A special series of 100 adverts, aircraft, airlines, brands, cabins and routes from the 100 year history of British Airways and its predecessor airlines.
BA Boeing 787 at British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (Image Credit: British Airways)
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
Amongst all the coverage of blockbuster advertising campaigns and premium cabins, it would be remiss not to mention those staff who are responsible for ensuring aircraft stay in the air, the engineers.
BA has significant engineering teams at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, as well as at dedicated facilities in Cardiff and Glasgow. The demands on engineers have of course changed over time. Flights used to operate with in-flight engineers. Concorde also used to demand a relatively huge number of engineers per aircraft.
In 1993, with the aid of generous grants from the Welsh Development Agency, BA opened a maintenance centre in Cardiff which carries out maintenance work for much of BA’s long-haul fleet. This is where significant long-haul aircraft projects such as the refurbishment of the Boeing 747 fleet have been carried out. Some work such as the refurbishment of Gatwick Boeing 777s and maintenance of Airbus A380 aircraft is carried out overseas. Short-haul “heavy” maintenance is carried out in Glasgow.
BA engineering, together with Iberia, also offers “Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul” services to other airlines.
Like all parts of BA, engineering has not been immune from competitive pressures and under the watchful eye of its parent company IAG it must be competitive against third parties. However, this is one part of BA where management has rightfully resisted the temptation to fully outsource. As well as a carrying out an important safety critical function, it also serves as an important entry point into the industry for future engineers on work experience and apprenticeships around the UK.
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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British Airways First Class Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
The Origins Of First Class
First Class, in name at least, dates back to 1924 and the establishment of Imperial Airways.
It was at first the only class of travel, with Imperial Airways introducing second class in 1927. Of course, even with the Silver Wing service from London to Paris, also launched in 1927, First Class was far removed from what passengers expect today.
In 1966, British European Airways launched a “Sovereign” First Class on selected short haul routes.
First Class was removed from short-haul aircraft in the early 1980s and it was only from the late 1970s did it start to evolve into the cabins we have today on long-haul aircraft.
BOAC First Class
Here is an undated picture of First Class on a BOAC aircraft flying between Japan and London.
In the absence of in flight entertainment the emphasis was very much on food, with an impressive at seat catering service.
The First Class cabin of a British Overseas Airways Corporation between Japan and London, including a BOAC Steward and a Stewardess wearing a Japanese Kimono. Exact date unknown. (Image Credit: British Airways)
Crown First Class
In the early 1980s, BA introduced Sleeper Seats to what was then known as Crown First Class with a 62″ pitch that reclined to a near horizontal position.
British Airways Crown First Class Sleeper SeatBritish Airways First Class Sleeper Seat (Image Credit: British Airways)
1989 First Class Revamp
In 1989, BA invested $40 million in First Class, with an emphasis on improved service and catering.
Individual video players and dining on demand were introduced for the first time. Passengers were also promised redesigned cabin interiors, improved sleeper seats and an enhanced wine selection.
British Airways Boeing 747 First Class Cabin, Date unknown – likely late 1980s (Image Credit: British Airways)
First Class Becomes FIRST
The most significant change came in 1995 when BA introduced a new and radically different seat.
British Airways First Class Cabin 1995 (Image Credit: British Airways)
Designed by yacht interior specialists, this seat was a herringbone design. It was the first fully horizontal flat bed on any commercial airline.
The most significant aspect of this cabin was that BA went from merely offering a seat to a flexible space that could easily be adapted to meet passenger needs such as working, sleeping or dining with a partner. This seat also offered much greater privacy as 10 of the 14 seats faced towards the window. First Class was also rebranded as simply FIRST. This was a time when BA could genuinely claim to be a market leader in First Class.
Lord King Of Wartnaby was appointed Chairman of British Airways by Margaret Thatcher in 1981.
Along with CEO Colin Marshall who Lord King recruited in 1983, he is widely credited with turning around the airline and preparing it for its successful privatisation in 1987.
Like Colin Marshall, Lord King was recruited to BA from outside the aviation industry, having previously founded his own ball bearing business and been president and Chairman of Babcock International.
