Fleet
British Airways operates a fleet of about 88 Airbus and 145 Boeing aircraft and 11 Avro RJ1000. The Boeing 747-400 is used for long haul flights to America, Africa, Australasia, Asia and the Gulf region. The average age of the aircraft is 11.5 years.
History
Imperial Airways was formed by a merger of four smaller airlines on 31.03.1924. A second airline was also founded by the name British Airways in 1935.
Imperial Airways and British Airways merged in 1937 to make BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), which is considered the predecessor of today's UK carrier British Airways. After the war, British European Airways was separated off and took over European flights. In 1970, the airline incorporated Cambrian Airways and BKS / Northeast, and the BOAC and British European Airways ultimately merged to form British Airways.
Since the 1990s, the BA (as well as other formerly state-owned airlines) has had to face tough competition from budget airlines. In the recession year of 1992, it was not the only international airline in the world to make a loss. British Airways had already started to revise its approach at that time, in contrast to its main European rivals Lufthansa and Air France, and reacted by withdrawing some of its European routes, mainly due to strong competition from Easyjet and Ryanair, and increasing intercontinental traffic, particularly to South East Asia and the USA. The BA was the last airline to stop operating flights with Concorde on 24.10.2003.
Network
British Airways is one of the largest airlines in the world and serves more than 300 destinations. As a member of the Oneworld Alliance, it serves more than 600 destinations together with its partners. Destinations include cities such as New York, San Francisco, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro. In the Middle East the airline serves Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Riyadh and Jeddah. Among the many destinations in Europe are Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, Oslo, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Zurich, Madrid and Lisbon.