British Airways

Sabtu, 11 Januari 2014

British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom and its largest airline based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. When measured by passengers carried it is second-largest, behind easyJet. The airline is based in Waterside near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport.
A British Airways Board was established by the United Kingdom government in 1972 to manage the two nationalised airline corporations, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, and two smaller, regional airlines, Cambrian Airways, from Cardiff, and Northeast Airlines, from Newcastle upon Tyne. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. After almost 13 years as a state company, British Airways was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier soon expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, Dan-Air in 1992 and British Midland International in 2012.
British Airways is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and the now defunct Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after SkyTeam and Star Alliance. British Airways merged with Iberia on 21 January 2011, formally creating the International Airlines Group (IAG), the world's third-largest airline group in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest in Europe. IAG is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the FTSE 100 Index.
A long-time Boeing customer, British Airways ordered 59 Airbus A320 family aircraft in August 1998. In 2007, it purchased 12 Airbus A380s and 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, marking the start of its long-haul fleet replacement. The centrepiece of the airline's long-haul fleet is the Boeing 747-400; with 55 examples in the fleet, British Airways is the largest operator of this type in the world.

History

A Boeing 747-100 in BOAC-British Airways transition livery

In January 1972 a British Airways Board was established by the UK government following the passing of the Civil Aviation Act 1971, to manage British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). On 1 September 1972 the management service functions of both the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA) were combined under the newly formed British Airways Group.
British Airways was established as an airline on 31 March 1974 by the dissolution of BOAC and BEA. Following two years of fierce competition with British Caledonian, the second-largest airline in Britain at the time, the Government changed its aviation policy in 1976 so that the two carriers would no longer compete on long-haul routes.
British Airways and Air France operated the supersonic airliner Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde, and the world's first supersonic passenger service flew in January 1976 from London Heathrow to Bahrain. Services to the US began on 24 May 1976 with a flight to Washington Dulles airport, and flights to New York JFK airport followed on 22 September 1977. Service to Singapore was established in co-operation with Singapore Airlines as a continuation of the flight to Bahrain. Following the Air France Concorde crash in Paris and a slump in air travel following the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001, it was decided to cease Concorde operations in 2003 after 27 years of service. The final commercial Concorde flight was BA002 from New York JFK to London Heathrow on 24 October 2003.

A British Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident in transitional scheme with BEA livery but with British Airways titles

In 1981 the airline was instructed to prepare for privatisation by the Conservative Thatcher government. Sir John King, later Lord King, was appointed Chairman, charged with bringing the airline back into profitability. While many other large airlines struggled, King was credited with transforming British Airways into one of the most profitable air carriers in the world. The flag carrier was privatised and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987. British Airways effected the takeover of Britain's "second" airline, British Caledonian, in July of that same year.
The formation of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984 created a competitor for BA. The intense rivalry between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic culminated in the former being sued for libel in 1993, arising from claims and counter claims over a "dirty tricks" campaign against Virgin. This campaign included allegations of poaching Virgin Atlantic customers, tampering with private files belonging to Virgin and undermining Virgin's reputation in the City. As a result of the case BA management apologised "unreservedly", and the company agreed to pay £110,000 damages to Virgin, £500,000 to Branson personally and £3 million legal costs. Lord King stepped down as chairman in 1993 and was replaced by his deputy, Colin Marshall, while Bob Ayling took over as CEO. Virgin filed a separate action in the US that same year regarding BA's domination of the trans-Atlantic routes, but it was thrown out in 1999.

