PAXboy
22nd Dec 2003, 23:20
The BA web site appears not to have any potted history on it's website. In another thread, someone mentioned BA as being 31 years old. Is that from the BOAC/BEA merger?
Does anyone have all the dates:
Imperial
BOAC
BEA
BA
????
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"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Imperial started 1 April 1924 (merger of Handley Page , Daimler and Instone Airlines)
British Airways "Mk 1" started 1 April 1936 (merger of Hillman, Spartan, United, British Continental, Highland, Northern & Scottish and Crilly Airlines
Imperial and BA Mk 1 were merged into BOAC 1 April 1940
BEA broken off 1 February 1947, merged with all the remaining independents (principally Railway Air Services)
BEA and BOAC merged back together again to form BA 1 April 1972.
The dates can be flexible because it all depends what you are talking about (legal formation, holding company as opposed to operating company, public material, first new livery, etc). This was particularly the case of the final BA formation, which dragged on into 1974.
All the above were government initiatives. Notice how often April Fools' day crops up ! Many of the mergers, including the first one in 1924, were marred by disagreements with the pilots over common pay scales. Some things never change !
Hope this helps.