by: Robert Caleo
British Airways is United Kingdom’s largest international airline, with routes to over 550 destinations the world over. This airline is world renowned for their high standards and international recognitions, having been featured in many reviews by airline critics as well as passengers. Apart from just offering flights, British Airways sustains its status within the airline industry through a workforce that offers exceptional work commitment and excellent service levels.
Throughout its long history, British Airways has evolved almost a century within the airline industry. Currently owned by Comair Limited since 1992, this airline started off with humble beginnings as Aircraft Transport and Travel in 1919, with its maiden flight from Le Bourget to Honslow in August 1919. Later, with the merger of a few other airlines due to the decline of the industry, this British airline was named Imperial Airways and was the first major British carrier. At that time, they operated with only 18 aircraft and 250 employees.
Soon after their collaboration with Qantas to launch the first flight to Australia and with the acquiring of more aircraft, British Airways Limited was created which was a merger between Imperial Airways and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). After World War II, with more transatlantic flights added, another sister airline was also created just to handle these flights. It was known as the British European Airways (BEA). Through the years, British Airways has continued steady growth, incorporating newer and more sophisticated aircraft and as well as running the Concorde since 1979.
The success of British Airways could mostly be attributed to its continuous addition of more long-haul international flights as well as the expansion of their fleet. Apart from that, the entire airline boasts of features that provide their passengers with the best comfort through value added services such as extended leg room for travelers within their economy class cabins, special lounges of British Airways and onboard catering with exclusive wine served.
Additionally, other conveniences provided for ease of check in including telephone check -ins, valet services and also an online portal at http://www.britishairways.com/ that consists of many features allowing passengers to check flight schedules, check personal bookings, travel advice, information on British Airways destinations and even perform online flight bookings. In fact, they have even implemented an e-ticketing system which provides passengers with the flexibility of checking in without the need of a physical ticket. Only passenger details including proof of identification are required to be produced during check-ins, as all booking information has already been stored in their computer systems. In fact, through this system, flights can be changed even up to 30 minutes before departure time.
Finally, the British Airways portal also provides many other travel services such as hotel bookings, travel insurance purchase, car rentals as well as holiday purchases. This way, these products from British Airways comes in competition with travel sites such as Lastminute.com (http://www.adventuretraveltips.com/tips/Lastminute.html) and Ratestogo.com (http://www.adventuretraveltips.com/tips/RatesToGo.html). However, as all of these are not core businesses of an airline, they merely exist to complement the flight services. Thus, all of these value-added services work together with great customer support services in order to produce success for this famous airline.