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British Airways
BA.com
British Airways
Official website: www.ba.com
British Airways is the UK's largest international scheduled airline, flying to over 550 destinations at convenient times, to the best located airports.
Whether customers are in the air or on the ground, British Airways takes pride in providing a full service experience.
The British Airways group consists of British Airways Plc and a number of subsidiary companies including in particular British Airways Holidays Limited.
History of British Airways
British Airways can trace its origins back to the birth of civil aviation, the pioneering days following World War I. On 25 August 1919, its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T), launched the world's first daily international scheduled air service between London and Paris. That initial flight, operated by a single-engined de Havilland DH4A biplane taking off from Hounslow Heath, near its successor company's current Heathrow base, carried a single passenger and cargo that included newspapers, Devonshire cream and grouse. It took two and a half hours to reach Le Bourget. Shortly afterwards, two more British companies started services to Paris, and to Brussels - Instone, the shipping group, and Handley Page, the aircraft manufacturer. These pioneer companies struggled against severe difficulties. Passengers were few, fares high, and air travel seldom less than an adventure. One pilot took two days for the two-hour flight to Paris, making 33 forced landings along the way. One by one, the fledgling companies ceased operations, undercut by heavily subsidised French and Dutch competitors.
In 1924, Britain's four main fledgling airlines, which had by then evolved into Instone, Handley Page, Daimler Airways (a successor to AT&T), and British Air Marine Navigation Company Limited, merged to form Imperial Airways Limited. By 1925, Imperial Airways was providing services to Paris, Brussels, Basle, Cologne and Zurich. Operating from the new London airport at Croydon, services were introduced during the 1920s and 1930s to Egypt, the Arabian Gulf, India, South Africa, Singapore and West Africa. In co-operation with Qantas Empire Airways Limited, which operated between Singapore and Australia, a service between the UK and Australia was established in 1935. Meanwhile, a number of smaller UK air transport companies had started flights. In 1935, they merged to form the original privately-owned British Airways Limited, which became Imperial Airways' principal UK competitor on European routes, operating out of another new airport, Gatwick. Following a Government review, Imperial Airways and British Airways were nationalised in 1939 to form British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
Post-war, BOAC continued to operate longhaul services, other than routes to South America. These were flown by British South American Airways (BSAA), which was merged back into BOAC in 1949. Continental European and domestic flights were flown by a new airline, British European Airways (BEA). BOAC introduced services to New York in 1946, Japan in 1948, Chicago in 1954 and the west coast of the United States in 1957. BEA developed a domestic network to various points in the United Kingdom, including Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. From 1946 until 1960, BOAC and BEA were the principal British operators of scheduled international passenger and cargo services - and they preserved Britain's pioneering role in the industry. The 1950s saw the world enter the passenger jet era - led by BOAC, with the Comet flying to Johannesburg in 1952, halving the previous flight time. Despite grounding the Comet fleet after two crashes in 1954, BOAC was still able to claim the distinction of operating the first jet transatlantic service in October 1958, with two Comets flying simultaneously from London and New York, days ahead of their American rivals. The next decade saw another world beater, when BEA's Trident aircraft made the first automatic landing on a scheduled service, heralding the era of all-weather operations. The birth of the mass package holiday business meant changes in the airline industry. BEA met this by establishing its own charter airline, BEA Airtours, which took off in 1970. This mantle was carried for the Group by Caledonian Airways until March 1995, when the company was sold.
Following the formation of the Air Transport Licensing Board in 1960, other British airlines began to operate competing scheduled services. Indeed, several of the smaller domestic airlines - including Cambrian Airways and BKS (later Northeast Airlines) - eventually passed into BEA's ownership. In 1967, the Government set up another study into the industry. It recommended a holding board to be responsible for the two main airlines, BOAC and BEA, with the establishment of a second force airline, brought about by unifying various independents. As a result, British Caledonian was born in 1970, when the original Caledonian Airways took over British United Airways. Two years later, the businesses of BOAC and BEA were combined under the newly formed British Airways Board, with the separate airlines coming together as British Airways in 1974. Although this merger was to lead initially to substantial financial losses and industrial strife, the new airline inherited its predecessors' pioneering path, launching the world's first supersonic passenger service, simultaneously with Air France, with Concorde in January 1976.
In July 1979, the Government announced its intention to sell shares in British Airways. The Civil Aviation Act 1980 was passed to enable this to happen. Lord King was appointed Chairman in 1981 and charged by the Secretary of State for Trade to take all necessary steps to restore the Group to profitability and prepare it for privatisation. With an overall deficit of £544 million declared for 1981-82, including special provisions to pay for an extensive "survival plan", which included staff cuts, suspension of unprofitable routes and disposal of surplus assets, the task of re-establishing the company as the world's leading airline began in April 1983 with the repositioning of the carrier as the World's Favourite Airline. In February 1987 British Airways was privatised. Over one million applications were received for shares in the airline, offered at 125 pence, making the flotation 11 times oversubscribed. Freed from the constraints of Government ownership, British Airways announced a merger with British Caledonian in July. The merger went ahead following approval by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission later that year.
The key events in the company’s history after privatisation are documented on the following pages.
BA Post-Privatisation (February 1987- December 2004)
2005
| December | The House of Lords ruled that no
claims for injury or death caused by DVT during the normal
operation of an aircraft can now be brought against airlines in
the UK. Following an internal investigation into the unofficial industrial action by some of BA’s ground support services staff in August 2005 two employees were dismissed and a third employee, also found guilty of gross misconduct, was issued with a final written warning, suspended without pay for one month and banned from staff air travel privileges. The withdrawal of BA’s daily service from London Heathrow to Melbourne via Singapore from March 25, 2006, was announced. Melbourne flights will transfer to Qantas as part of the Joint Services Agreement Five times a week services from Gatwick to Grenoble began with prices from £79 return. |
| November | Talks on a new transatlantic
aviation agreement between the EU and US ended with some
progress on aspects of the regulatory framework. No agreement
was reached on market access and lifting restrictions on foreign
ownership in US carriers. Interested parties were asked to
comment and a final decision is expected in March 2006. British Airways announced plans to re-structure its business with a 35 per cent reduction of its 1,715 managers by March 2008. The job cuts will save £50 million and contribute towards the airline’s £300 million employee cost reduction programme by March 2007. Mr Chumpol NaLamlieng joined the board as a non-executive director. The company announced a pre-tax profit of £241 million (2004: £293 million) for the three months ended September 30, 2005. The result for the half-year was £365 million (2004: £368 million). Operating profit for the quarter was £261 million (2004: £245 million) and £437 million for the half-year (2004: £374million). A £100 million investment in longhaul business class was confirmed for introduction in mid 2006. British Airways and The Tussauds Group signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing the sale of the airline’s entire interests in the British Airways London Eye including its one-third share and its outstanding loan to the company for £95 million. The airline plans to continue its brand association with the attraction by extending its franchise agreement. |
| October | British Airways’ winter schedule
included increased services from London Heathrow to India from
19 to 35 flights each week including a new five per week service
to Bangalore, twice daily flights to Mumbai, and six flights a
week to Chennai. Flights from Birmingham to Rome and Vienna,
operated by British Airways CitiExpress, were suspended. Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) was appointed British Airways’ worldwide creative advertising agency after a review of the existing contract and a formal competitive pitch. Royal Jordanian announced that it is to join the oneworld alliance. Japan Airlines (JAL) announced its intention to seek membership of oneworld. Captain Tim Steeds became director of safety and security. |
| September | Rod Eddington, CEO, retired and was
succeeded by Willie Walsh. Mike Street, OBE, director of
customer service and operations, retired after 42 years service. Gate Gourmet and the Transport and General Workers’ Union signed an agreement to end the labour dispute at the catering company. British Airways increased its fuel surcharge on longhaul flights from £24 to £30 per sector (£60 return trip). The shorthaul fuel surcharge remained unchanged at £8 per sector (£16 return trip). It was announced that Keith Williams, BA’s group treasurer and head of taxation, will succeed John Rishton as chief financial officer on January 1, 2006. A new voluntary scheme was launched to enable customers to help offset the carbon dioxide emissions from their flights by making a contribution to an environmental trust. The European Union’s decision to develop proposals to include aviation in the EU emissions trading scheme was welcomed by BA. Readers of Business Traveller magazine voted British Airways the best airline in the world, best shorthaul airline, best first class, best business class, best economy class and best frequent flyer programme. |
