Timeline of British Airways
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This is a timeline of the history of British Airways plc (including the history of predecessor companies which influence its shape today).
Contents |
[edit] 1920s
- 1924
- March 31 - Imperial Airways formed by merger of four British airline companies.
[edit] 1930s
- 1936
- January 1 - British Airways Ltd formed by merger of three airlines.
- 1939
- November 24 - Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd merged under provisions of BOAC Act to form the British Overseas Airways Corporation.
[edit] 1940s
- 1940
- April 1 - BOAC commences operations, officially replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd.
- 1946
- Civil Aviation Act 1946 proposes demerger of two divisions of BOAC to form three separate corporations:
- British Overseas Airways Corporation - for Empire, North American and Far East routes
- British European Airways (BEA) - for European and domestic routes
- British South American Airways (BSAA) - for South American and Caribbean routes
- Civil Aviation Act 1946 proposes demerger of two divisions of BOAC to form three separate corporations:
- 1949
- July 30 - British South America Airways merged back into BOAC.
[edit] 1950s
- 1952
- May 2 - BOAC becomes the first airline to operate a passenger jet service, London to Johannesburg.
- 1954
- Two Comet 1 crashes ground the fleet, leading to discovery of acute metal fatigue due to the aircraft's design.
- 1956
- November 8 - BOAC orders 15 Boeing 707s. As the first Boeing jet airliner this began a relationship which would see British Airways become the largest Boeing customer outside of North America.
- 1958
[edit] 1960s
- 1960
- June 23 - BOAC signs a contract for the Vickers VC-10.
- 1964
- March 11 - First passenger flight of BEA's Hawker Siddeley Trident.
- April 29 - First passenger flight of Standard Vickers VC-10.
- 1968
- November 17 - BAC 1-11 enters commercial service with BEA.
[edit] 1970s
Image:Concorde.planview.arp.jpg
- 1971
- April 14 - BOAC undertakes its first commercial flight with the Boeing 747-100, the fourth airline to fly the 747.
- 1972
- September 1 - British Airways Board formed, a holding board which controlled BOAC and BEA.
- 1974
- March 31 - BOAC and BEA dissolved and operations merged to form British Airways.
- 1976
- January 21 - British Airways and Air France begin commercial flight with Concorde. (BA:London-Bahrain, Air-France:Paris-Rio de Janeiro)
- 1979
- May - Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister. Within two months she announces her government's intention to return BA to profit and privatise it.
[edit] 1980s
- 1980
- June - Livery changed, "British airways" replaced with the word "British".
- 1981
- February - Lord King, "Thatcher's favourite businessman", appointed to prepare BA for privatisation.
- 1984
- April 1 - The assets and liabilites of the statutory corporation British Airways are vested in British Airways plc.
- December 4 - Livery changed. Designed by Landor Associates, the livery reintroduced the "British Airways" titles to planes.
- 1986
- August - BA orders 16 Boeing 747-436s, the first 16 of an eventual 57. Subsequent orders for the type were placed on May 18 1988 (1), August 16 1988 (2), July 6 1990 (23), December 19 1991 (2) and September 2 1996 (13).
- 1987
- February - British Airways privatised, valuing the airline at over £900 million GBP.
- December - BA completes its takeover of British Caledonian. This introduced many new aircraft to the BA fleet, for example McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and its first Airbus aircraft, the A320.
[edit] 1990s
Image:British airways 747 landing sfo.jpg
- 1991
- August - BA orders 15 Boeing 777-200 aircraft. In a break with tradition the aircraft are powered by General Electric GE90s, not Rolls-Royce engines. 16 of the airline's later 777s would be powered by the RR Trent.
- October - The first of BA's Boeing 747-436s are delivered.
- 1992
- February - Thames Television broadcasts an investigative feature on Virgin Atlantic's long running allegations of "dirty tricks" by BA. BA's PR Director David Burnside wrote in BA News (the in-house newsletter) that Virgin Atlantic and its Chairman Richard Branson made the allegations simply for publicity. Branson sued British Airways for libel, BA countersued.
- 1993
- January 1 - British Airways settles the "dirty tricks" libel case, paying £500,000 to Virgin boss Richard Branson and £110,000 to Virgin Atlantic.
- 1996
- Robert Ayling appointed as Chief Executive.
- 1997
- June 2 - BA takes delivery of its first 777-200ER, for which it was the launch customer.
- June 10 - British Airways unveils its new corporate identity, a newly stlyised logo and ethnic tailfins.
- 1998
- May - BA establishes a low-cost subsidiary, Go Fly, using ex-BA Boeing 737s.
- November 26 - BA orders 59 A319/A320 jets, the first BA order for Airbus aircraft (the company's A320s were part of the former BCal fleet).
- 1999
[edit] 2000s
- 2000
- April 25 - Rod Eddington named as next CEO, replacing Robert Ayling who resigned after poor company performance.
- July 25 - Air France Flight 4590 crashes shortly after takeoff in Gonesse, France. BA continues Concorde flights, causing controversy.
- August 15 - BA suspends Concorde flights after its airworthiness certificate is revoked.
- 2001
- June - BA sells its low cost subsidiary Go Fly.
- November - The UK Government approves the construction of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport, a project BA lobbied for many years.
- 2003
- May - BA sells its German subsidiary Deutsche BA, now dba.
- 2004
- September - BA sells its 18.5% stake in Qantas.
- 2005
- March 8 - Willie Walsh named as successor to CEO Rod Eddington, who retired in September 2005.
- 2006
- February 1 - Fully owned subsidiary British Airways Citiexpress is renamed to BA Connect.
- November 3 - Flybe buys BA Connect's Regional Routes
