The Early History of British Airways

In 1919, as Europe emerged from the First World War, travel moved into the forefront of peoples minds. Buoyed up on the new technologies of the day, the forerunner of BA, Aircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T), launched the world’s first daily international scheduled air service. It offered a service from London to Paris and ushered in the modern age of air travel.

Within 5 years there were already a handful of start-up airlines offering their services in Britain. In March 1924, the four best known of these: Handley Page, Instone, AT&T, and British Air Marine Navigation merged into one larger company called Imperial Airways and offered flights around the British Empire.

As Imperial Airways grew in size, it became a forerunner of a modern airline, offering flights to countries all across the world including Canada and Australia, and competed effectively with the Airships that dominated the era.

In 1935, a rival arrived on the scene. British Airways Ltd was formed from a number of small privately owned companies and quickly developed into a company of similar size. By 1939, just before the Second World War broke out, the British Government...