| August | Some 900 flights were cancelled due
to unofficial industrial action by some of BA’s ground support
services staff in support of employees dismissed by the
airline’s catering supplier Gate Gourmet. Management changes were announced. Geoff Want was appointed director of all ground operations in the UK and overseas including the airline’s move to a single terminal operation in Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in 2008. In-flight services will in future report to commercial director Martin George. Robert Boyle was appointed director planning, heading a new department that includes the airline’s operations control and operations planning departments. British Airways launched its biggest ever ‘World Offers’ winter seat sale with over three million discounted flights available to over 150 destinations including Europe. |
| July | Record passenger loads in July
indicated that the short term impact of the London bombings on
July 7th was not material although it is too early to say what
the long term impact will be. British Airways lost the Employment Appeal Tribunal into the case of a First Officer who wanted to work a 50 per cent contract. All pilots, male and female, must have at least 2,000 flying hours’ experience before being permitted to work less than 75 per cent of a full time contract. An application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal has been submitted. British Airways released financial information prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the year ended March 31, 2005. Under IFRS, the airline’s operating profit for the year ended March 31, 2005 increased from £540 million under UK GAAP to £556 million and profit before tax increased from £415 million to £513 million. The adoption of IFRS represented an accounting change only and did not affect the underlying operation of the business or the airline’s cash flows for 2004/5. At the airline’s 2005 annual general meeting chief executive designate Willie Walsh, commercial director Martin George, Ken Smart, Denise Kingsmill and Baroness Symons were elected onto the British Airways Board. Stepping down were former flight operations director Captain Mike Jeffery, Dr Ashok Ganguly and Lord Renwick of Clifton, in line with corporate governance guidelines on independence. The meeting included a farewell to Lord King of Wartnaby, British Airways president emeritus and former chairman, who died on Tuesday July 12. British Airways’ Corporate Responsibility Report for 2004 – 2005 was published and included details of the airline’s double Gold Standard for its diversity programme, a first time award from Race for Opportunity for its work on racial equality across the company and a renewed award from Opportunity Now for gender equality. The company launched a new online shopping basket facility on ba.com that enables customers to pay for hotels, car-hire, resort transfers and sightseeing tours as well as flights in a single transaction. British Airways launched a seat sale offering thousands of discounted flights on over 80 routes for travel until November 2005. |
| June | British Airways increased its fuel
surcharge in the UK from £16 to £24 per sector (£48 return trip)
on longhaul and from £6 to £8 (£16 a return trip) on shorthaul
as a result of further rises in the price of oil. A five times a week service was launched between London Heathrow and Shanghai’s Pudong airport operated by Boeing 777 aircraft. Services from London Heathrow to Beijing increased from four to six times per week and from 17 to 21 times a week to Hong Kong. A new television commercial was aired promoting BA’s softest ever flat bed in Club World. The ‘manage my booking’ feature on ba.com was revamped to offer customised travel advice to passengers. British Airways announced its support for the ‘Sustainable Aviation’ initiative, a comprehensive programme to address aviation’s impact on the environment. A new twice weekly service from London Gatwick to Hassi Messaoud in Algeria began. |
| May | British Airways reported a pre-tax
profit of £415 million for the year (2004: £230 million profit)
including a pre-tax profit of £5 million for the fourth quarter
(2004: £45 million profit). Operating profit for the year was
£540 million (2004: £405 million profit) and £40 million for the
fourth quarter (2004: £32 million profit). British Airways won two awards at the 2005 OAG awards ceremony in London based on votes polled by a worldwide audience of business travellers - the Best Airline Based in Western Europe and Best Transatlantic Airline. British Airways received an award in recognition of its corporate responsibility activity in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Prime Minister Tony Blair signed a British Airways Boeing 747 in support of London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. British Airways, a premier partner of the London 2012 bid, hopes to collect in excess of 100,000 signatures on the aircraft that will carry the bid team to Singapore for the decision vote by the International Olympic Committee. Commission payments to UK travel agents on British Airways’ bookings were reduced from one percent to zero. |
| April | British Airways offered large
savings on business class returns to 36 longhaul destinations
and 36 European cities and resorts for the summer holidays. The franchise agreement with Air Kenya Aviation Ltd, which traded as Regional Air was terminated. The decision followed the Kenyan based airline’s suspension of flights operated as part of the franchise agreement. British Airways is to appeal against an employment tribunal ruling after losing an indirect sex discrimination claim from a female pilot who had requested a 50 per cent contract. The airline said it could only offer her a 75 per cent contract because all pilots, male and female, must have at least 2,000 flying hours’ experience before being permitted to work less than 75 per cent of a full time contract. This policy is based on safety grounds and is not a gender issue. |
| March | Willie Walsh was announced as
British Airways’ new chief executive officer. Previously CEO of
Aer Lingus, he begins as chief executive designate on May 3. Rod
Eddington will retire at the end of September at which stage Mr
Walsh will become chief executive. British Airways announced its 2005 summer timetable which included new services from Gatwick to Salonika in Greece, Split in Croatia, Vilnius in Lithuania, Bucharest in Romania, and Sofia in Bulgaria. British Airways increased its fuel surcharge on all flights as a result of continuing record oil prices. The longhaul fuel surcharge rose from £10 per sector to £16 per sector (£32 return trip) and on shorthaul from £4 per sector to £6 (£12 a return trip). Flights from London Heathrow to Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia were suspended for commercial reasons, due to reduced passenger demand. |
| February | The Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave approval to the continuation of
the joint service agreement (JSA) between British Airways and
Qantas for a further five years. Installation was completed of Club World flat beds on all Boeing 777 aircraft operating direct services from Gatwick to twelve destinations in the USA and Caribbean. British Airways offered over 50,000 discounted return flights to North America. |
| January | The airline’s multi-award winning
Club World flat bed is to be improved with the latest cushioning
technology to give customers more comfort and further ergonomic
support. This is the first time such cushioning has been used in
an airline seat. A bumper New Year mileage offer is launched to give Executive Club members the opportunity to earn the equivalent of a free ticket when booking BA business class. At the Aviation and Environment summit in Geneva, British Airways’ chief executive Rod Eddington urged the global aviation industry to work together to reduce its impact on climate change or face the risk of additional taxation. The airline is currently trading emissions in a voluntary British government scheme and supports the inclusion of aviation into the European Union’s emissions trading scheme from 2008. |
2004
| December | A new bilateral agreement between
the UK and Indian governments increases the number of
frequencies between the UK and India from 19 to 40 per week.
Following a scarce capacity hearing at the Civil Aviation
Authority British Airways was given seven new services; four
extra to Chennai and a new three-times-a-week service to
Bangalore, starting in winter 2005. British Airways has appealed
the decision and is awaiting the outcome of that appeal.
A new feature is introduced on ba.com which enables customers to change the date or time of their flight, upgrade class of travel and cancel and arrange a refund of their tickets. Any costs for changes are calculated instantly and are completely transparent. British Airways and Iberia sign an agreement to develop a joint business on key routes between London and Spain that includes revenue and cost sharing on flights between London Heathrow and Madrid and Barcelona. It will also ensure a better spread and choice of flight timings on these routes, better connections and shorter journey times for customers travelling around the world from London Heathrow and Madrid. Plans to start two new Eastern European services from London Gatwick to Budapest and Sofia from June 2005 are announced. British Airways launches its first drive-through check-in facility for Club World passengers and a new exclusive check-in and lounge for First passengers at Grantley Adams Airport in Barbados.
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2004
| December | A new bilateral agreement between
the UK and Indian governments increases the number of
frequencies between the UK and India from 19 to 40 per week.
Following a scarce capacity hearing at the Civil Aviation
Authority British Airways was given seven new services; four
extra to Chennai and a new three-times-a-week service to
Bangalore, starting in winter 2005. British Airways has appealed
the decision and is awaiting the outcome of that appeal. A new feature is introduced on ba.com which enables customers to change the date or time of their flight, upgrade class of travel and cancel and arrange a refund of their tickets. Any costs for changes are calculated instantly and are completely transparent.
Plans to start two new Eastern European services from London Gatwick to Budapest and Sofia from June 2005 are announced.