Lord King saw this as an advantage. Speaking to Fortune magazine, Lord King said “There seemed to be an advantage to not knowing too much about the business. […] In my ignorance I could do things I might not have done if I had been better informed.”
Lord King was not known for having an emollient manner and had little patience with journalists. He was famously furious with a Financial Times profile of him. His recruitment of Colin Marshall, known as being effective foil to Lord King with his cool and unflappable style, showed a degree of self-awareness.
British Airways, “The World’s Favourite Airline”, 1983.
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
“Putting People First” was a training programme designed by Danish Firm Time Manager International for over 20,000 front-line BA employees in the early 1980s.
The aim of the two day training course was to motivate staff “to enjoy giving good customer service to the airline’s customers, dealing with stress and difficulties, and how to make the most effective contact with people”.
It also had the aim of “enabling different groups of employees to appreciate and understand their interdependence upon one another for a congenial ‘people orientated environment’ which in turn forms the basis for focusing the airline’s attention on the customer and meeting his or her needs.”
It is widely credited with helping turn around BA’s image in the 1980s. It was followed up the training programmes for tens of thousands more staff who weren’t in direct contact with customers as well as a programme “Managing People First” for BA managers.
American Airlines Miami (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
Whilst the first long haul routes of BA’s predecessor airlines focused on the British Empire in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, ever since advances in aircraft allowed non-stop flights to the US, it has been a very important market for BOAC and is now the single most important market for BA.
Aside from economic and cultural links between the UK and the US, BA has geography on its side as Heathrow is positioned to pick up connecting traffic from mainland Europe.
However, it has taken a long time for BA to fully exploit this market and secure a long-term transatlantic joint business partner.
In spite of the US’s self-styled image as the land of the free market, international involvement in the US domestic aviation market is limited. There are foreign ownership restrictions on US airlines. Cabotage prevents international airlines picking up passengers on flight segments within the US. BA’s US rivals also have a powerful lobbying presence in Washington.
BOAC North America Advert 1970s
BA’s US Route Network In The 1970s
When BA was formed from the merger of BEA and BOAC in 1974, the airline inherited a US route network to Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Philadelphia and Washington.
On 2 May 1978, BA reinstated flights to San Francisco, previously served by BOAC until 1969.
1977: Bermuda II Comes Into Force
Growth in US had been stymied by the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and US. This is a complex agreement, first agreed in 1976. It replaced the post-war Bermuda I agreement. In essence, it limited flights to the US from Heathrow to BA as a UK carrier, and Pan Am and TWA as US carriers.
1978: US Deregulation & Business Class
Until 1978 the US aviation market was highly regulated with the Civil Aeronautics Board specifying which routes airlines could operate.
Deregulation allowed hitherto domestic airlines to expand into international markets, although they were barred from Heathrow as this was still restricted to Pan Am and TWA. A string of US airlines launched services from London Gatwick, some more successful than others:
1 May 1978: Braniff International launches Boeing 747 service to Dallas / Fort Worth
1 May 1978: Delta launches a daily non-stop flight to Atlanta (and on to New Orleans) operated by Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft
1 June 1980: World Airways launches transatlantic flights using DC-10 aircraft
4 April 1981: Air Florida launches a service to Miami operated with a DC-10 aircraft
May 1982: American Airlines launches Boeing 747 service to Dallas / Fort Worth
1983: Arrow Air operates non-stop flights to Denver and Tampa
27 May 1983: People Express launches low cost Boeing 747 flights to Newark
29 April 1985: Continental Airlines launches non-stop flights to Houston
July 1985: Eastern launches its first London route to Miami
The introduction of the Boeing 747 allowed airlines to introduce additional cabins on transatlantic routes. This started with dedicated sections for full fare economy passengers.
In 1978 Pan Am introduced “Clipper Class” with the promise of access to dedicated check-in desks, First Class lounges and the next seat free, where possible.
BA soon followed with Club Class which was to later evolve into Super Club.
