The History of British Airways

British Airways is one of the oldest carriers flying today and is celebrating its 100th birthday this year! In today's video, I take a look at their history and how they got the name, British Airways!
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[@jasonbrown9942]

Video topic idea: cover airline alliances! (One world, star alliance, etc)

[@g_blue_2737]

amazing video, informational cons ice and well researched, thank you and keep the amazing content up.

[@donrobinson6613]

I was lucky enough to fly from Auckland to London return on BOAC/BA Super VC-10's in 1974. Our tickets were BA but the VC-10's were still in BOAC livery. My grandparents stayed in Isleworth under the approach to Heathrow & got to see a VC-10 Standard, along with 707's & a 747 freshly painted in the Negus scheme. Also the prototype A300 in the Airbus house colours scheme.

[@antonioguinoo]

Hello Dj! A very good report on this airline. Im glad that you still upload content even if you are very busy with things going on in London, watching your videos is always a joy to me, keep up the hard work buddy

[@markstefanwiszowaty2466]

... And welcome to the UK! 8^}

[@antonioguinoo]

Mark Stefan Wiszowaty haha, is that what its really like there?

[@shanisworld5181]

Nice video DJ!!!!

[@omarijoseph3189]

i just love the BOAC livery 1:50 .

[@sexynelson100]

I work for BA.. and I must say.. You sure do know your stuff.. You're spot on.

[@robyoungquist5803]

I have very fond memories of traveling several times ORD/LHR return in First Class on BOAC VC-10. Outstanding inflight service and so quiet since the four engines were tail mounted (two on each side). Btw, BOAC also carried Her Majesty on her honeymoon to South Africa. She boarded her outbound flight with the title of Princess Elizabeth and due to her Fathers death, upon return, stepped off her BOAC flight as Queen Elizabeth. My favourite livery of British Air is the BOAC

[@mauritiusindependentparty273]

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 100TH YEAR

[@aerospacerules1883]

I hope to see an A321XLR on british Airways.

[@jayd1426]

Aerospace Rules that would make cabins pretty cramped up for longer flights.

[@aerospacerules1883]

@@jayd1426 true

[@lonwaslien104]

Hi DJ! I had the opportunity to fly BOAC on a 707 LHR/MIA. Very exciting! I still have the menu and my BOAC carry on bag!

[@markstefanwiszowaty2466]

My own claim to fame is that, way back in 1966, I flew with both BEA and BOAC to Bombay (as was) from Manchester Ringway (now MIA). Outward journey: BEA Vickers Viscount to Heathrow, BOAC VC10 to Bombay;return: BOAC 707 to Heathrow, BEA Vanguard to Manchester. I still possess my Junior Jet Club badge and Log Book! 8^}

[@CR47Ycam]

Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC Didn't get to bed last night On the way the paper bag was on my knee Man, I had a dreadful flight

[@Gameflyer001]

Nice Beatles reference

[@harshbansal7982]

Back in the USSR, you dont know how luck you are boy , Back in the USSR

[@M.KH4N5]

Like how you’re still uploading man

[@yazhazdazspaz3662]

I just came back from my british airways flight and get a notification about British airways

[@brmnyc]

Very nice presentation of BA's history.

[@James-oo1yq]

Can you do a small video on the small Scottish-Welsh-English-Irish carriers? I don't suppose there's much history, but being in the UK it might be interesting to you also 👍🏻

[@RevJim-qc2ry]

The BOAC 747-400 featured here is of course a special livery and is not one of the original BOAC 747-100s that preceded the the change to BA.

[@Ectoable]

Awesome well done guys

[@yepperdeedooda]

I need to see if you've done a video on the history of any airlines in Russia, because that interest me.

[@emmanuelex]

Thank you!

[@leezinke4351]

1:53 that is one of the most beautiful livery on a 747.

[@leezinke4351]

Kurt Number1 I really hope they all go to museums after they retired instead of going to boneyards.

[@jayd1426]

Lee Zinke I hope so too. Preserving them is the best way to preserve the identity and heritage of BA.

[@riccardosorace5184]

Lee Zinke absolutely. The Landor livery is even better in my opinion

[@leezinke4351]

Riccardo Sorace they all look very beautiful.

[@kayaschipper6029]

Plsss doe next history of klm

[@most4tler]

The oldest existing Airline 🇳🇱😀

[@kayaschipper6029]

@@most4tler also the oldest airline with the same name

[@PRCOM]

Well done u done a decent job with the BA story, the researcher got a couple of things wrong but besides that not a bad job

[@techfin6145]

Hmm ;)

[@Ibirdball]

More than a couple...