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| November | Solid second quarter results are
delivered as British Airways continued cost drive delivers a pre
tax profit of £220 million. The three-month pre-tax figures took
the result for the half-year to £335 million. Yields in the
second quarter were down 5.1 per cent. Unit costs were down 6.1%
for the tenth consecutive quarter. Net debt at £3.3bn is at its
lowest since 1993. British Airways becomes the first airline in the UK to enable passengers departing from Heathrow to print their own boarding pass online for flights from Terminal 1 to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle. Passengers travelling from Manchester are offered the facility on both domestic and international routes. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announces a consultation for NATS' (National Air Traffic Services) charges for the five year period starting in 2006. The final decision about NATS' charges will be made in the latter half of 2005. British Airways signs a four year partnership with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to be the Official Airline of the England Rugby Team.
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| October | British Airways increases its fuel
surcharge from £6 to £10 per sector on longhaul flights and from
£2.50 to £4 per sector on shorthaul flights as a result of the
continued rise in oil prices. Denise Kingsmill, CBE, is to join the British Airways Board as a Non-Executive Director from 1 November, 2004. The US State Department introduces new passport rules and security measures for all customers flying into the USA as part of tighter security controls following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The first Airbus A321 194 seater aircraft
is delivered to British Airways. It will operate on shorthaul
high-density routes from Terminal 4 at London Heathrow.
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| September | British Airways completes the sale
of its 18.25 per cent shareholding in Qantas. The gross sale
proceeds were A$1.1 billion (approximately £430 million). The
airline expects to use the proceeds to repay part of its gross
debt, which at June 30, 2004 amounted to £5.6 billion. The winter schedule is announced which includes new services to Switzerland, Greece, Croatia and Lithuania.
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| August | The threat of industrial action
against British Airways lifts following agreement with its
unions on a three year pay deal. The company agrees a
backdated pay increase over three years in line with predicted
rates of inflation plus non-pensionable lump sum payments. The agreement follows an acceptance by the unions of a single absence policy, which targets a reduction in current absence from an average of 17 days per employee down to 10 days within 12 months and should deliver £30 million in cost savings. The airline suffers a series of operational issues, including some beyond the airline’s control, which resulted in disruption for customers. The airline apologises to its customers and commits to taking steps to ensure it is able to handle such exceptional circumstances in the future. Operations recovered by the Bank Holiday weekend when some 225,000 passengers departed Heathrow, slightly up on the previous year. The Joint Services Agreement between British Airways and Qantas on the kangaroo routes is given draft approval for a five-year extension by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
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| July | The British Airways’ annual Social
and Environmental report is published. During the last five
years the airline’s aircraft noise levels have halved, global
carbon dioxide emissions are down by 15 per cent and nitrogen
dioxide emissions at Heathrow are down by 13 per cent. Fuel
efficiency has improved by 25 per cent since 1990. The British Airways Skyflyers’ family travel brand is re-launched to make flights more fun with new activity packs on flights lasting more than three hours. Families can request seats together and kids’ meals whilst booking their tickets online. British Airways announces an Employee Reward Plan so that all staff can benefit from the airline’s future success. Staff will be rewarded when profit margin targets are “triggered” as the airline makes progress towards its 10% target. Notice of ballots for industrial action over pay is received from the TGWU representing ground support services staff and from the TGWU and GMB covering administration and terminal staff.
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| June | Swiss International Air Lines asks
British Airways to release it from some of the obligations of
the commercial pact agreed in 2003. An amicable agreement
is reached. British Airways retains the eight Heathrow
daily slots exchanged with Swiss and codesharing between London
Heathrow and Geneva will continue for a further three years.
Swiss will not join the oneworld alliance. Other codeshare
agreements will end by October 2004. British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington calls for the European Commission to oppose any form of ‘state aid’ to Alitalia, which applied for a 400 million euro bridging loan from the Italian government. No agreement is reached in the latest round
of EU US talks on a new air treaty between Europe and the United
States. A record number of British Airways’ customers use the enhanced online check-in facilities on ba.com, with more than 100,000 checking in from the comfort of their own home. A new improved food service is introduced for Club Europe customers offering greater choice, healthy meal options and more appropriate food depending on the time of the flight during the day.
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| May | British Airways posts a pre-tax
profit of £230 million for the full year to March 31, 2004
(2003: £135 million profit). There was a pre-tax profit for the
fourth quarter of £45 million (2003: £200 million loss). The
operating profit for the full year was £405 million (2003: £295
million profit). The operating profit for the fourth quarter was
£32 million, £196 million better than last year. The year end
results marked the completion of the two year Future Size and
Shape programme that delivered £869 million to March 2004, £219
million better than target and 13,000 headcount reductions. British Airways adds £2.50 per flight sector (£5 return trip) as a separate fuel surcharge to its fares in the UK as a result of the rising price of oil. In all markets outside the UK a surcharge of $4 USD per flight sector is added. British Airways CitiExpress launches direct flights from Birmingham International Airport to Lyon, Vienna and Nice and announces increased capacity on existing services from Birmingham to Dusseldorf. Her Majesty the Queen visits Heathrow Airport to mark the tenth anniversary of Change for Good, the fundraising partnership between British Airways and UNICEF which has raised over £18 million from donations of loose change from British Airways customers. The money has directly benefited UNICEF’s work to improve the lives of children in over 50 developing countries.
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| April | British Airways unveils its new
uniform created by leading British fashion designer Julien
Macdonald for more than 25,000 staff including flight crew,
cabin crew, dispatchers and check-in agents. The new uniform
will cost British Airways 30% less than the previous design and
will continue to generate long term cost savings, whilst
bringing a new and smarter look to staff. British Airways launches its first new masterbrand TV commercial
for four years which showcases the airline’s innovative products
and its commitment to customer service. A new sleeper service for Club World customers is launched giving a better and longer night’s sleep on a range of overnight flights from North America and the Middle East to London Heathrow. A new champagne bar for passengers opens in the First lounge at London Heathrow’s Terminal 1 for the airline’s First Class passengers and Gold Executive Club members. Customers flying to Australia with British Airways and Qantas are able to use e-tickets for the first time. British Airways adds more than 250,000 seats from London Heathrow to popular holiday destinations during the summer months, such as Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Cape Town, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Dubai. The airline also provides an extra 14,000 seats on flights between London and Portugal to enable football fans to get to the 2004 European Championships.
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| March | The airline’s Heathrow flight
switch programme is completed. Seven shorthaul services transfer
from Heathrow Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 and five longhaul
services transfer from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1 making it more
convenient for transfer passengers to connect between longhaul
and shorthaul flights. A new feature on ba.com is launched enabling customers to request their own seats and special meals.
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| February | British Airways announces the
restructuring of its call centre operation in the UK in response
to the growing number of customers who book flights on the
airline’s website. Telephone calls to the airline’s five call
centres in the UK have fallen by 34 per cent in the last two
years from 13 million to 8.5 million per year as the popularity
of the internet grows. British Airways adds further US codeshare destinations to its network with American Airlines, bringing the total number of codeshare routes to 90. British Airways announces the launch of wireless internet connections at 80 of its main customer lounges around the world giving instant internet and email access to users.
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| January | A target of £300 million in reduced
employee costs is set in the airline’s business plan for 2004/06
to be delivered through improvements to working practices and
lower unit costs. British Airways’ first transatlantic codeshare flights with American Airlines to and from the UK regions open for sale on daily flights from Manchester to New York and Chicago. British Airways cancels a number of flights to Washington, Riyadh and Miami for security reasons based on advice from the UK government.
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2003
| December | British Airways, Iberia Airlines
and BA franchise partner GB Airways are given exemption from
competition legislation by the European Commission. The
exemption allows them to share airport facilities, extend
code-sharing services, coordinate sales and marketing
programmes, undertake joint network planning, coordinate
capacity and pricing and cargo services. The UK government, in its Aviation White Paper, approved new runways at London Stansted airport by around 2011, and, subject to resolving the level of nitrogen dioxide emissions, at London Heathrow airport between 2015 and 2020. The airline announces an increase in capacity between Nairobi and London from seven flights to 10 per week from March 28, 2004.
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| November | Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge
announces his intention to retire as chairman of British Airways
at the company’s next annual general meeting on July 20, 2004.
