumbo Jets plus another 12 on option worth US$4.3m and destined, at the time, to replace the older 747-136s airliners. On 28th July1989 British Airways' first Boeing 747-400 service, with registration G-BNLC flew on a flight from London to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, USA.

British Airways' Boeing 777 and 747's Airliner Aircraft Ordering Spree

In the month of  July 1990, 21 Boeing 747-436s were ordered by BA and 12 options placed. The airline’s total order for the type was 42.  In August 1991 BA airline ordered 15 Boeing 777 aircraft powered by General Electric GE90 engines with a further 15 options. The aircraft formed part of a £4.3 billion package, including orders and options for 24 Boeing 747-400s and 11 British Aerospace ATPs. That same year BA airlines company took delivery of its first three 141-seat Boeing 737-436s entered service in October. By the end of March 1992, 13 of the aircraft would be in scheduled service with 14 more due for delivery by December 1993.

 British Airways Formed Alliances and Codesharing with other Airlines Companies

In 1998 British Airways ordered 59 airliners in the Airbus A320 family with options on a further 129. BA airline also ordered 16 Boeing 777s, with options on a further 16, whilst cancelling 5 firm orders and 7 options for Boeing 747-400s. BA airlines announced in September that Rolls Royce had won the contract to supply the engines to power the new Boeing 777s. In September the same year, American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas Airways announce the new the oneworld global alliance. British Airways and Iberia signed a commercial agreement under which they planned to co-operate in a wide area of activities, including codesharing on flights beyond the UK and Spain, reciprocal frequent flyer programmes, and common ground handling and cargo. The airlines company sold under 30% of its holding in Equant telecommunications company for a profit of £49million. BA and LOT team up to announced additional codesharing and deeper frequent flyer integration. British Airways announced plans for a £14m upgrade to Concorde. The plans included new seats, new toilets, interiors, tableware and a new lounge at Heathrow.  Aer Lingus became the ninth member of the oneworld alliance team.

October 2003 both British Airways and Air France withdrew Concorde from Service

Year 2000 British Airways took delivery of its first two Boeing 777 Extended Range airliner aircraft. In that same year British Airways was the world's first airlines company to launched commercial interactive TV service. After the loss of an Air France Concorde aircraft near Paris, Charles de Gaulle on 25 July, British Airways cancelled all Concorde flight operations, while at same instance, British Airways had remained optimistic that Concorde air flight services would resume at some point in time. As a result of the suspension of the aerospace supersonic Concorde jet airliner operations, an extra 32 new Club World seats were to be available on two daily Heathrow to New York JFK services from mid-September. Sadly and painfully on 24th October 2003, British Airways withdrew all Concorde jets, the closure of the world’s only supersonic jet  passenger services. The last scheduled commercial flight was BA2 from JFK operated by G-BOAG. BA’s fleet of seven Concorde aircraft were dispersed for preservation at Barbados, Edinburgh, Filton, Manchester, New York, Seattle with one Concorde remaining at Heathrow. Concorde aircraft was an art of modern aerospace technology, a great loss to the world of commercial aviation airlines network.

Golden Heritage of British Airways

From 2007 into the far reaching 21st Century and beyond. It is fittingly to say that British Airways Airlines was there from the beginning of international aviation as the pioneer of the world's first schedule airline international passenger airlines flight service in 1919 leading British Airways to offer airline passengers flight on the first jet airliner and then being the world's first Airline Company that operated the world's first supersonic jet plane airliner service in Concorde that in fact became the world's most famous airliner. No other airline company can boast the golden heritage of British Airways. Visit the British Airways Archive and Museum Collection, Building 387 (E121) PO Box 10, Heathrow Airport, Hounslow, Middlesex TW6 2JA  United Kingdom where you will find the full source of this information relating to the British Airways Airlines history and it's prominent aerospace Airliners of the past.

Visitation to the British Airways Archive and Museum is by Appointment only. Phone: 0208 513 7508