[@PRCOM]

@@Ibirdball true.

[@aayan8308]

I’ve been waiting for this

[@jayd1426]

I will really be heartbroken and depressed when the 747 leaves British Airways in 2024. The Queen is what always comes to my mind when I think of BA. No airplane has cradled and comforted me like the 747. She is like a dear mother and friend from the sky. When I was little, I pretended to be a 747. She’ll always have a special place in my heart and soul.

[@MattCruiser]

It's interesting how BA already celebrates their 100th anniversary, even though KLM won't celebrate theirs till oktober and KLM seems to be the oldest airline in the world...

[@C2K777]

It's their 100th year so they are celebrating it throughout the year and they trace their 'birth date' back to August. August being before October would make BA the older out of the 2

[@MattCruiser]

@@C2K777 Except that it is well known that KLM is the oldest airline in the world, and not British Airways...

[@C2K777]

​@@MattCruiser 'Operating under its original name' and it's a self proclaimed title ( although when it comes to the specific claim I tend to agree), Also I never asserted BA were the oldest airline in the world I pointed out that August comes before October which would make them the older of the two. It was yourself making the claims on which airline held the "oldest airline in the world" title ;)

[@MattCruiser]

@@C2K777 What I'm trying to say is that BA is simply doing this for a publicity stunt, as BA really isn't 100 years old. Even excluding the "Operating under original name" part. BA claims to be 100 years old because AT&T had its first flight in August of 1919... However BA is not just a renamed AT&T, AT&T went defunct a few years later and was then purchased by another airline. This airline then had multiple mergers before becoming BA. Hence I find it a hard to believe claim by BA that they're 100 years old, as really, they're just not.

[@C2K777]

@@MattCruiser now that argument I CAN get with and I tend to agree that some 'artistic license' has been deployed there.

[@peteb81]

Great video, but did he say cornet at 3:04? The first passenger jet was called the Comet. 🤣 actually now I feel like an ice cream, wonderful why?🤔

[@thierrydevant7690]

That's when there was style, good name BOAC.

[@michaelcoley7649]

No mention of the Argonaut DC4M or the Britannia. When the Comet 1 was unable to continue and before the 4 was ready they carried BOAC in the mid ‘50s. Fortunately I never flew on a Comet 1 but the 4 was very smooth. We kids were disappointed when the 707 arrived - London to HK.

[@jimbo6059]

No mention of the Lockheed Tristar either, my first ever flight was on a BA Tristar 500 to Kingston Jamaica.

[@sewolmik]

That BOAC Livery is wicked, but can I posit that Qantas is the oldest airline since it's inception with the same name throughout its history, not a conglomeration of a number of amalgamations and absorptions of precursor airlines.

[@AUmarcus]

KLM is about one year older than Qantas based on that....KLM have had one merger though.

[@canusdominici]

Isn't it to do with continuous operation? Though that was ruined when Alan Joyce shut down Qantas for a day during an industrial dispute.

[@sewolmik]

@@canusdominici If the metric is continuous operation then yeah AJ cocked that up. AUmarcus is right about KLM (dammit) though and I hadn't thought of them when I posted

[@sewolmik]

@@AUmarcus Bugger..I hadn't thought of KLM when I posted, damn those dutchmen!!...Upon reflection Qantas had a merger as well, they absorbed TAA/Australian Airlines as well.

[@canusdominici]

@@sewolmik BTW it's not the only thing that Joyce had ruined at Qantas. God help the next CEO because he will be gifted a really old fleet and lots of other problems from the social crusader.

[@Railviation]

British Airways had a huge impact in cutting a few destinations during the 9/11 attacks! Should of added those

[@montymatilda]

My oh my, the 747 close up with BOAC Livery is fantastic. The A380 is a beautiful aircraft but the 747 is a movie star.

[@jayd1426]

montymatilda I love the 747 so much. A380 is a great engineering feat too, but it won’t have a place in my heart like the Queen

[@tylerjordan1479]

Wow DJ, that video was great! Awesome in depth analysis of BA and how far they have come! Perfect timing too what with your move to London and it being BA's 100th birthday! I love your channel and all the content you put out for us, thank you so much! Best of luck in London!

[@10stringmaster]

Loved BA’s livery on their DC10’s back in the day

[@jimbo6059]

The ex Bcal DC10s

[@ronleitch7788]

A fascinating video! I knew some of the facts concerning the early history of BA, but you have filled in several gaps in my knowledge, for which many thanks! Have you ‘settled down in ‘the Smoke’ (London) yet?