He will be succeeded as chairman by Martin Broughton currently
senior independent director who was appointed deputy chairman by
the board. The three year actuarial valuation, to determine the funding position
of British Airways’ two main UK pension schemes – Airways
Pension Scheme (APS) and the New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) -
is completed. The APS surplus of £820 million at the last
valuation in March 2000, has fallen to £45 million and the NAPS
deficit has risen from £221 million at March 2000 to £928
million at March 2003. The government minimum funding
requirement (MFR) is covered in both schemes. Annual contributions of £26 million for APS are required from
November 2003. For NAPS, contributions will increase by £107
million a year to £225 million effective January 2004. |
| October | British Airways and Swiss
International Air Lines begin codesharing on each other’s
services between London Heathrow, Geneva and Zurich. Concorde makes its last commercial flight. The locations for the retirement of the seven Concordes which include Airbus UK, Filton Bristol; Manchester Airport Museum of Flight; National Museum of Scotland, near Edinburgh; Heathrow Airport; The Museum of Flight, Seattle; US The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York, US; and Grantley Adams Airport, Bridgetown, Barbados. British Airways introduces the award-winning Club World flat bed as well as World Traveller Plus, its premier economy cabin, on services from London Gatwick to Houston, Dallas and Bermuda operated by Boeing 777s. Other services will follow.
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| September | British Airways reaches agreement
on the 2003 pay deal with its ground support staff and
administrative staff for a one year increase in basic pay of 3
per cent backdated to January 2003. British Airways and Swiss International Airlines signs a legally binding memorandum of understanding on a commercial agreement. British Airways and Swiss plan joint operations between the UK and Switzerland, with codesharing on London Heathrow Swiss routes from October 26, that will give both airlines customers convenient access to worldwide destinations via London and Zurich.
Rod Eddington, chief executive of British Airways and chairman of the Association of European Airlines, calls on the United States and the European Commission to create a new air treaty that will link the domestic market in the United States with the single market in the European Union.
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| August | British Airways announces further
steps to reduce its distribution costs in order to improve
profitability. From December 1, 2003, the airline will
introduce a commission based payment scheme of 1 per cent for UK
travel agents who make British Airways’ bookings. This
replaces sector payments introduced in April 2001. The airline unveils its first set of codeshare flights with oneworld partner American Airlines which will ultimately add more than 100 new destinations to its network. The codeshare routes, on destinations beyond British Airways’ 18 US gateway cities and American Airlines’ UK gateways, will be introduced in phases. The first cities are Raleigh Durham, Nashville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Minneapolis St Paul, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Panama City and San Antonio. Speedwing International Limited, a subsidiary of British Airways Plc, disposes of its trading division Speedwing Mobile Communications to AirRadio Limited – a company forming part of the Spice Holdings Plc Group. British Airways is given permission to start flights to Basra in Iraq. The airline plans to fly twice a week, via Kuwait, using a Boeing 777 aircraft, once safety and security clearances have been finalised. British Airways’ predecessor (operating as Imperial Airways) began flights to Basra in 1927 and to Baghdad in 1929. Flights were suspended in March 1987 during the Iran/Iraq war. Flights resumed again in November 1988 and were finally suspended in February 1990 in the lead up to the first Gulf war.
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| July | Following a dispute earlier in the
month, British Airways reaches agreement with staff over the
introduction of its electronic swiping in and out system and the
trades unions agreed to remove the threat of industrial action. British Airways announces its route schedule for the winter 2003 season. The new schedule reflects the airline’s strategy of focusing on more profitable routes. A new service from London Gatwick to Turin will operate on a daily basis until December, 2003, when a twice daily service commences. In addition, from April, 2004, there will be a new service from London Gatwick to Dubrovnik in Croatia which will operate three times each week.
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| June | British Airways calls for the
development of a second runway at Birmingham airport, an extra
runway at Edinburgh or Glasgow airport and new passenger
terminals at Manchester airport in its response to the
government’s regional air studies consultation on UK airports
development outside south east England up to 2030. The
airline also said any new runway at London Heathrow airport
should have between 30 and 60 daily take-offs and landings
reserved for extra flights to UK regional airports. British Airways welcomes the decision by the Transport Council to grant the European Commission a mandate to negotiate a new air treaty to replace existing bilaterals between the European Union member states and the United States. British Airways is named as the “best low cost airline” in an annual Guardian newspaper poll. The airline, which restructured its European and domestic fare structure in summer 2002, now offers new reduced fares on more than 180 routes across the continent.
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| May | British Airways signs an agreement
to sell its wholly owned German subsidiary dba to Intro
Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, the Nuremburg-based aviation
consultancy and investment company. The US Department of Transportation gives final approval to the British Airways and American Airlines codesharing application on destinations beyond British Airways’ US gateway cities and American Airline’s UK gateways. British Airways posts a pre-tax profit of £135 million (2002: £200 million loss) for the full year to March 31, 2003. There was a pre-tax loss for the fourth quarter of £200 million (2002: £85 million loss). The operating profit for the full year was £295 million including an £84 million exceptional operating charge relating to Concorde. The operating loss for the fourth quarter was £164 million, £119 million worse than last year. In its response to the government’s consultation on airport infrastructure, BA calls for a new short runway to be built at London Heathrow airport to give Britain maximum economic benefit from an effective international hub airport that would boost the UK economy by £37 billion. British Airways announces the withdrawal of services between Guernsey and London Gatwick airport from 16 June 2003. The service was continued by Aurigny Air Services. British Airways announces the withdrawal of its services to Plymouth and Newquay from London Gatwick and Bristol airports from 25 October 2003. The three times a day Plymouth to Newcastle service is also withdrawn and the Dash 8 fleet move to Manchester.
|
| April | British Airways announces the
retirement of its Concorde fleet of seven aircraft with effect
from the end of October 2003. British Airways launches a new direct air link from Glasgow to London City operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, British Airways CitiExpress, using 110 seat RJ100 jet aircraft. This followed the launch of flights from London City to Paris and Frankfurt at the end of March.
|
| March | British Airways announces a package
of measures in response to the impact on its business of the
conflict in Iraq. The airline implemented a reduced flying
programme and an acceleration of its future size and shape
recovery programme. British Airways re-launches its Executive Club loyalty programme to make the scheme simpler, with more ways to spend BA Miles and better incentives for loyal customers, to take effect from July 1, 2003. Easyjet notifies British Airways that it will not exercise the option to buy its German subsidiary, dba (formally Deutsche BA). EasyJet paid the airline £6.1 million during the purchase option period. British Airways says it will continue to work towards the long term future of dba. British Airways and SN Brussels Airlines receive approval from the European Commission to continue their commercial relationship agreed in July 2002. It enables the two airlines to codeshare on selected flights and offer reciprocal frequent flyer benefits for customers.
|
| February | British Airways criticises the
Civil Aviation Authority for failing to revise its new pricing
regime at Heathrow airport which will allow the airport
operator, BAA, to raise landing charges by up to 50 per cent
over the next five years. A three month internet trial begins on a British Airways 747-400 aircraft, on services between London Heathrow and New York using Connexion by Boeing broadband system. Passengers can plug in their laptop from their seat and access personal and work emails, corporate intranets and the web. British Airways, its oneworld partner Iberia and franchise partner GB Airways, announce new codeshare routes from February 20 on services between London Heathrow and Seville, Valencia, Malaga, Santiago de Compostela and Bilbao and services between London, Gatwick and Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao. British Airways and its oneworld partner Cathay Pacific Airways increase their code-share destinations to 19 with the announcement of extra code-share flights to Seoul, Copenhagen and Lisbon.
|
| January | British Airways announces its
shorthaul summer 2003 schedule which included new routes from
London Gatwick and Manchester airports and increased services on
profitable routes to Europe. The airline begins wearer trails of a new uniform for customer contact staff. British Airways submits its detailed response to the Cival Aviation Authority as part of the consultation process on airport charges. It said an increase in airport charges of 6.5 per cent above inflation at Heathrow from April 2003 - 2008 means airlines are being asked to pay £300m in advance for airport services which they and their passengers won’t benefit from for many years.