British Airways' first Concorde at Heathrow Airport, on 15 January 1976

In 1992 British Airways expanded through the acquisition of the financially troubled Dan-Air, giving BA a much larger presence at Gatwick airport. British Asia Airways, a subsidiary based in Taiwan, was formed in March 1993 to operate between London and Taipei. That same month BA purchased a 25% stake in the Australian airline Qantas and, with the acquisition of Brymon Airways in May, formed British Airways Citiexpress (later BA Connect). In September 1998, British Airways, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and Canadian Airlines, formed the Oneworld airline alliance. Oneworld began operations on 1 February 1999, and is the third largest airline alliance in the world, behind SkyTeam and Star Alliance.
Bob Ayling's leadership led to a cost savings of £750m and the establishment of a budget airline, Go, in 1998. The next year, however, British Airways reported an 84% drop in profits in its first quarter alone, its worst in seven years. In March 2000, Ayling was removed from his position and British Airways announced Rod Eddington as his successor. That year, British Airways and KLM conducted talks on a potential merger, reaching a decision in July to file an official merger plan with the European Commission. The plan fell through in September 2000. British Asia Airways ceased operations in 2001 after BA suspended flights to Taipei. Go was sold to its management and the private equity firm 3i in June 2001. Eddington would make further workforce cuts due to reduced demand following the 11 September attacks in 2001, and BA sold its stake in Qantas in September 2004. In 2005 Willie Walsh, Managing Director of Aer Lingus and a former pilot, became the Chief Executive Officer of British Airways. BA unveiled its new subsidiary OpenSkies in January 2008, taking advantage of the liberalisation of transatlantic traffic rights between Europe and the United States. OpenSkies flies non-stop from Paris to New York's JFK and Newark airports.

British Airways and Iberia merged in January 2011, forming the International Airlines Group, one of the world's largest airlines.

On July 2008 British Airways announced a merger plan with Iberia, another airline in the Oneworld alliance, wherein each airline would retain its original brand. The agreement was confirmed in April 2010, and in July the European Commission and US Department of Transport permitted the merger and began to co-ordinate transatlantic routes with American Airlines. On 6 October 2010 the alliance between British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia formally began operations. The alliance generates an estimated £230 million in annual cost-saving for BA, in addition to the £330 million which would be saved by the merge with Iberia. This merger was finalized on 21 January 2011, resulting in the International Airlines Group (IAG), the world's third-largest airline in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest airline group in Europe. Prior to merging, British Airways owned a 13.5% stake in Iberia, and thus received ownership of 55% of the combined International Airlines Group; Iberia's other shareholders received the remaining 45%. As a part of the merger, British Airways ceased trading independently on the London Stock Exchange after 23 years as a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
In September 2010 Willie Walsh, now CEO of IAG, announced that the group was considering acquiring other airlines and had drawn up a shortlist of twelve possible acquisitions. In November 2011 IAG announced an agreement in principle to purchase British Midland International from Lufthansa. A contract to purchase the airline was agreed the next month, and the sale was completed for £172.5 million on 30 March 2012. The airline established a new subsidiary based at London City Airport operating Airbus A318s.
British Airways was the official airline partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. On 18 May 2012 it flew the Olympic flame from Athens International Airport to RNAS Culdrose while carrying various dignitaries, including Lord Sebastian Coe, Princess Anne, the Olympics minister Hugh Robertson and the London Mayor Boris Johnson, along with the footballer David Beckham.

Corporate affairs
Operations

Main articles: British Airways destinations and British Airways franchise destinations

British Airways is the largest airline based in the United Kingdom in terms of fleet size, international flights, and international destinations and was, until 2008, the largest airline by passenger numbers as well. The airline carried 34.6 million passengers in 2008, but rival carrier easyJet transported 44.5 million passengers that year, passing British Airways for the first time. British Airways holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo, and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.