Transatlantic Expansion in the 1980s and 90s
British Airways Concorde G-BOAC, Tampa International Airport, circa April 1985 (Image Credit: British Airways)
BA launched a new route to Seattle in 1980. Five years later in 1985, BA added services to Orlando, Pittsburgh and Tampa.
Through the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1988 BA inherited routes to Atlanta, Dallas / Fort Worth and Houston. For regulatory reasons these had to stay at Gatwick.
In the 1990s, more routes followed with BA serving Newark from March 1990 as international airlines began to add services at the airport. Phoenix and Denver followed in 1996 and 1998 – both initially from Gatwick.
1987: United Airlines Worldwide Marketing Agreement
On December 1987, BA announced a worldwide marketing agreement with United Airlines which, at the time, did not fly to Europe.
BA co-located flights from Chicago O’Hare, Seattle and Washington Dulles with United. In turn, United Airlines moved into New York JFK Terminal 7.
1991: Pan Am & TWA Exit London
Until 1991, the Bermuda II agreement meant that only two US airlines could still operate from Heathrow:Pan Am and TWA.
Both were heavily indebted and reeling from the collapse of international travel following the Gulf War, rising oil prices and, in the case of Pan Am, the aftermath of the Lockerbie disaster.
Pan Am entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 1991. It sought to raise around $290 million by selling its London routes to United Airlines. American Airlines purchased TWA’s London routes for $440 million.
London was for Pan Am a major hub with it flying onwards not only to mainland Europe, but also as far afield as Bangkok, Beirut, Istanbul and Tokyo.
The sale of the routes required a renegotiation between the US and UK governments to allow American and United to fly from London Heathrow. This would otherwise render the sale of Pan Am and TWA’s route authorities worthless and cause the two airlines to collapse.
The UK government felt it had the upper hand given the pressing need for a deal. In theory, the UK was the winner as the US gave UK airlines the right to fly to the US from a limited number of countries in mainland Europe (subject to agreement from these countries), not that this is ever came to fruition until the EU-US Open Skies treaty in 2008. UK airlines also gained greater rights to to fly onwards from the US to Canada, Latin America and Asia.
An agreement to resume talks in a few months’ time to open up the US domestic market to UK airlines unsurprisingly came to nothing.
On 5 April 1991, United began flying from London Heathrow to Miami, New York JFK, San Francisco and Washington. In July 1991, American Airlines followed launching flights from London Heathrow to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark and New York JFK.
Virgin Atlantic also started flying from London Heathrow to New York JFK and Los Angeles from July. Sir Richard Branson dressed up as a pirate, covered a model BA Concorde at Heathrow with a Virgin logo and declared the airport “Virgin Territory”.
BA bristled at Pan Am and TWA being replaced by financially stronger US airlines with larger domestic route networks and Virgin Atlantic gaining access to Heathrow. It prompted the airline to launch its own mileage based frequent flyer programme, having previously been a partner of American and United’s own programmes.
There had already been tensions between BA and Virgin Atlantic after it gained some of BA’s weekly flights to Tokyo. The relationship soured further with allegations of “Dirty Tricks” by BA against Virgin.
1993: “The Pittsburgh Connection”
In 1993, BA acquired a 19.9% share in what was then USAir Group Inc and the sixth largest airline in the US for $300 million and the two airlines formed a joint-venture.
This was less than a planned 44% stake which faced significant political opposition from both Republicans and Democrats in the US and lobbying from other US airlines, who demanded greater access to Heathrow in return.
BA launched daily flights between London Gatwick and Pittsburgh using a USAir Boeing 767 in BA livery and staffed by USAir cabin crew in BA uniforms to connect to over 70 USAir destinations in Pittsburgh. Further services were launched to Baltimore in October 1993 and Charlotte in January 1994.
As part of the deal USAir had to give up its three London routes which were awarded to other US airlines.
However, the joint-venture proved to be short-lived with USAir considering it to be unfairly favourable towards BA. After BA declined to renegotiate the terms of the joint-venture, it ended in 1997 with BA disposing of its interest in USAir.
