British Asia Airways

British Asia Airways

A British Asia Airways Boeing 747-400 at Heathrow Airport in 1994
IATA ICAO Call sign BR BAW SPEEDBIRD
Founded	20 January 1993 (1993-01-20)
Commenced operations	29 March 1993 (1993-03-29)
Ceased operations	December 2001 (2001-12)
Hubs	Heathrow Taoyuan
Focus cities	London Taipei
Frequent-flyer program	Executive Club
Alliance	Oneworld
Fleet size	3
Parent company	British Airways
Headquarters	Taipei, Taiwan

British Asia Airways was a subsidiary of British Airways founded due to the legal status of Taiwan and territory disputes with China in order to allow British Airways to continue flying to Taiwan from the United Kingdom.

History

Due to political sensitivities, national airlines operating flights to China were not permitted to fly to Taiwan. ^{[1] [2]} Similar arrangements were made by other airlines, such as Japan Airlines, KLM, Qantas, ^[3] Swissair and Air France. Lufthansa provided service to Taipei under the name of its former subsidiary, Condor.

Britush Asia Airways commenced operations in March 1993 with Boeing 747-400s repainted with the Union Flag tail fin replaced by the Chinese characters 英亞 (Hanyu Pinyin: Yīng Yà; that translates as "British Asia"). ^{[4] [5]} The airline flew between Taipei and Hong Kong using the code BR, which BA had inherited from British Caledonian, while the flight from London used BA. ^[6]

The airline ceased operations after British Airways ceased flights to Taipei in December 2001. ^[7]

See also

Airlines created for political reasons:

• Air France Asie
• Air Sinai
• Australia Asia Airlines
• Japan Asia Airways
• KLM Asia
• Swissair Asia

References

1. Calder, Simon (23 April 1993). "Special Report on Long-Haul Air Travel: 'Air Asia' goes from strength to strength: Simon Calder looks at the growing success of the Eastern travel industry". The Independent . London.
2. "Why Taiwan is still an[sic] unique escape". The Independent. London. 16 June 2007. Archived from the original on 19 May 2008.
3. Robert Storey (1998). Taiwan . Lonely Planet. p.  166. ISBN   978-0-86442-634-5.
4. BA to Taiwan Australian Aviation issue 85 April 1993 page 23
5. Explore our past: 1990 - 1999 British Airways
6. "Something to declare: A likely story". The Independent. London. 14 September 1996.
7. Explore our past: 2000 - Present British Airways

External links

Media related to British Asia Airways at Wikimedia Commons