|
2002
| December | British Airways announces it is
winning back traffic from the no-frills airlines as forward
bookings on flights show year on year increases of over 41 per
cent from some of its major UK regional bases. The strongest
bookings were over the Christmas and New Year period, with
Edinburgh and Glasgow proving to be the top performers. Vineet Bhatia, the Michelin-starred and innovative head chef of Indian restaurant Zaika in Kensington, is recruited to the British Airways Culinary Council. Set up to advise, inspire and develop signature dishes for British Airways, the council already includes the prestigious Michel Roux, chef and proprietor of The Waterside Inn and Mark Edwards, head chef of Nobu. British Airways switches its aircraft order with Airbus to
receive10 A321 aircraft instead of 12 A318 aircraft and three
A319 aircraft. The airline’s capital spend with Airbus for the
orders placed in 1998 and 1999 remains unchanged. The move comes
as part of BA’s fleet simplification strategy to base its Airbus
fleet at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports and re-deploy
its fleet of 16 110 seater RJ100 aircraft from Gatwick to
British Airways CitiExpress fleet at regional airports. British Airways announces it will be simplifying and strengthening its UK regional operation. British Airways CitiExpress is to operate for the first time from London City in April 2003 with the launch of three new routes. In addition British Airways is giving its key Manchester network a major boost with the introduction of three new routes and extra capacity. British Airways CitiExpress also signs a heads of terms with Eastern Airways with the intention of transferring its 12 strong fleet of 29-seater Jetstream 41s and its associated engineering hangar at Glasgow to the Humberside-based airline. This is first part of an accelerated strategy to move to an all jet regional operation. CitiExpress is to withdraw from 21 regional routes and will no longer fly from Cardiff and Leeds-Bradford airports. Rod Eddington, chief executive of British Airways, is the new chairman of the Association of European Airlines for 2003. His leadership will build on the foundations laid during the chairmanship of Leo van Wijk of KLM, who held the position in 2002.
|
| November | Good second quarter results are
delivered as British Airways cost drive posts a pre tax profit
of £245 million. The three-month pre-tax figures took the result
for the half-year to £310 million. Yields in the second quarter
were up 1.2 per cent. Debt was down by £1 billion. Changes to British Airways’ longhaul flying programme for the summer 2003 season reflect the airline’s drive to maximise revenue on profitable routes, reduce its cost base and work its assets harder. Flights increase to four North American destinations and capacity is reduced to Brazil and Argentina. British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington calls on European nations to strike a new air deal with the USA. Speaking at the Institute of Economic Affairs annual conference in London he urged the European nations to join together to break down America’s protectionist aviation policies. He said it was the only way Europe could rebalance a one-sided air treaty the USA had pursued and he appealed to the British government to throw its weight behind the cause. British Airways announces it is the official travel partner of the Rugby World Cup in Australia. Rugby fans are able to buy a complete travel package to the tournament on official partners websites.
|
| October | The annual charity flight for
Dreamflight flies to Disneyworld with192 sick, disabled and
incurably ill children. The special British Airways’ has been an
annual event for some years and was the inspiration of British
Airways cabin crew member Patricia Pearce and retired flight
engineer Derek Pereira. Five tourism projects, including two UK entries, clinch top honours in the travel industry’s leading environmental British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow awards. The awards receive entries from 32 countries around the world and recognise best practice in the field of sustainable tourism. The winning project is chosen from five environmental award categories.
|
| September | Inflight entertainment is revamped
when British Airways launches a repackaged on-board product -
High Life Entertainment. Six new television channels are
launched including Film Four and MGM. Free upgrades to First are offered on one sector of customer’s journeys when they book their British Airways’ long haul business class tickets. In addition, passengers flying in the airline’s Club World (business class) cabin to New York JFK, are offered a free upgrade to Concorde on one leg of that journey. < Virgin ousting category Business Best spot top regains award, Airline riband blue winning as well As categories. seven total Awards, Traveller 2002 prestigious at airline successful most emerges
|
| August | British Airways posts a pre-tax
profit of £65 million for the first quarter to June 30th, 2002.
The operating profit for the first quarter was £158 million. Net
costs were down 14.6 per cent for the quarter, and unit costs
fell by 2.6 per cent in the same period. Revenue in the
quarter, at £2,052 million, was down 10.7 per cent.
Passenger yields were up 5.0 per cent primarily due to improved cabin mix. The launch of British Airways’ winter long haul sale sees thousands of discounted flight tickets to 49 far flung destinations, offering savings of up to £204. Prices started from just £239 for a return ticket to New York, Boston and Atlanta including taxes. Prices are slashed by to 80 per cent on British Airways’ flights to Spain, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary and Luxembourg completing the launch of year-round low fares on 170 key routes to Europe by the airline.
|
| July | A World Traveller Plus promotion
launches on 11 US destinations for passengers to travel for an
extra £150 for a one-way upgrade in the airline’s premier
economy cabin. A return ticket to New York, Boston and Washington with a one-way upgrade to World Traveller Plus starts from £399 including taxes (saving up to £74). British Airways and its oneworld partner, Iberia, expand their codesharing arrangements, resulting in new international destinations for each carrier. From July 12, the Iberia code is added to connecting flights operated by British Airways from London Heathrow to Budapest, Nairobi and Singapore. At the same time, British Airways added its code to connecting flights operated by Iberia from its main hub in Madrid for travel on to Havana in Cuba and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. British Airways and SN Brussels Airlines announce that they are entering into a commercial relationship, subject to regulatory approvals. The agreement between the two carriers is to enable the SN Brussels flight code to be placed on all British Airways services between Brussels and London from October 27, 2002. In addition to the code-share, new ticketing arrangements have been put in place to allow customers to benefit from improved access to each airline’s network. Lambeth councillors vote unanimously to grant the British Airways London Eye (Millennium Wheel) permanent planning permission on its South Bank site, opposite the Houses of Parliament. British Airways welcomes the government announcement about the options for improving airport infrastructure across the UK. Rod Eddington, British Airways' chief executive, said: "Heathrow is a unique national asset and by including it in the options, the Government is recognising the key contribution that it makes to the British economy. The priority must be to build on that contribution." British Airways announces changes to its winter schedule for 2002 which include increased services to profitable destinations and further route transfers from London Gatwick to London Heathrow. These transfers are in line with the airline's Future Size and Shape strategy, unveiled in February 2002. Services to San Diego, Denver and Phoenix in the USA and Harare in Zimbabwe and Lusaka in Zambia moved from Gatwick to Heathrow's Terminal Four, a move which will concentrate British Airways' African network at Heathrow. Flights to New York's JFK airport from Heathrow increased from six to seven daily sub-sonic services.
|
| June | British Airways and Finnair expand
their current codesharing arrangements by adding destinations in
South Africa, Canada, and the UK regions. The Finnair code is
added to BA operated flights from London to Johannesburg, Cape
Town, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. British Airways also adds its code to selected flights operated by Finnair. British Airways takes a further step into the next generation of air travel by offering on-board e-mail and internet access for its passengers. BA installs the system in its First, Club World and World Traveller Plus cabins for a trial period of three months. British Airways reaches the finals in the UK’s most prestigious national awards for corporate community working. It was among a handful of companies to be selected as a finalist for the Investing in Potential award in Business in the Community’s Awards for Excellence 2002. The award marked the company’s achievements and confirmed its position as an ‘Example of Best Practice’ in the field of corporate responsibility. British Airways cuts European air fares by up to 80 per cent on 42 routes. Saturday night stay and advance purchase restrictions are scrapped and prices slashed to from £59 return on domestic routes and £69 return to Europe. More than 50,000 air tickets at the lowest fare will be available every month on the 71 domestic and European routes which also have lower flexible fares and fewer booking restrictions.
|
| May | BA launch a summer promotion for
Concorde return fares to New York. The special Concorde tickets
went on sale for £3,999, representing savings of up to £3,867.
The tickets are on sale throughout May. British Airways makes sure that its customers get to watch the World Cup, as daily highlights from England matches are played inflight via the seat back videos during May and June. British Airways signs a deal with easyJet for the sale of Deutsche BA (DBA), a subsidiary which flies exclusively in Germany. Under the terms of the deal BA is granting easyJet the option to buy 100% of DBA by March 31, 2003. The deal is potentially worth between £18.3 million (30 million euros) and £28 million (46 million euros), dependent on when easyJet exercises the option.
|
| April | British Airways receives more than
£6 million from the UK Government after becoming the world’s
first airline to take part in a new scheme to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. The airline commits to reducing its carbon
dioxide emissions in the UK by 125,000 tonnes over the five
years of the scheme to 2006. The scheme will begin operating on
2 April 2002. British Airways signs a deal with Warburg Pincus for the private equity investor to acquire a majority shareholding in World Network Services (WNS), the airline’s India-based data management company. The sale of WNS is put forward to enhance the future growth prospects and development of the company and allowed British Airways to maintain a meaningful stake, whilst pursuing its ongoing strategy to focus on core business. Mr Michael Davies and Raymond Seitz announce their retirement from the BA board of directors, taking effect from16 July, 2002 the day of the AGM. The board numbers reduce to 11 members. British Airways announces that it will be the official airline of the England football team for the 2002 World Cup. The Football Association charter a 777 for the duration of the World Cup trip flying them to Dubai and on to the Far East The deal means that British Airways will be the official carrier of the squad up until 2004 encompassing not only the World Cup but also the European Championships in Portugal. The outcome of the Future Size and Shape in the regions is unveiled. British Airways CitiExpress undertake a review to ensure the profitability of its services at airports throughout the UK. They announce withdrawal of 12 loss making routes, launch two new routes and increase frequency on nine and reduce staffing by the equivalent of 500 full time positions. The changes are to bring £20 million cost savings each year by 2004.
|
| March | British Airways introduce a new
selling engine to its internet site to make it easier for
customers to get the best possible deal when booking flights
online.