Waterside, the head office of British Airways

The airlines' head office, Waterside, stands in Harmondsworth, a village near London Heathrow Airport. Waterside was completed in June 1998 to replace British Airways' previous head office, Speedbird House, which was located on the grounds of Heathrow.
British Airways' main base is at London Heathrow Airport, but it also has a major presence at Gatwick Airport. It also has a base at London City Airport(LCY), with a major presence from its subsidiary BA CityFlyer, which is the largest operator from LCY. BA had previously operated a significant hub at Manchester Airport. Manchester operations ceased, along with all international services outside of London, when the subsidiary BA Connect was sold due to a lack of profitability. Passengers wishing to travel internationally with BA either to or from regional UK destinations must now transfer in London. Heathrow Airport is dominated by British Airways, which owns 40% of the slots available at the airport. The majority of BA services operate from Terminal 5, with the exception of some short-haul and mid-haul flights at Terminal 1 arising from the purchase of BMI and some short-haul flights at Terminal 3, owing to a lack of capacity at Terminal 5. With the imminent opening of the brand-new Terminal 2 in 2014, Star Alliance airlines will progressively be moving all their services into the new terminal and Terminal 1 will be closed for demolition in due course. British Airways' services will then be concentrated in Terminals 3 and 5.

Subsidiaries and shareholdings
BA CityFlyer, a wholly owned subsidiary, offers flights from its base at London City Airport to 23 destinations throughout Europe. It flies 14 Embraer 170/190 aircraft and one leased Saab 2000. The airline focuses on serving the financial market, though it has recently expanded into the leisure market, offering routes to Ibiza, Palma and Venice. The onboard product is identical to that of the BA Short Haul product from both LHR and LGW.
The former BEA Helicopters was renamed British Airways Helicopters in 1974 and operated passenger and offshore oil support services until it was sold in 1986. Other former subsidiaries include the German airline Deutsche BA from 1997 until 2003 and the French airline Air Liberté from 1997 to 2001. British Airways also owned Airways Aero Association, the operator of the British Airways flying club based at Wycombe Air Park in High Wycombe, until it was sold to Surinder Arora in 2007.
South Africa's Comair and Denmark's Sun Air of Scandinavia have been franchisees of British Airways since 1996. British Airways obtained a 15% stake in UK regional airline Flybe from the sale of BA Connect in March 2007. BA also owned a 10% stake in InterCapital and Regional Rail (ICRR), the company that managed the operations of Eurostar (UK) Ltd from 1998 to 2010, when the management of Eurostar was restructured.

Boeing 757 of OpenSkies landing at Frankfurt Airport

With the creation of an Open Skies agreement between Europe and the United States in March 2008, British Airways started a new subsidiary airline called OpenSkies (previously known as "Project Lauren"). The airline started operations in June 2008, and now flies direct from Paris to New York's JFK and Newark airports.
British Airways Limited was established in 2012 to take over the operation of the premium service between London City Airport and New York-JFK. BA began the service in September 2009, using two Airbus A318s fitted with 32 lie-flat beds in an all business class cabin. Flights operate under the numbers previously reserved for Concorde: BA001 — BA004.
British Airways provides cargo services under the British Airways World Cargo brand. The division has been part of IAG Cargo since 2012, and is the world's twelfth-largest cargo airline based on total freight tonne-kilometres flown. BA World Cargo operates using the main BA fleet, together with three Boeing 747-8 freighter aircraft providing dedicated long-haul services operating under a wet lease arrangement from Global Supply Systems. The division operates an automated cargo centre at London Heathrow Airport and handles freight at Gatwick and Stansted airports.

Industrial relations
Staff working for British Airways are represented by a number of trade unions, pilots are represented by British Air Line Pilots' Association, cabin crew by British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (a branch of Unite the Union), while other branches of Unite the Union represent other employees. Bob Ayling's management faced strike action by cabin crew over a £1 billion cost-cutting drive to return BA to profitability in 1997; this was the last time BA cabin crew would strike until 2009, although staff morale has reportedly been unstable since that incident. In an effort to increase interaction between management, employees, and the unions, various conferences and workshops have taken place, often with thousands in attendance.
In 2005, wildcat action was taken by union members over a decision by Gate Gourmet not to renew the contracts of 670 workers and replace them with agency staff; it is estimated that the strike cost British Airways £30 million and caused disruption to 100,000 passengers. In October 2006, BA became involved in a civil rights dispute when a Christian employee was forbidden to wear a necklace baring the cross, a religious symbol. BA's practice of forbidding such symbols has been publicly questioned by British politicians such as the former Home Secretary John Reid and the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Relations have been turbulent between BA and Unite. In 2007, cabin crew threatened strike action over salary changes to be imposed by BA management. The strike was called off at the last minute, British Airways losing £80 million. In December 2009, a ballot for strike action over Christmas received a high level of support, action was blocked by a court injunction that deemed the ballot illegal. Negotiations failed to stop strike action in March, BA withdrew perks for strike participants. Allegations were made by the Guardian newspaper that BA had consulted outside firms methods to undermine the unions, the story was later withdrawn. A strike was announced for May 2010, British Airways again sought an injunction. Members of the Socialist Workers Party disrupted negotiations between BA management and Unite to prevent industrial action. Further disruption struck when Derek Simpson, a Unite co-leader, was discovered to have leaked details of confidential negotiations online via Twitter.