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
On 22 August 1985, a British Airtours Boeing 737-236 aircraft, registration G-BGJL operating as flight 28M from Manchester to Corfu, experienced an uncontained left engine failure approximately 36 seconds after take-off.
The aircraft was carrying 131 passengers and 6 crew members.
The engine failure punctured a fuel wing tank access panel. Fuel leaking from the wing ignited directly behind the engine. The crew, who at the time were unaware of the fire, abandoned take-off.
On becoming aware of the fire, the Captain ordered an evacuation of the aircraft. However, the fire was carried onto and around the aircraft fuselage and it quickly developed inside the aircraft. The aircraft was destroyed by the fire and 53 passengers and 2 crew lost their lives.
An investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch found that the fire developed in the way it did primarily because of the positioning of the aircraft relative to the prevailing wind.
The investigation also found that major contributory factors were the vulnerability of the wing tank access panels to impact, a lack of effective provision for fighting major fires inside the aircraft cabin, the vulnerability of the aircraft hull to fire and the nature of the emissions from the burning materials inside the aircraft.
The major cause of fatalities was rapid incapacitation due to dense smoke inside the cabin. This had been aggravated by delays to the evacuation caused by a door malfunction and restricted access to the exits.
The accident prompted a number of radical changes to airline safety procedures.
These include aircraft now stopping on the runway, rather than taxing away from the runway, for the evacuation. Access to emergency exits was improved with the removal of seats. Aircraft cabin materials including seat covers and wall and ceiling panels were also to be fire resistant.
A memorial to the victims of the disaster was unveiled in 2018. (BBC News)
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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Imperial Airways Armstrong Whitworth aircraft with three Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar Engines.
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
On 1 May 1927, Imperial Airways introduced its “Silver Wing” service on the London – Paris route.
This is considered as the first ever luxury in flight service and achieved recognition worldwide at the time.
It was operated with a dedicated fleet of three Armstrong Whitworth Argosy three engined aircraft, named the City of Birmingham, City of Glasgow and City of Wellington.
The aircraft were painted silver externally and also had silver and grey cabin interiors. New more comfortable seating with shoulder and head rests was also installed.
You can see footage of the Imperial Airways City of Glasgow aircraft in flight in this silent film above.
The aim of the service was to make air travel more popular and to compete against the Golden Arrow service on Continental Railways. The flight left London at noon each day. On the two hour and 30 minute flight a steward would serve a four course lunch and offer a bar service to the 20 passengers on board the aircraft.
The Silver Wing service was also offered on weekend pleasure flights over London which departed Croydon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Imperial Airways Weekend Afternoon Tea Flights Over London, Summer 1930
The concept of the “Silver Wing” service was also adopted by the successor airline British European Airlines.
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.
If you would like to receive all future articles published by London Air Travel directly by e-mail, then enter your e-mail address below:
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
Here is a promotional film by BOAC, with a full transcript, from the early 1950s entitled “Tomorrow Is Theirs”.
It covers all aspects of BOAC’s operation from engineering to flight and cabin crew training in the 1950s. This was of course before the advent of the jet age.
The film also shows the huge advances in flight operations and passenger reservation systems over the past 70 years. In this era, aircraft in flight were tracked manually with plastic models on a map!
An aircraft of the BOAC feet travelling the airways of the world comes home to London Airport.
Soon, the flight will be a memory. For some, a memory of exacting duties of the pleasure and problem of people. For others, a memory of care and comfort, above the turbulent clouds of the murmor of giant engines that carried them so easily half across the world. And with the memory, perhaps a question. How does it come about? What makes it possible to cross continents and oceans in a count of hours? To straddle the world in an easy chair. The answer is, people, and planning. Individual skill, integrity and forethought that add up to the organisation of a world airline.
The passengers brought together for a few hours in the chance companionship of flight have gone. The aircraft is taken to rest. One journey is over, but the cycle of passenger flight continues. The work of the airline that spans the world goes on around the clock.
Here in movements control the world is at their fingertips. They turn messages picked out of the air by radio, or sent along transcontinental cables into a running record of every Speedbird on the global air routes.
