British Airways (BA) is one of the world’s longest established international airlines. Find information & contacts on British Airways in South Africa here:
British Airways’ worldwide route network covers some 216 destinations in 94 countries, including Cape Town and South Africa (including franchises, subsidiaries and oneworld partners).
Last year, more than 38 million people chose to fly with British Airways, also commonly known as BA.
British Airways (BA)employs more than 50,000 people in around 100 countries worldwide, including South Africa
British Airways (BA) has two main operating bases are London’s two main airports, Heathrow (the world’s biggest international airport) and Gatwick.
British Airways (BA) has a fleet of 312 aircraft with an average age of seven and a half years. The fleet includes 100 wide bodied longhaul aircraft (57 Boeing 747-400s and 43 Boeing 777s).
British Airways (BA) takes great pride in delivering the highest levels of innovative customer service. In January 2000, BA unveiled £600 million worth of new customer services and products, to be introduced during the subsequent two years. This is the biggest investment of its kind in airline history. It includes flat beds in the Club World longhaul business cabin, and a fourth cabin, World Traveller Plus, for those British Airways passengers who wish to upgrade from traditional BA economy on long haul flights without wishing to pay for a Club ticket.
British Airways is one of the founding partners of the oneworld alliance, which took off in February 1999. Fellow members now include American Airlines, Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile and Qantas and Swiss.
Besides oneworld, British Airways has one-on-one relationships with a number of airlines. It owns a 17 per cent stake in Qantas and 9 per cent in Iberia.
It also fully owns subsidiaries such as British Airways CitiExpress.
Members of British Airways’ franchise family include British Mediterranean Airways, GB Airways, Comair, Loganair,and Regional Air.
British Airways also "code-shares" with a number of other airlines - including , America West, Middle East-based Emirates, SN Brussels and Poland’s LOT.
These various "alliance" arrangements enable British Airways to offer passengers smoother travel to more places, with any one airline unable to fly every single route worldwide for financial and regulatory reasons. Through oneworld and its other alliances, British Airways can offer passengers seamless flights to some 550 destinations in more than 130 countries worldwide, including South Africa.
Unlike many of the world's other leading airlines, British Airways is owned entirely by private investors, with more than a quarter of a million shareholders. BA Chairman is Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, with Rod Eddington serving as Chief Executive.
British Airways traces its origins back to August 1919, when its original predecessor airline, called Aircraft Transport and Travel, launched the world's first daily scheduled international air service, between Hounslow Heath, on the edge of today's London Heathrow, to Paris Le Bourget, says BA.
Since those pioneering days, British Airways has also taken the world into the jet age - with British-built Comets - the Autoland era, and into supersonic passenger flight.
British Airways’ corporate mission is:
To be the undisputed leader in world travel. Its website is www.ba.com.
oneworld’s website is www.oneworldalliance.com
· USA 1-800-AIRWAYS, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
· UK- 0870 850 9 850 (from the UK)
· Australia 1300 767 177
· Germany 01805-266 522 (01805-BOOK BA), EUR 0,12/Min
· Singapore 0870 850 9 850
· South Africa 0860 011 747
· Hong Kong +852 2822 9000
· Tokyo +81 (3) 3593 8811 or 0120 12 2881 Toll free outside Tokyo
