British Asia Airways

Defunct airline of the United Kingdom and Taiwan (1993–2002)

British Asia Airways

A British Asia Airways Boeing 747-400 in its Landor livery variant 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| 4 March 2002 (2002-03-04)
(re-integrated into British Airways)
Focus cities|

* London–Heathrow
* Taipei–Taoyuan

Frequent-flyer program| Executive Club
Alliance| Oneworld (affiliate; 1999–2001)
Fleet size| 3
Parent company| British Airways
Headquarters| Taipei, Taiwan

British Asia Airways Limited was a subsidiary of British Airways founded due to the legal status of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and territory disputes with the People's Republic of China in order to allow British Airways to continue flying to Taiwan from the United Kingdom.[1]

## History

[edit]

Due to political sensitivities, national airlines operating flights to the People's Republic of China were not permitted to fly to Taiwan.[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.

It used the Boeing 747-400 repainted in a special livery, with the Union Flag tailfin being replaced by the Chinese characters 英亞 (Hanyu Pinyin: Yīng Yà; literally "British Asia").[4] 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.[5]

The airline ceased operations after British Airways ceased flights to Taipei in December 2001.[6]

## Destinations

[edit]

British Asia Airways used to serve the following destinations:

* United Kingdom
* London – Heathrow Airport (Focus city)
* / Hong Kong
* Kai Tak Airport (Stop-over; 1993–1998)
* Chek Lap Kok Airport (Stop-over; 1998–2001)
* Republic of China (Taiwan)
* Taipei – Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (Focus city)

## Fleet

[edit]

During its eight-year existence, British Asia Airways operated the following aircraft:[7]

British Asia Airways fleet  Aircraft  | In service  | Orders  | Passengers  | Notes

|
|
|
|

F | C | Y | Total
Boeing 747-400 | 5  | -- | 14  | 55  | 332  | 401  | 3 aircraft wore the World Tails.
Returned to British Airways.
Total  | 5  | -- |

## See also

[edit]

Airlines created for political reasons:

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

## References

[edit]

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. ^ "Explore our past: 1990 - 1999". British Airways.
5. ^ "Something to declare: A likely story". The Independent. London. 14 September 1996.
6. ^ "Explore our past: 2000- Present". British Airways.
7. ^ "British Asia Airways Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to British Asia Airways at Wikimedia Commons

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