Fleet

A Boeing 787-8 landing at Toronto-Pearson Airport

With the exception of the Boeing 707 and early Boeing 747 variants from BOAC, British Airways inherited a mainly UK-built fleet of aircraft when it was formed in 1974. The airline introduced the Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 into the fleet in the 1980s, followed by the Boeing 747-400, Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 in the 1990s. BA is now the largest operator of Boeing 747-400s, with 55 in its fleet. When Boeing builds an aircraft for British Airways, it is allocated the customer code 36, which appears in their aircraft designation as a suffix, such as 737-436.
The Airbus A318 are operated by British Airways Limited.
In 1991 British Airways placed its first order for 777-200 aircraft, ordering another four for fleet expansion in 2007 at a cost of around US$800 million. BA's first 777s were fitted with General Electric GE90 engines, but BA switched to Rolls-Royce Trent 800s for subsequent aircraft.

British Airways' first Airbus A380, accompanied by the Red Arrows at 2013 Royal International Air Tattoo

Later in 2007 BA announced their order of thirty-six new long-haul aircraft, including twelve Airbus A380s and twenty-four Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Rolls-Royce Trent engines were again selected for both orders with Trent 900s powering the A380s and Trent 1000s powering the 787s. The Boeing 787s will replace 14 of British Airways' Boeing 767 fleet, while the Airbus A380s will replace 20 of BA's Boeing 747-400s and will most likely be used to increase capacity on key routes from London Heathrow.
On 1 August 2008, BA announced orders for six Boeing 777-300ERs and options for four more as an interim measure to cover for delays over the deliveries of their 787-8/9s. Of the six that have been ordered, four will be leased and two will be fully acquired by British Airways.
On 22 April 2013, IAG confirmed that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to order 18 A350-1000 aircraft for British Airways, with an option for a further 18. The aircraft would replace some of the airline's fleet of Boeing 747-400s. Options for 18 Boeing 787 aircraft, part of the original contract signed in 2007, have been converted into firm orders for delivery between 2017 and 2021.
On 26 June 2013, British Airways took delivery of its first 787s. The aircraft began operations to Toronto on 1 September 2013, and began service to Newark on 1 October 2013. BA's first A380 was delivered on 4 July 2013; three are planned to be in service by the end of 2013. It began regular services to Los Angeles on 24 September 2013, followed by Hong Kong on 22 October 2013. Services to Johannesburg will follow in February 2014.
The majority (77%) of the British Airways fleet is either powered by Rolls-Royce or IAE alliance engines, of which Rolls-Royce was a major contributor. The remaining 23% of the fleet is equally divided between General Electric and the CFM International consortium.
The combined International Airlines Group entity, that BA is now a part of, operates around 400 aircraft, carries over 62 million passengers annually, and serves more than 200 destinations.
As of January 2014, the British Airways fleet includes the following aircraft:

