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As 2019 draws to a close, so does BA’s centenary year.
At the start of the year, there was always a suspicion that however well BA could try to choreograph its celebrations, they would inevitably be disrupted by “events”.
And so it proved to be. After an initially successful start with the launch of centenary liveries and special product launches an industrial dispute with its pilots which had been simmering for some time exploded on the exact weekend of its centenary. The dispute has since been settled but it has undoubtedly cast a shadow over the end of its centenary year.
To mark the occasion we published a 100 part series on the history of BA and its predecessor airlines. If you want to read the full countdown in numerical order you can do so here.
Rather than simply repeat the whole list here, the 100 articles have been grouped by some of the major themes below:
A Primer
To begin, a brief history of BA and its predecessor airlines.
Advertising Campaigns
The Art Of The Poster. How Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA used the poster to great effect to sell the relatively new concept of civil aviation.
“Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major” A mildly unsettling BOAC TV advertisement from the 1960s.
Rosalind Hanby, was the face of British Airways during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Chutzpah & Chutzpah – One of the most famous advertising agency / client relationships in the world: BA and Charles & Maurice Saatchi.
“The World’s Favourite Airline” One of the most powerful airline advertising slogans of all time used by BA between 1983 and 2001.
“Manhattan” Saatchi & Saatchi’s first major work for British Airways, a big budget cinematic TV advertisement, signalling BA’s intention to be “The World’s Favourite Airline.”
“The Sun Never Sets On British Airways” From 1985 when BA starts to promote not just its global reach and network, but also its in-flight service.
BA’s 1989 advertising campaign, a period of self-confidence when BA sought to be a truly global airline.
One of the greatest airline TV advertisements of all time, and one of the most effective use of non-airline imagery by an airline, “The Face” from 1989.
“Arrive Home” An advertising campaign from the early 1990s highlighting one of the best aspects of business travel – getting back home.
“Surprise, Surprise” A viral cinema stunt conjured up Saatchi & Saatchi in 1991 to market BA Holidays.
When BA gave away every single seat on every international flight to and from the UK in 1991 in The World’s Biggest Offer.
“Where Is Everybody?” asks BA in a TV advertising campaign from 1994.
From 1996, not all BA advertisements age well with time.
Do you believe in Concorde? Could you really fly on Concorde to visit Santa Claus in Lapland?
A look at the work of the advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty for BA, which won the BA advertising account in 2005 and lives by the mantra “When the world zigs, Zag”.
“Opportunities” BA’s post Lehman Brothers collapse advertising campaign to encourage passengers to fly again.
“Don’t Fly” BA tells its customers to stay at home during the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“Look Up” An interactive billboard advertisement that identified BA aircraft flying overhead to celebrate the magic of flying.
Aircraft
“Swift, silent, serene” the much loved BOAC VC10 aircraft operated in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Trident Over Europe” The short-haul aircraft serving BEA and BA from 1962 to 1986.
Concorde. The flagship aircraft, and never to be replaced brand halo, of BA for 27 supersonic years.
The Queen Of The Skies, the Boeing 747 which will remain in service at BA until 2024.
Known for its rocket like take-off the Boeing 757 was the workhorse of BA’s short-haul fleet in the 1980s and 1990s.
Probably one of the most frustrating yet endearing aircraft for both BA passengers and crew in recent decades, the Boeing 767.
The workhorse of BA’s short-haul operation today, the Airbus A320 family aircraft.
2 Engines 4 Long-Haul. An aircraft that is hard for passengers to love, but the twin-engine Boeing 777-200 became the mainstay of BA’s long-haul fleet from the mid 1990s.
One of BA’s most popular long-haul aircraft for passengers, the Airbus A380.
Aircraft Liveries
The Negus Livery The first BA livery following the merger of BEA and BOAC in 1974.
The livery designed by Landor Associates in the early 1980s to revamp BA’s image and prepare the airline for privatisation.
“Project Utopia”, BA’s ill-fated and much misunderstood World Images tailfins from 1997.
The Chatham Dockyard livery, first introduced on Concorde in 1997, and is now across all of BA’s fleet.
Airports
BA’s principal UK hub, London Heathrow Airport.
Originally known as the BOAC Terminal, Terminal 7 is the only terminal at New York JFK airport owned and operated by an international airline.
London Gatwick Airport, “The hub without the hubbub.” BA’s attempt at a dual London hub in the 1990s.
London City Airport, BA’s base in the Royal Docks, East London, which has grown significantly in the past decade.
“So calm, you’ll simply flow through”. BA’s promise for London Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened in chaotic fashion in March 2008.
A look at how British Airways lounges have evolved over the past 40 years.
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