An urgent call comes in from a 1,000 miles away. Reassurance starts here. A plane is due soon at a point along the route where plasma is available.
It will be delivered with the speed that only flight can give. Each light means an aircraft on its way. Each model a Speedbird over the world watched by the monitors and movements control.
Behind them in the maintenance hangars are the men who keep the aircraft in condition, grooming and checking them between each flight.
Routine tests cover every part from the intricate wiring of the engine to the smallest needle, quivering its message to the pilot.
The mechanism behind the aircraft aisles is adjusted to the finest point of accuracy, Science and craftsmanship reach the acme of precision.
Mind and hand are backed by equipment, geared to measurement beyond the compass of the eye. This device, for instance, finds microscopic bumps on a metal surface enlarging them to look like drawings of a mountain range.
The experts of the instrument repair section, work to 1000s of an inch. In contrast, there’s the engineering hall, a quarter mile of it.
The aircraft’s heaviest components are serviced and tested here, and at Treforest in Wales.
In the hands of men like these the great machines reach maximum efficiency. Precision, power, reliability, and comfort are the measure of an airline. Work goes on through all the hours. The rhythm is unbroken as the changing shifts divide the clock.
In hangars, offices and workshops responsibility changes hands. Different hours of duty, different people. Different except in the knowledge of the job in hand.
“The estimated times of arrival for two flights, the BA272152” There’s variety within variety for the duty officer of the day. Responsibility as varied as the people or the cargo, passing through the airport. Take cargo, for instance, it may be anything from model guns to radios, or elephants to Angel Fish.
Each taken care of, according to its kind. It may be high borne elegance, or pampered beauty. Or it may mean life to someone half a world away. Like these isotopes carried safely in the Speedbird’s wing.
What makes it possible? Let’s look again. This time at experts of another sort.
The medical department, whose care is the health of passengers and personnel, and for their comfort too.
To keep a count of millions ever year converting currency of every country to Sterling credits.
There’s the stores department, who can produce most things at a moment’s notice and supplies by the aircraft as well as everything an aircraft or its passengers can need. From propellers to pillow slips and pins. Their security guard the precious cargos. It may be diamonds, documents or gold, until the Speedbird’s Captain takes them in his charge.
And of course there’s transport for the use of passengers and cargo on the ground. There are the planners for tomorrow. They keep in step with a demand that’s always growing.
And to gild the lily, art adds glamour to efficiency. Thousands of people on the move. Thousands to be looked after by ground traffic staff stationed all over the world. Thousands of tickets to be issued. Each one is important to the airline, as to the passenger concerned. In the background, reservation staff in touch with colleagues everywhere keep track of people moving between six continents and many countries, Partner and associated airlines are the link. Together, they form a network of domestic flight, connecting with the transcontinental aircraft of the BOAC fleet,
While sister aircraft travel the skies, others wait. Groomed and ready to take off within the next few hours.
Soon they will fan out, north, south, east and west to destinations far across the world.
BOAC, like the world its spans is made up of all sorts of people doing all kinds of jobs. Here are some who fly, and some will train others for flight. In the lecture room engines are stripped and laid open for study. So the trainees learn every part of power, until understanding of aircraft is in their blood.
For technical flying staff in training, and for refresher courses, there’s the simulator. An exact reproduction of the forward section of an aircraft. Built in a room, it never leaves the ground, yet it reproduces right exactly to the sound and the feel of the controls in any weather.
“On this takeoff, I’d like you to open the throttles yourself to full power with your right hand and the First Officer will hold the stick forward with his right hand, and you will steer the aircraft down the runway with the steering wheel with your left hand”
“Right, just before we go to run through this again. Keep your left hand on the nose wheel steering, your right hand on the throttles. Open the throttle smoothly. When you hear the limiters are on release the foot brakes and continue opening to full power”.
“Let’s try that then. Standby for takeoff. Now, open the power up smoothly.”
Height, wind, airspeed, radio range, and the crew’s performance, are all recorded.