An Airbus A319 landing at London Heathrow Airport

A Boeing 777-300ER at London Heathrow Airport in May 2012

A Boeing 747-400 taking off from London Heathrow Airport

British Airways Fleet

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers
			F	J	W	Y	Total
Airbus A318-100	2	—	—	32	—	—	32
Airbus A319-100	44	—	—	var	—	var	132
Airbus A320-200	50	7	—	var	—	var	162
Airbus A321-200	18	—	—	var	—	var	188
Airbus A350-1000	—	18	TBA
Airbus A380-800	3	9	14	97	55	303	469
Boeing 737-400	19	—	—	var	—	var	147
Boeing 747-400	52	—	14	70	30	185	299
			14	52	36	243	345
Boeing 767-300ER	21	—	—	24	24	141	189
			—	var	—	var	252
Boeing 777-200ER	46	—	14	48	40	122	224
			—	48	24	203	275
Boeing 777-300ER	8	4	14	56	44	185	299
Boeing 787-8	4	4	—	35	25	154	214
Boeing 787-9	—	22	TBA
Boeing 787-10	—	12	TBA
Total	270	76

British Airways World Cargo Fleet

• 3 Boeing 747-8F (operated by Global Supply Systems in BA livery)

Other aircraft types used between 1974 and 1983 were Vickers 953C, Boeing 707-300C  and Boeing 747-200F while the Boeing 747-400F was operated from the 1990s to 2001 through Atlas Air and 2002 to early 2012 by Global Supply Systems, of these only one of Atlas Air's aircraft wore BA livery, the others flew in Atlas and Global Supply's own colours.

A Super VC10 in 1975

Concorde G-BOAD, which set the passenger airliner world speed record, on display in December 2005

A Boeing 757-200 at London Heathrow Airport in February 1983

Former fleet

Aircraft	Introduced	Retired
Airbus A320-100	1988	2007
BAC One-Eleven 400	1974	1988
BAC One-Eleven 500	1974	1993
BAe 146–200	1989	1994
BAe ATP	1989	1994
Boeing 707-300	1974	1984
Boeing 707-400	1974	1981
Boeing 737-200	1974	2001
Boeing 737-300	1988	2009
Boeing 737-500	1996	2009
Boeing 747-100	1974	1999
Boeing 747-200	1977	2001
Boeing 757-200	1983	2010
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde	1976	2003
Hawker Siddeley Trident	1974	1985
Hawker Siddeley HS 748	1975	1989
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar	1974	1993
McDonnell Douglas DC-10	1988	1999
Vickers VC10	1974	1981
Vickers Vanguard	1974	1975
Vickers Viscount	1974	1982

British Airways Engineering
The company has its own engineering branch to maintain its aircraft fleet, this includes line maintenance at over 70 airports around the world. As well as hangar facilities at Heathrow and Gatwick airport it has two major maintenance centres at Glasgow and Cardiff Airports and a new facility at Prestwick Airport treating wing skin corrosion on A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Since January 2012 most heavy maintenance on the Boeing 737-400 Gatwick-based fleet is now done at the Lufthansa Technik maintenance facility in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Marketing
Branding

British Airways' promotional banner above the check in desks at Terminal 5

The musical theme predominantly used on British Airways advertising is "The Flower Duet" by Léo Delibes. This, and the slogan "The World's Favourite Airline" were introduced in 1989 with the launch of the iconic "Face" advertisement. The slogan was dropped in 2001 after Lufthansa overtook BA in terms of passenger numbers. "Flower Duet" is still used by the airline, and has been through several different arrangements since 1989. The most recent version of this melody was shown in 2007 with a new slogan: "Upgrade to British Airways". Other advertising slogans have included "The World's Best Airline", "We'll Take More Care Of You", and "Fly the Flag".
BA had an account for 23 years with Saatchi & Saatchi, an agency that created many of their most famous advertisements, including the influential "Face" campaign. Saatchi & Saatchi later imitated this advert for Silverjet, a rival of BA, after BA discontinued their business activities. Since 2007 BA has used Bartle Bogle Hegarty as its advertising agency.
British Airways purchased the internet domain ba.com in 2002 from previous owner Bell Atlantic, 'BA' being the company's acronym and its IATA Airline code. In 2011 BA launched its biggest advertising campaign in a decade, including a 90-second cinematic advert celebrating the airline's ninety-year heritage and a new slogan "To Fly. To Serve".
British Airways is the official airline of the Wimbledon Championship tennis tournament, and was the official airline and tier one partner of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.British Airways was also the official airline of England's bid to host the 2018 Football World Cup.

