IATA Code: BA ICAO Code: BAW Known As: British Airways Full Name: British Airways P.L.C. Country: United Kingdom Hubs: London, LHR/LGW Callsign: Speedbird Web Site: www.britishairways.com History: British Airways' origins trace back to August 25, 1919 when its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T), launched the world's first daily international scheduled air service between London and Paris. On March 31, 1924, Britain's four fledgling airlines: Instone, Handley Page, Daimler Airways (a successor to AT&T) and British Air Marine Navigation, merged to form Imperial Airways, which developed its Empire routes to Australia and Africa. A number of smaller UK air transport companies had begun operations and these merged in 1935 to form the original privately-owned British Airways Ltd. Following a government review, Imperial Airways and British Airways were nationalized in 1939 to form the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). Post WWII, BOAC continued to operate long-haul services, other than routes to South America. These were flown by British South American Airways, which was merged back into BOAC in 1949. Continental European and UK domestic flights were flown by a new airline, British European Airways (BEA).    The 1950s saw the passenger jet era and the beginning of the mass package-holiday business meant changes for the airline industry. BEA met this by establishing BEA Airtours, which took off in 1970. In 1972 BOAC and BEA were combined under the newly formed British Airways Board, with the separate airlines coming together as British Airways in 1974. British Airways, simultaneously with Air France, inaugurated the world's first supersonic passenger service with Concorde in January 1976. In the early 1980s, BA's fleet, route structure and brand and advertising were overhauled to prepare the airline for privatization in February 1987. In April 1988, British Airways acquired British Caledonian and in 1992 absorbed Gatwick-based Dan-Air. During the 1990s BA became the world's most profitable airline and trumpeted the slogan "The World's Favorite Airline." In 1992 Deutsche BA was established as a German subsidiary, which was sold in June 2003. In 1995 BA formed British Asia Airways, a subsidiary based in Taiwan. British Asia Airways was set up due to political sensitivities, the Union Jack tailfin being replaced by Chinese characters. Many airlines followed the same practice, e.g. Qantas flew to Taiwan as "Australia Asia Airways" and KLM's Taiwan operations became "KLM Asia". British Asia Airways ceased operation in 2001 when the airline suspended flights to Taiwan due to low yield.    In 1997 BA dropped its traditional Union Jack tail livery in favour of world designs, in an effort to change its image from a strictly British carrier to a more cosmopolitan one. The move was not a success and the fleet eventually transitioned back to a Union Jack inspired design. BA established Go in 1998 as a low-cost carrier intended to compete in the rapidly emerging "no-frills" segment. After four years of successful operations, the airline was sold and later merged with easyJet. BA also rationalized its fleet mix in the late 1990s into early 200s with a reduction in capacity by cancelling 747-400 orders in favor of the 777 and simplifying BA's short-haul fleet around A319/A320/A321 family.