[@mindwalk2007]

British Airways as it now exists is not 100 + years old. It has only existed since 1974. And there is a great deal more to the UK than London....

[@mannchetsingh]

Plz make video on history of AIR INDIA

[@lucascalma605]

Do the history of Philippine Airlines

[@CallumSpotting]

It will be so sad to see the 747’s be retired the only ‘Queen of the Skies’... Boeing will have to make another double decker aircraft in the future

[@moderatesforamerica1]

Why

[@jayd1426]

Brian Peterson why Boeing need to make a double decker? Because they are more spacious.

[@moderatesforamerica1]

@@jayd1426 the most spacious aircraft I have flown on is the 777. Having more decks does not mean more space.

[@sethsteener]

So wait, if the choice was made to merge BEA and BOAC was done on April 1, you could call BA a joke?

[@lol-ug2ry]

Nice

[@RMTStudios]

Great video, but couldn't you please show footage of the planes your referring to, rather than this stock footage? Thanks.

[@Ibirdball]

It's his own footage.

[@RMTStudios]

@@Ibirdball regardless, it would be cooler to see the historical aircraft, like the filling boats and the post WWII Across and such.

[@andyamg94]

Can you please do a history of Virgin Atlantic and Qantas please

[@anthonyjohnson5478]

BMI was also an airline that played a roll in BA history. You forgot that

[@andyrichardsvideovlogs8835]

Oh dear.... Riddled with errors especially when discussing to VC10.

[@Ibirdball]

"The Vickers or VC10"?

[@Ibirdball]

@@allan4787 It missed out BEA history entirely other than the BOAC merger.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

BOEING over the years made British Airways !!!!!

[@toby.maximillian]

Please do a video on Concorde!

[@VictoryRune]

History of Malaysian Airlines !

[@jimbo6059]

Dan air was strictly a European airline. Based at gatwick, they tried and failed to make Gatwick a hub.

[@jamalthemuslim7059]

Hi

[@verynice001]

Swiss 001: DeEjAyS AviAtoN

[@dxmedia9258]

Do the history of tui uk what used to be called Thomson airways and before that it was called Britainia airways

[@jacobh.667]

Both EasyJet and British Airways have 333 aircraft in their fleet

[@guybutler5305]

The also “took” over BMI for want of a better word in 2012

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

guy butler it usually means they bought the shares.

[@petermasterton6803]

maybe a good idea to relate the narration to the pictures

[@petermasterton6803]

or even better, the other way around

[@JamestheAviator]

Umm.. it was found in 1974. Last time I checked, it's not 2074.

[@thomashart5321]

JamesQFA380 no it was founded 1919

[@GalvinPlayz]

@@thomashart5321 Technically yes, but it was formed in 1974

[@russellgray1426]

I really do not like companies that do not answer emails, alas BA is one of those. Great crews and average fleet and appalling pricing doesn’t make them my favourite airline ☹️

[@jayd1426]

Russell Gray average fleet? Don’t know about that. They have the greatest and most elegant airplane ever to have flown in the skies, the iconic Queen of the Skies 747, which is also like the image of British Airways.

[@mauritiusindependentparty273]

I TRAVELLED BY BOAC IN 1966

[@bgotrain1638]

Hate to see how ppl don’t watch the video and just dislike

[@MrExEssex]

Not one historical picture?

[@ВладимирБаринцев-о3х]

If you wil made a new vidio , I wold became a happy !

[@hippityhoppity7136]

First...quite the speedy bird aren’t I😉

[@colinboneham7387]

Speedbird1 rules the sky

[@SpeedbirdConcordeOne]

Thanks 😉

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

Speedbird 1 is flown by a tiny Airbus aeroplane.

[@josephodonoghue9631]

What’s the deal with the Aer Lingus A350?!

[@69Phuket]

Aer Flingus? Still working on the rubber.

[@نادرالیراحمان]

I read it was cancelled a long time ago

[@Ibirdball]

They are due to receive 5 but were going to take 9 until Iberia took up those orders a few months ago.

[@cbhaviationandtripreports9039]

porter airlines has a weird history

[@ManJayCA]

So so much footage from LAX... far more than footage from the UK

[@galcarmi5265]

Do on the el al fleet!

[@thomashart5321]

I’d like to see that

[@journeyingjohn3275]

British airways was founded in 1974, the rest is the worst type or corporate marketing PR. Today they no longer represent anything approaching the world beating organisation they were a few short years ago. The most profitable airline in Europe has achieved their dividends and bonuses through charging for a premium service, trading on a brand that took decades to build whilst delivering a low cost carrier experience in densified, dirty and badly maintained cabins.

