2013-02-15 — /travelprnews.com/ — It is based at London Heathrow and is the airport’s major operator with approximately 50 per cent of flights to and from the airport.
It also has a significant presence at London Gatwick and its wholly owned subsidiary BA CityFlyer is the biggest operator at London City Airport.
The airline also has two franchise partners. Comair is based in South Africa, while Sun Air is based in Denmark.
The airline is founding member and an integral part of the successful oneworld alliance.
FACTS AND FIGURES
British Airways employs c40,000 people, based mainly in the UK, although it has staff based in over 75 countries around the world.
The airline has around 14,500 cabin crew and 3,500 pilots.
The airline has a fleet of c240 aircraft including c115 longhaul aircraft. For more information on our fleet please click here.
The airline’s route network currently serves in excess of 160 different cities.
The airline operates in excess of 300,000 flights per annum.
HISTORY
British Airways can trace its origins back to August 1919 when one of its forerunners launched the world’s first daily international scheduled air service between London and Paris.
After some difficult initial years a number of small carriers merged in 1925 to form Imperial Airways, which continued to expand its network during the 1920s and 30s until the outbreak of the Second World War.
Post war, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) for long-haul flights and British European Airways (BEA) for short-haul flights continued to operate as two separate government owned entities.
In 1973, BOAC and BEA were merged to form British Airways.
During the early 1980s it was decided by the then Conservative led UK Government to privatise a number of state owned businesses, including British Airways.
British Airways listed on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987 and became a privately owned company. The initial flotation was 11 times oversubscribed.
British Airways merged with Iberia in early 2011 under the umbrella of International Airlines Group (IAG). IAG shares are listed as part of the FTSE100.