Last Sunday August 25th, British Airways celebrated 100 years of flights service with its customers.
Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said: “We have had a fabulous year so far marking our centenary and thanking our customers for making us the airline we are today – we wouldn’t be here without their pioneering spirits and sense of adventure.
“From that first customer who flew from Hounslow Heath to Paris on 25 August 1919 in a single-engine De Havilland DH4A to the millions who choose to fly with us every year on more than 800 flights a day to 200 destinations around the globe – we thank them all. Our customers truly enable us to bring Britain to the world and the world to Britain and we look forward to serving them for the next 100 years.”
Back to 25 August 1919. On that day, the very first international flight by the airline’s predecessor, Air Transport & Travel (AT&T) operated from Hounslow Heath (very near to today’s London Heathrow) to Paris. To commemorate that first service, Airbus A319 G-EUPJ (the BA aircraft that was painted in the original British European Airways (BEA) livery earlier this year) will operate flight BA314 service to Paris Charles de Gaulle on Sunday.
Customers flying with British Airways from around the world during the weekend were greeted with bunting and decorations. Those on short-haul services were treated to Hotel Chocolat giveaways, while on long-haul flights customers were served menus from Michelin-starred British chef, Tom Kerridge, featuring great British flavours that work at altitude. Those in First and Club World also collected and enjoyed special edition centenary amenity kits.
In February, the airline launched its heart-warming centenary advertising campaign featuring a love letter to Britain brought to life by some of Britain’s biggest names, including Gary Oldman, Olivia Colman and Riz Ahmed, sporting stars Anthony Joshua, Ellie Simmonds, Nicola Adams, Chris Robshaw, Harriet Millar-Mills and Anthony Watson, musical icons Paloma Faith and The Kingdom Choir (with a cameo from David Bowie). Contemporary artist Grayson Perry, anthropologist Jane Goodall, chef and TV presenter Matilda Ramsay and Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space also all featured and were brought together as leaders in their respective fields. The campaign has continued throughout the year with more faces joining the BA100 who represent the best of business, environment, fashion, film and entertainment, food and drink, music, art and design, philanthropy, science and technology, and sport.
The airline also launched its future-facing programme, BA 2119, which has been leading the debate on the future of flying, exploring the future of sustainable aviation fuels and the customer experience of the future.
Her Majesty The Queen visited British Airways’ headquarters in June to meet colleagues and explore airline’s museum, The Speed bird Centre, where she was shown artefacts and memorabilia relating to her own many historic journeys with the airline throughout her reign.
And that same archive collection, plus more never-before-seen memories from British Airways’ history were unveiled to the public through the Centenary Archive Collection. The interactive year-by-year timeline illustrates how British Airways became one of the world’s leading airlines and is hosted on the airline’s dedicated Centenary site.
Heritage aircraft
To mark its centenary, British Airways launched four heritage aircraft earlier this year:
A Boeing 747 in a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) livery, which flew between 1952 and 1974. This special Boeing 747 also flew with the RAF Red Arrows at the 2019 edition of the Royal International Air Tattoo in Gloucestershire.
An Airbus A319 in a British European Airways (BEA) livery. This livery flew predominantly on European and domestic routes between 1959 and 1968.
A Boeing 747 in an Negus livery, which flew between 1974 and 1980.
A Boeing 747 in a Landor livery, which flew between 1984 and 1997.
About Guide2Uganda
Guide2Uganda (www.guide2uganda.ug) is the most comprehensive source of information about Uganda that exists on the web, with more content on Uganda and surrounding towns, attractions, museums and galleries than any other online guide that currently exists for Uganda as well as being a dynamic news and comprehensive events driven site with content being added daily.
According to WeFollow & Peer Index (whom both measure online influence) we are among the most influential online media organizations in Uganda. We were also awarded for ‘’Best Destination Website in Uganda’’ by Jumia Travel Uganda in the 2017-2018 Africa Travel Awards. If you are planning a visit to Uganda you can always reach us on; info@guide2uganda.ug