[@sefih5291]

Wait wouldn’t British Airways be older than KLM? KLM is the oldest airline it will turn 100 in October but British airways will turn 100 this month.

[@Ibirdball]

BA are only 45 years old.

[@GlaringDiamon]

@@Ibirdball but if you count it's roots,then ba is 100

[@journeyingjohn3275]

How far the mighty have fallen In August 2019 as a direct result of cost cutting for the 7th time in 2 years tens of thousands of customers were let down / stranded from the cancellation of their flights. On board BA no longer bother to clean their longhaul fleet adequately nor load enough catering for the pax onboard. They deliver a sub low cost experience for the price of a premium carrier. Unless there is a reversal of the last 5years of cuts and service degradation BA are Best Avoided if you want comfort, service, catering, reliability, quality or value.

[@Ibirdball]

They are no more than glorified Norwegian Air Shuttle.

[@FrancescoBellringer]

they lost the 737-400 😢

[@NoName-dm4ld]

akright

[@MsEdy09]

Ummmmm ba is not 100 years old

[@PlanesAndGames732]

It is 45 old, but we have to consider all airlines that merged to form BA in 1974

[@GlaringDiamon]

Then it is 100 years old.

[@Tomer-The-Pilot]

Thank's for the information, but it could be nice to see historic photos and videos of the aircraft you talked about and not just spotting from current era.

[@zamirmaduro2338]

British is 78 years old not 100 years the true AIRLINE is KLM with 100 years! And the second is Avianca!

[@Ibirdball]

BA isn't even near 100 years old it's just Alex Cruz wants an excuse to spend billions on new marketing.

[@GlaringDiamon]

If you count all of it's roots,then ba is 100

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

BA was formed in 1972.

[@MasothVirer]

The livery is 👌🏼

[@georgekotronakis903]

Boooo easy jet! Airline killer!

[@nickreitmaier5648]

You've been in the process of 'moving to london' for 6 months now... Stop using it as an excuse to be lazy

[@mindwalk2007]

A very misleading video. To clebrate 100 years of existence an airline has to have been operating under the same name for 100 years as is the case with QANTAS and KLM. British Airways as it now exists only came into being in 1974. And they are not the flag carrier of the UK as they only operate international flights out of London. The UK consists of far more than that dump......

[@sammyibarra2078]

They should upgrade to The 747-8 inna way it's a modern version of The 747-400

[@C2K777]

The A350 is a much more efficient aircraft it would be stupid to buy the 748. The queen of the skies is an icon but she's outdated now

[@obelic71]

@@C2K777 all 4 engined airliners are outdated for passenger service. the 747 has the advantage she is still good heavy lift freighter. Converting them to 747-800M(Side loading door) Freighter is the only option.

[@C2K777]

@@obelic71 Totally right, nothing can hold a candle to the 748 for carrying freight however in this case Sammy suggested BA 'upgrade' to it which would, imho, be anything but an upgrade in comparison to the 350-1000 as they are a passenger carrier not a freighter airline.

[@obelic71]

@@C2K777 I was not sure if BA had freighters. KLM, Lufthansa for example have 747 freighters. As a passenger plane the 747 is at the end of the line. Only the few newest 747-800P version will fly passengers for sure the next 5 years. The new 777x/787 and A350 will replace the entire 747-400P/777-100-200 and A340/A380 passenger aircraft.

[@C2K777]

@@obelic71 no fella they don't operate a freight fleet 😀

[@thierrydevant7690]

A380 looks horrible.

[@haz525]

British airways , in my opinion, is still one of the best airlines going

[@PlanesAndGames732]

Union Jack livery, also known as Negus...

[@khalidabdulghani]

yep

[@Ibirdball]

*Negus & Negus

[@torrerob1]

Hi Dj BOAC WAS THE BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRCRAFT COPARATION CHEERS

[@Ibirdball]

You mean the Boeing Only Aircraft Corporation...

[@tonydecastro6340]

BA stands for British Ampire; so many brits think they still have an empire with Brexit!!!

[@murrayjones694]

No they don't. Don't think you're even British.

[@C2K777]

As your comment doesn't even make any sense we'll just laugh at it

[@tonydecastro6340]

@@murrayjones694 and thank God I'm not!!!

[@tonydecastro6340]

@@C2K777 exactly...

[@C2K777]

@@tonydecastro6340 I'm not supporting you dude. My initial "we'll just laugh at it" comment was directed at YOU not at Murray. 1. You're comment makes no sense in regards to the Empire claim and Brexit. 2. You are literally making up words to try and make a point which is illogical in its basis