The wholly owned BA subsidiary, CitiExpress, is officially launched operating to 48 destinations from 26 airports. Passengers will benefit from travelling with a full service regional airline that can offer high frequency schedules to some of Europe’s top cities. BA CitiExpress was created from the integration of two wholly owned subsidiaries, Brymon Airways and British Regional Airlines.
|
| February | British Airways reports lower than
expected pre-tax losses for the third quarter to December 31,
2001 of £160 million against a pre-tax profit of £65 million for
the same period last year. The three month pre-tax figures takes the results for the nine months to a loss of £115 million, (2001: £215 million profit). The chief executives of the eight oneworld member airlines – Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile and Qantas – underline their commitment to the alliance by accelerating plans to deepen working relationships between the partners. The new developments include a major expansion of code-sharing agreements between the airlines. British Airways unveils a major package of measures designed to return the airline to profitability, following a wide-ranging analysis of its business led by chief executive Rod Eddington. The review - known as Future Size and Shape - showed measures need to be introduced to meet £650 million of annualised cost savings. They include 5,800 further job losses in addition to 7,200 announced previously, total head office and support staff to be reduced by more than a third and a significant restructuring of short haul business to compete with no frills carriers. British Airways launches the new ‘Skyflyers’ activity pack designed and developed with Disney. The new packs are designed to amuse and entertain young flyers of all age groups.
|
| January | British Airways increases services
to Nassau and Grand Cayman for the summer to cope with increased
demand. The extra weekly service means an additional 767 is put
on the route to operate to the Caribbean islands. US Department of Transportation announces the regulatory conditions for the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines which involves giving up 224 Heathrow slots. Rod Eddington, British Airways’ chief executive and Don Carty, chairman and chief executive, American Airlines say the regulatory price is too high.
|
2001
| December | Concorde services return to
Barbados. British Airways will operate a once a week scheduled
service to the island from London Heathrow. The average flight
time between London Heathrow and Barbados is three hours and
fifty minutes. A subsonic aircraft such as a Boeing 747, flying
the same distance, averages a flight time of eight hours fifty
minutes. British Airways announces its best punctuality results for seven years. oneworld alliance partner, Cathay Pacific Airways, announce an expansion to their code-sharing agreement to cover Kuala Lumpur, Auckland and eleven destinations in Europe. The first rehearsal of the migration to Amadeus ticketing is successfully completed. The initial cutover to the new system is expected in February.
|
| November | Armour-plated cockpit doors are
fixed on all British Airways aircraft as an extra security
measure. Concorde returns to commercial service and lands in New York for the first time since July last year. The atmosphere on board is described as “electric”. A team of 5 senior managers are appointed to lead the airline’s study into the future size and shape of the company.
|
| October | British Airways combines its two UK
regional subsidiaries, British Airways Regional (BAR) and
CitiExpress, creating the second largest regional airline in
Europe. The combined regional business will have a turnover in
excess of £600 million and a fleet of 92 aircraft serving more
than 120 routes. The new entity will employ around 3,200 people
and carry some five million passengers each year.
Concorde tickets go on sale and are snapped up in preparation for the flagship’s return to commercial service. British Airways launches a new twice daily service between Manchester and Zurich. The flight, operated by British Airways CitiExpress, the wholly owned British Airways regional subsidiary, will provide Club Europe and EuroTraveller service. British Airways launches a promotion to get people flying again, with 50,000 Club class tickets up for grabs for Executive Club members, enabling them to take a companion free. Five million cut-price tickets also go on sale to destinations all over Europe with children able to fly for free. British Airways wins the prestigious Grand Prix Award for International Design Effectiveness for the new Club World seat which turns into a six foot fully flat bed. The award was given in recognition of how the product had revolutionised business travel. The seat also won the best consumer product award.
|
| September | Possibly the worst day in aviation
history - on September 11 terrorists hijack two United Airlines
and two American Airlines flights, crashing two of the aircraft
into the World Trade Centre’s twin towers in New York, and a
third into the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth aircraft
crashes in woodland in Pennsylvania. No British Airways aircraft
were directly involved, although 22 aircraft were diverted. More
than 4,000 people were killed. Staff all over British Airways
volunteer to ease disruption in the terminals as chaos reigns
following many cancellations and aircraft diversions.
Following the attacks British Airways draws up a plan of action. A Business Response Scheme to achieve 7,000 workforce reductions is approved. A reduction in flying of 10 per cent is also announced. Other measures include a review of spending on new projects, aircraft modifications, investment in products and a moratorium on IT expenditure. Concorde’s Certificate of Airworthiness is returned by the Civil Aviation Authority and its French equivalent, DGAC. It marks the end of an intensive programme of work by the manufacturers, regulatory authorities, British Airways and Air France to ensure Concorde returns safely back into service.
|
| August | British Airways pledges to take
part in DVT research, alongside the World Health organisation
(WHO)
British Airways launches a new website to promote its Travel Clinics. The new website (www.britishairways.com/travelclinics) has a link to the airline’s dedicated health website and contains details of all the services offered by the Travel Clinics.
|
| July | A British Airways Concorde flies
for the first time since modifications were made as part of the
programme to return to the supersonic airliner safely to
service.
|
| June | UK and US officials meet to discuss
prospects for an “open skies” agreement. The atmosphere
surrounding the discussions is described as “positive and
constructive”. British Airways sells its no-frills subsidiary “Go” for £100m to 3i. British Airways launches its Pets Travel Scheme trial operating from Barcelona, Rome and Bermuda to London Gatwick. British Airways opens a new US telephone sales centre in Jacksonville, Florida. It is run by a wholly-owned subsidiary Flytele. British Airways celebrates 10 years of operations at Birmingham’s Eurohub.
|
| May | “Air rage” incidents are targeted
by British Airways with the release of its new Conditions of
Carriage.
British Airways announce customers can save money each time they buy a ticket from the airline’s website - www.britishairways.co.uk. Passengers will benefit from a £3 discount for domestic and shorthaul flights and £5 for longhaul journeys. The discount will apply to all bookings to and from the UK. Mike Jeffery, Director of flight Operations, retires after 35 years with the company.
|
| April | British Airways announces its new
summer schedule from London Gatwick which focuses on the
Airline’s strategy to develop viable, point-to-point services at
the airport. The highlights include a new daily non-stop service
to San Diego, the first scheduled service to the Turks and
Caicos Islands and increased flights to Houston and Buenos
Aires. British Airways co-hosts a visit of travel chiefs to help dispel misconceptions about foot and mouth disease.
|
| March | British Airways revises it’s menu
plans following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK British Airways confirms it intends to make a recommended offer for all of the issued shares in British Regional Air Lines Plc (BRAL).The offer is subject to formal approval by the Office of Fair Trading. The purchase is a further step in British Airways’ previously announced plans to co-ordinate better its various shorthaul businesses and reduce fragmentation among subsidiary and franchise partners. A computer outage on British Airways computer systems causes disruption for passengers around the world. The Airline Group, including British Airways, is named by the UK Government as strategic partner for National Air Traffic Services’ public-private partnership. The group announced plans for £1 billion worth of investment.