Liveries and tail fins

Further information: British Airways ethnic liveries

A British Airways Boeing 747-400 with a Utopia fin

Since its formation in 1974, British Airways' aeroplanes carried a Union Jack scheme painted on their tail fins. The original tail scheme was changed in 1984 as part of a new livery designed by Landor Associates.
In 1997 there was a highly controversial change from the use of the British colours to ethnic logos and abstract world images, such as Delftware or Chinese calligraphy, related to countries on the company's network of routes. This caused problems with air traffic control: previously controllers had been able to tell pilots to follow a BA plane, but they were now harder to visually identify.Several people spoke out against the change, including the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. BA's traditional rival, Virgin Atlantic, quickly adopted the British flag along with the slogan "Britain's national flagcarrier". In 1999 the CEO of British Airways, Bob Ayling, announced that all BA planes would be repainted with the Union Flag, based on a design first used on the Concorde.

Loyalty programs
British Airways' tiered loyalty program, called the Executive Club, has benefits that include access to special lounges and dedicated "fast" queues. BA also invites its top corporate accounts to join a "Premier" incentive program. British Airways operates airside lounges for passengers travelling in premium cabins, and these are available to certain tiers of Executive Club members. First class passengers, as well as Gold Executive Club members, are entitled to use First Class Lounges. Business class passengers (called Club World or Club Europe in BA terms) as well as Silver Executive Club members may use Business lounges. At airports in which BA does not operate a departure lounge, a third party lounge is often provided for premium or status passengers. In 2011, due to the merger with Iberia, British Airways announced changes to the Executive Club to maximise integration between the airlines.

Cabins

A short haul Euro Traveller cabin

A Next-Generation Club World seat

Short-haul

UK Domestic is British Airways' economy class on domestic UK flights. Flights into Heathrow are operated by Airbus A320 series aircraft, while flights into Gatwick are operated by Boeing 737 aircraft in a one-class configuration.
Business UK operates the same cabin as UK Domestic, while providing pre-flight lounge access. Euro Traveller is British Airways' economy class offering on flights from the UK to the rest of Europe. In-Flight Entertainment is offered on 767-300ER and some A320 aircraft.
Club Europe is the short-haul business class on all short-haul flights, excluding those within the UK. This class allows for access to business lounges at most airports. Club Europe provides seats in a 2–3 configuration on narrowbody aircraft.

Mid-haul

In 2012, British Airways launched a new mid-haul product for A321s on routes formerly operated by BMI. These aircraft have been designated to serve routes such as Almaty, Tbilisi, Baku, Amman, Beirut and Tel Aviv. The 'Club World' business class on these narrowbody aircraft is different to the product operated on the rest of BA's longhaul fleet: a 1–2 configuration of 23 seats is used to allow for enough leg room and space for flat bed seats. All seats are fitted with the Thales i5000 in-flight entertainment system.

Long-haul

First is the long-haul first class service on British Airways, offered only on Airbus A380, Boeing 747 and some Boeing 777 aircraft. There are fourteen private "demi-cabins" per aircraft, each with a 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) bed, a 15-inch (38 cm) wide entertainment screen, and in-seat power.
Club World is the long-haul business class on Boeing 767, 777, 747, and Airbus A318 aircraft. The cabin features fully flat beds. In 2006 British Airways launched Next Generation New Club World, featuring larger seats.
World Traveller is the long-haul economy class offered on international flights to destinations outside Europe. It offers seat-back entertainment and several complimentary drinks and meals.AVOD is offered on all 747s, long-haul 767s and all of the 777s.
World Traveller Plus is the premium economy offering provided on all long-haul aircraft,offering fewer seats per row, more seat comforts and power sockets.
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