Flying staff are picked for intelligence and personality. Training is meticulous. A mock up of an aircraft cabin is used to give practical experience. Other substitutes can be surprising. Practising meal service with bottle tops, for instance.
Trainees must be dexterous, have long memories, and be interested in other people’s comfort. All this must be combined with poise and tact.
People vary in their choice of pastime. Passengers may want anything from books to safety pins and razors. So on every flight a bag is carried ready mixed to suit the most demanding tastes.
A visit to the catering department stewards and stewardesses in training watch the preparation of food, soon to be served in the air.
They learn about wine and how to serve it. Bottle tops are left behind. Soon will come the final test.
Many different skills make up the smooth organisation or passenger service across the world. Watching others doing work related to their own, trainees learn the care for detail that adds elegance to service in the air.
Now fully fledged and really on the job, they are members of a flying team of experts, each one working with self assurance that springs from interest in the job, backed by long and careful training.
A Speedbird on a routine flight with all that care can give. One routine fight of many over every quarter of the earth. As the Speedbirds climb the skies.
Below, the world unrolls its carpet of mountains, oceans, continents and countries. In the air, comfort is set to the murmur of the engines flying in a space of hours from here to there.
It may be anywhere. New York. San Francisco. Montreal. Tokyo. It may be Australia. South Africa in the spring. It is easy to see the world now the flight has conquered time. It is easy to know one’s neighbours. Now the space has shrunk.
Flying is no longer an adventure, but a matter of efficiency. Of people who know the job. People thinking, working and being responsible.
Administrators, scientists and technicians, give the best in flight today. Tomorrow is there. Now.
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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British Airways Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)
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 themeor by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
At 12:42 GMT on 17 January 2008 a British Airways Boeing 777-200 aircraft, registration G-YMMM, landed 330m short of Runway 27L at London Heathrow Airport.
The aircraft was operating as flight BA38 from Beijing to London and the flight operated uneventfully until its approach to Heathrow.
On its approach, the right engine ceased to respond to auto-throttle commands for increased power and instead the power reduced. Seven seconds later the left engine power reduced. This led to a loss of airspeed and the aircraft came close to stalling. It landed short of the runway, just 110m inside of the perimeter fence of Heathrow.
All 16 crew members and 136 passengers on board the aircraft survived the incident. However, one passenger sustained a serious injury due to the landing gear penetrating the aircraft fuselage. The aircraft sustained considerable damage with its nose landing gear and main landing gears collapsing. The aircraft was considered damaged beyond economic repair and was written off.
An investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport found that ice had accreted within the fuel system of the aircraft causing a restriction to the flow of fuel to both engines. The ice had formed from water that had occurred naturally in the fuel. The investigation found that the aircraft was compliant with its certification requirements and these did not take account of this phenomenon.
All 16 crew members received the BA safety medal for their performance during the incident, which is BA’s highest honour.
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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100 Years Of British Airways: BA’s “Opportunities” advertising campaign encouraging passengers to start flying again after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
British Airways “Opportunities” advertising campaign, 2009
The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and the subsequent UK Government bailout of HBOS and RBS to help prevent the collapse of the banking system had a huge impact on BA.
The financial lifeblood of the airline, long-haul premium traffic, fell away very sharply. (The airline had in fact not long reconfigured some Boeing 747 aircraft to increase the number of Club World seats).
This was so much so it was a boon for frequent flyers with deeply discounted frequent flyer redemptions and aggressive overselling of economy and premium economy cabins. BA swung from a profit of £922m in 2008 to a loss of £401m in 2009. There were even questions as to whether the airline would be able to survive in its current form.
Here is a very softly spoken advertising campaign BA ran 12 months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
It featured 9 films in total gently encouraging both business and leisure passengers to fly and pursue new opportunities around the world such as Mumbai Fashion week and the migration of wildebeest across the Serengeti.
The campaign was noteworthy in that apart from a reference to BA’s route network at the end of the voiceover, it does not make any specific reference to any relative benefits of flying BA, nor does it feature any visuals of BA aircraft or cabins.