|
| February | British Airways send an emergency
relief flight to transport aid workers and more than 36 tons of
vital supplies to victims of the Gurjurat earthquake disaster. British Airways re-opens its First class lounge at London Heathrow’s Terminal 4 for premium passengers ensuring unrivalled comfort and luxury on the ground and in the air. A new Concorde Room designed by Sir Terence Conran also opens in the airline’s Lounge Pavillion at Terminal 4, in anticipation of a resumption of supersonic services later in the year. As part of its continued commitment to its home market British Airways announces a new range of benefits for passengers flying within the UK. British Airways will offer its full fare passengers the opportunity to choose their seat at the time of booking and lounge access at selected destinations around the UK. A worldwide Passion Day is held by British Airways to recognise the airline’s “Passion for Service” campaign.
|
| January | British Airways begins modifying
its Concordes, with the hope of resuming services later in the
year. £17 million will be spent on safety-related
modifications and £14 million on upgrading the onboard product. British Airways announces large cuts in many of its fares, effective from April 1. The adjustments to fares reflects the changes in payments to agents, following the introduction of its new agents’ remuneration scheme. British Airways announces the launch of its new Value Pass, enabling passengers to buy full fare domestic and Club Europe e-tickets in bulk at a 10-18 per cent discount. British Airways introduces a facility to check-in and select seats for flights out of the UK via WAP phone. The service is available to Gold and Silver Card Executive Club members, and will be available to Blue Card holders in the summer. British Airways unveils the Journey Baggage Service which uses information from computer systems around the world to pinpoint the whereabouts of baggage. This will be the single source of information from which Customer Service staff can trace missing baggage. British Airways and Iberia announce the expansion of their code-sharing agreement to cover four destinations in Spain served by Iberia subsidiary Air Nostrum. From February, the BA code will be added to Air Nostrum/Iberia flights between Madrid and the regional cities of Almeria, Murcia, Pamplona and Zaragoza.
|
2000
| December | British Airways announces the results of its review of Gatwick operations, marking a shift from previous attempts to build Gatwick as a transfer hub. The plan, which will be implemented over two years, includes reducing longhaul destinations served from Gatwick from 43 to around 25, through cutting some destinations and relocating other services to Heathrow. Gatwick’s shorthaul business will be refocused on serving the needs of London and South East England, and the consolidation of City Flyer operations in the North Terminal. | |
| Thomas Cook and British Airways announce that they plan to merge their existing UK scheduled businesses, Thomas Cook Holidays and British Airways Holidays outbound business, to create a 50/50 joint venture company. | ||
| British Airways appoints Mike Street, the airline’s Director for Customer Service and Operations, to the company’s Board. | ||
| Zambian Air Services (ZAS) becomes a British Airways franchisee. ZAS will begin flying from Johannesburg to N’dola twice a week and from Johannesburg to Lusaka three times a week. | ||
| November
|
British Airways announces that it will restructure its operations at Gatwick into a largely point to point business. British Airways also announces its intention to sell GO, its no frills subsidiary, and to better integrate its various shorthaul operations. | |
| British Airways unveiled its new-look First cabin. The investment includes new interiors, improvements to seat cushioning and bedding, and in-seat telephones and lap-top power. | ||
| British Airways selects internet consulting firm, iXL, to work with it to develop and implement its future e-Commerce services. The agreement will begin with the redesign of British Airways’ global website and the implementation of a new content management system, which are both due to be complete by Spring 2001. | ||
| British Airways and Finnair extend their code-sharing agreement to include a longhaul route. Finnair’s AY flight code is added to one of British Airways’ two daily services between Heathrow and Toronto. | ||
| October | British Airways announces significant changes to its flying programme for Summer 2001, which will reduce capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, by 2 per cent on top of the previously planned 8 per cent reduction. However, in terms of flying hours, the changes will mean a 1 per cent increase versus Summer 2000. The changes include the transfer of two longhaul routes from Gatwick to Heathrow, the suspension of one loss-making longhaul route and increased frequencies on some core routes. | |
| Following the completion of the Club Europe embodiment on its aircraft, British Airways increases the baggage allowance for that cabin. Passengers now can take two pieces of hand baggage, weighing up to 18kgs on board, doubling the previous allowance. | ||
| AirNewco, an airline-led B2B initiative which includes British Airways, and MyAircraft, a B2B exchange led by aerospace manufacturers, announce their intent to combine their efforts into one venture. | ||
| British Airways launches a new corporate rewards program for small to medium sized businesses, called On Business, following a successful nine months trial period. Each time an employee books an eligible fare with British Airways, the company earns points, which can be exchanged for a range of business travel rewards, such as free flights, chauffeur drives to or from UK airports, Heathrow and Gatwick Express train tickets and hotel vouchers. | ||
| British Airways and Iberia announce further code-sharing agreements. BA codes will be added to Iberia services between Gatwick and Oviedo, Palma and Ibiza and between Palma and Mahon. The IB code will be added to BA flights between Gatwick and Faro, Oporto, Palma, Tenerife and Bermuda and between Heathrow and Faro. | ||
| September | British Airways and internet agency DoubleClick signed an on-line advertising deal, spanning 14 countries on four continents with a potential audience of over 33 million people. | |
| August | New Club World flying beds are available on the Hong Kong route. The seats have been well-received by customers on the Heathrow - New York JFK route, with significant rises in customer satisfaction ratings for cabin crew, catering, sleep, privacy, comfort and space. | |
| World Traveller Plus opened for sale for travel from October 29 for services between London Heathrow and New York JFK, Hong Kong and San Francisco. | ||
| British Airways announced changes for its Winter 2000 schedule. Shorthaul frequencies are improved from Heathrow to Paris, Prague, Bologna, Rome and Munich; and from Gatwick to Venice and Barcelona. All Tel Aviv services will operate from Heathrow and increase in frequency from 10 to 17 per week. Services to Jersey, Venice and Bilbao transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick. Service reductions include Heathrow - Paris Orly (reduced from six to three per day), Gatwick - Verona and Gatwick - Genoa. Operations from London to Ljubljana and Salzburg will cease. Longhaul changes include London - Johannesburg becoming a double daily operation, with the addition of an extra weekly flight. A fourth weekly service to Nassau is added, and services to Kuala Lumpur reduce by one frequency to five per week. | ||
| British Airways cancelled all Concorde operations after the Air France Concorde accident. British Airways remains optimistic that services will resume at some point. | ||
| As a result of the suspension of Concorde operations, an extra 32 new Club World seats will be available on two daily Heathrow - New York JFK services from mid-September. | ||
| July | Embodiment of Club World flat beds is complete for the Heathrow-JFK route. | |
| British Airways launches a trial offering on-line check-in for its top corporate customers via the British Airways extranet. The system allows customers to check in and select seats from home or the office up to 24 hours before departure. If the trial is successful, the service will be offered to the top 200 corporate customers by the end of March 2001. | ||
| The British Airways Executive Club is relaunched with an enhanced range of benefits. In October, BA Miles replaces AirMiles as the mileage currency for UK Executive Club members. Members will be able to earn miles on discount economy fares for the first time and mid and longhaul destinations will be easier to reach. BA Miles will focus on rewarding anyone who flies with British Airways, while AirMiles continues as the UK’s leading frequent shopping reward scheme. | ||
| CityFlyer Express orders six new Avro RJ100 jets, together with options for six more. The aircraft will be used to upgrade selected routes currently operated by ATR aircraft, as well as introduce some new routes on to the CityFlyer network. Delivery of the aircraft is scheduled from November 2000 through to April 2001. | ||
| National Jet Italia, a start-up carrier, becomes the 11th member of the British Airways franchise family, flying from Rome to Palermo four times daily. | ||
| June | British Airways and KLM commence talks on a possible combination of their businesses. In September the two companies announce they will not be proceeding any further. | |
| With the entry into service of the ninth Airbus A319 at Birmingham, the last Boeing 737-200 was retired from the Eurohub terminal. | ||
| British Airways and LanChile reach a code-sharing agreement. From August, LanChile operate connections between Buenos Aires and Santiago, replacing British Airways’ London-Buenos Aires-Santiago service, which struggled to make a profit since introduction in 1993. | ||
| Canadian Airlines International withdraws from the oneworld alliance. The oneworld airlines continue to provide services to seven Canadian cities with 64 daily flights. | ||
| British Airways consolidates its leisure activities into one division, to offer an integrated range of leisure products sold through all distribution channels, including travel agents, tour operators, British Airways Telesales, Travel Shops and Britishairways.com. | ||
| British Airways renews its franchise agreement with GB Airways for a further eight years. The Gatwick-based carrier has been a franchise carrier since 1995. | ||
