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This article was published in 2019 in a series on the history of British Airways and its predecessors Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA. You can browse all 100 stories in number order, by theme or by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
If there’s one route more important to BA than any other, its London – New York, linking two major global financial centres.
BOAC operated its first commercial flights from the newly opened London Airport to New York LaGuardia airport, with stops in Shannon and Gander, on 1 July 1946. The twice weekly flight was operated by a Lockheed Constellation 049 aircraft and took around 20 hours.
At the time it was competing with Pan American World Airways and American Overseas Airlines who had already launched services to New York from Hurn (now Bournemouth International) airport following the end of the Second World War.
In early 1950, BOAC transferred followed its US rivals in transferring New York flights from LaGuardia to Idlewild in Queens (now JFK) which had opened to commercial flights on 1 July 1948.
BOAC also introduced a dedicated “Monarch” service to New York, initially with the Stratocruiser aircraft. This was extended to other aircraft such as the Comet 4.
Due to the journey times BOAC operated these flights as “Sleeper” overnight flights from London to New York.
In 1958, BOAC beat Pan Am to operate the first transatlantic jet flight to New York.
In the late 1960s, BOAC boasted of five flights a day to New York on either the VC10 or Boeing 707 aircraft.
In 1970, BOAC opened its own dedicated terminal at New York JFK, ahead of its first Boeing 747 services to New York in 1971.
In March 1990, BA added a second New York airport to its route network with a new route to Newark. This was initially operated with a Lockheed L-1011 aircraft. By the mid 1990s, BA operated seven services a day to New York.
London Heathrow – New York JFK is a route BA historically prioritises for newly refurbished aircraft and cabins. It was the first route to be guaranteed to operate with flat beds in Club World in 2000.
Today, BA flies to New York up to 11 times a day. It is the only long-haul destination BA has served from all of London City, Gatwick and Heathrow.
It is one route where BA always faces new long-haul competitors, including now defunct airlines eos, Laker Airways and Silverjet as well as current rival Virgin Atlantic. The one retrograde development is that it is of course no longer a route where you arrive before you leave.
You can continue reading our 100 part series on the history of British Airways and its predecessor airlines Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA in numerical order, by theme or by decade.
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