| May | Three new Directors are appointed to the British Airways Board. Rod Eddington joins as Chief Executive. Martin Broughton, Chairman of British American Tobacco p.l.c. and Dr Martin Read, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Logica plc, are appointed Non-Executive Directors. Sir Michael Angus, Non-Executive Deputy Chairman, will step down from the Board at the Annual General Meeting in July. | |
| British Airways sells its 86 per cent shareholding in the parent company of Air Liberté to Taitbout Antibes BV. British Airways’ net cash proceeds FFr457 million (£40 million). Accounting rules require goodwill previously written off to be reinstated, leading to a loss on disposal of approximately £56 million. The net effect of the disposal is to increase reserves by £117 million, and eliminate the continuing trading losses of Air Liberté. | ||
| In conjunction with ten other major airlines, British Airways announces the creation of the first European, multi-airline, on-line travel agency. The new site will offer the public access to the most up-to-date fare information, including the airlines’ lowest branded fares. Passengers will also be able to book hotels, car hire, insurance and other travel services through the site. | ||
| British Airways sells its 14.1 per cent stake in Hogg Robinson to the management buy-out consortium, leading to a £4.9 million profit on disposal. | ||
| British Airways rolls out a free on-line information service for leisure and business travel agencies. This will give the UK travel trade extranet capability, allowing the agent to view product and service information, special promotions, training information and an on-line service to enable agents to talk to the trade query centre. | ||
| April | Six major world airlines, including British Airways, announce the formation of a company to create and operate an internet marketplace, linking airlines worldwide with sellers of airline-related goods and services. The company will handle approximately $32 billion of the six airlines’ supply chain business annually. The other founding member airlines are American Airlines, Air France, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. | |
| British Airways announces it will transfer management of British Airways’ flight booking, departure control, inventory and related information systems to Amadeus. | ||
| British Airways teams up with GetThere.com, the leading supplier of internet-based business-to-business travel systems in the US, to launch a new on-line business travel management system. The private access website will be available to travel agents for their medium to small sized corporate clients and also to corporate customers who wish to book directly. | ||
| Following extensive consultation with trade bodies and UK travel agents, British Airways announces the payment levels for the agents’ remuneration scheme, which in 2001 will replace the standard seven per cent commission payment. Payments are higher for longhaul than for shorthaul, and for full fare flexible tickets than restricted tickets to reflect the increased workload. | ||
| March | Bob Ayling resigns as Chief Executive. Chairman Lord Marshall takes on the role temporarily. | |
| British Airways completes its acquisition of 9 per cent of the shares in Iberia, at a total of Ptas41 billion (£155 million). If the price of the shares in Iberia offered through its public flotation is less, the sum paid by British Airways will be reduced accordingly. | ||
| British Airways and Cathay Pacific sign a code-share agreement, adding Cathay’s CX code on British Airways’ flights linking Heathrow with Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. | ||
| February | British Airways announces its e-business strategy, comprising e-Commerce, e-Working, e-Procurement and e-Ventures. E-procurement is targeted to increase on-line purchasing in the UK from 25 per cent to 80 per cent by March 2002, saving more than £175 million on the airline’s £3.7 billion a year purchasing spend. E-Working will transform the way the company carries out its business internally. e-Ventures includes three new on-line ventures, in which up to £100 million of investment is planned over the next two years. These are an on-line travel agency; a lifestyle portal; and a significant expansion of the on-line activities of Air Miles. | |
| British Airways and Qantas announce the introduction of new services between the UK and Australia. Together, the airlines’ will offer four daily services between London and Sydney. Qantas will also add a second daily service between Melbourne and London. Frequencies between Singapore and Perth will rise to 18 per week, with Singapore-Brisbane frequencies rising to 11 per week. These legs will be operated by Qantas 767s and will offer more connections to London via Singapore. To support the new schedules, Qantas will lease seven Boeing 767s, released as a result of the new British Airways fleet strategy. | ||
| The oneworld alliance announces the formation of a central management team to drive future growth and the launch of new customer services and benefits. It will be led by Peter Buecking, who will step down from his role as Sales and Marketing Director with Cathay Pacific Airways. As oneworld Managing Partner, he will report to the alliance’s Governing Board, comprising the Chief Executives of the member airlines. | ||
| January | British Airways announces plans for fundamental change to the way the airline works with UK travel agents following extensive consultation with agents and customers. The standard seven per cent commission payment will be replaced by a fee based structure, with charges paid for the basic service of making a booking, issuing travel documents and collecting the fare. Agents will be free to charge additional fees for any other services which customers require such as dedicated service desks and travel policy advice. Some fares will be adjusted to take this new scheme into account. | |
| British Airways announces the introduction of a new cabin class, World Traveller Plus. This cabin will offer more space and facilities than World Traveller for a premium to the full World Traveller fare. Services between London and New York JFK will be fully embodied with both the Club World ‘Lounge in the Sky’, the world’s first fully flat bed in business class, and World Traveller Plus by Summer 2000. | ||
| British Airways takes delivery of its first two Boeing 777 Extended Range aircraft. | ||
| British Airways completes the £17 million (R168 million) purchase of an 18.3 per cent shareholding in Comair, its franchise partner in Southern Africa. | ||
| British Airways agrees to sell Galileo UK to Galileo International Inc. | ||
| British Airways launches the world’s first commercial interactive TV service offered by an airline. The service will appear within the interactive TV travel sections of the UK cable companies Cable & Wireless Communications, ntl and Telewest. | ||
1999
| December | British Airways sells a second tranche of 1.1 million shares in Equant for £58 million profit. British Airways remains the beneficial owner of 2.1 million shares in Equant. |
| British Airways doubles hand
baggage allowances on Club World to 18kg.
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| The British Airways London Eye, the world’s biggest observation wheel, was activated by the Prime Minister on 31 December to mark the new millenium. | |
| November | British Airways and Aer Lingus sign a co-operative agreement to codeshare on 14 routes across the Irish Sea and to eight continental European destinations from March. Both airlines’ frequent flyers will be able to earn and redeem miles on each other’s networks. In December Aer Lingus is confirmed as the ninth member of the oneworld alliance. |
| British Airways and American Airlines file an application with the US DoT to codeshare on flights serving some 75 destinations in the UK, USA, Europe and Africa. | |
| British Airways complete its purchase of CityFlyer Express. This follows approval from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, subject to undertakings which were offered by British Airways during the Competition Commission’s investigation of the transaction. | |
| British Airways launches a new £25 million transfer baggage sorting system at Gatwick. | |
| The first operation into London City Airport by an aircraft in British Airways’ livery begins, when British Regional Airlines begin their 3 per day weekday operation from Sheffield. | |
| October | British Airways orders 12 new 100 seat Airbus 318s, with options to purchase 12 more. |
| British Airways and LanChile announce an agreement to co-operate further on air travel between the UK and Chile. Frequent flyer miles will be redeemable on each other’s services, with further exploration into codeshare opportunities. The new benefits will begin in June, shortly after which LanChile will join the oneworld alliance. | |
| British Airways announces that it is to increase services between Heathrow and Lagos, Nigeria, in conjunction with Nigeria Airways from three to six services a week. | |
| September | British Airways announces the disposal of 34 of its 53 Boeing 757s. The aircraft will be converted by Boeing into freighters for DHL. Deliveries will begin in July 2000. The airline also welcomes a new generation of aircraft with the arrival in Britain of its first Airbus A319. |
| The airline announces a £50 million programme of improvements to British Airways Club Europe, including faster check-in, and re-designed seats and interiors. | |
| July | British Airways and American Airlines re-affirm their commitment to developing their alliance, despite US DoT rejection of their application for anti-trust immunity for joint venture operations on North Atlantic routes. Both airlines envisage many opportunities to broaden the alliance in ways which do not require anti-trust immunity, both jointly and through the oneworld alliance. |
| The Irish Government endorse plans for the British Airways alliance with Aer Lingus. The two airlines plan to code-share extensively and offer reciprocal benefits to frequent flyers. In the longer term both companies intend to deepen the alliance, co-operating in many areas. | |
| The European Commission rule against some of the airline’s UK sales arrangements. | |
| British Airways announces its intention to save a further £225 million (excluding one-off severance costs) in the current financial year to support profitability in a challenging trading environment. The main focus of the actions is on improving efficiency in support areas of the plans include a reduction of around 1000 staff in |