British Airways Background

British Airways Background

British Airways Background[1]

This is a airline barrier of the United Kingdom(UK) as it was founded on 31 March 1974 after the BOAC(British Overseas Airways Corporation) and BEA(British European Airways Corporation) merger. They have two hubs which are situated(located)in London Gatwick and London Heathrow Airport. But the main hub is in London Heathrow Airport. It headquarters is located in Waterside, London as the key people are Willie Walsh(CEO) and current Liverpool FC and BA chairman Martin Broughton. The estimated revenue (as of 2010) stands at £8 billion. Firstly, the company slogan (as a marketing strategy) is Upgrade to British Airways. Others used are ''The Worlds Best Airline'','' We'll Take More Care of you'' and ''Fly The Flag''. Furthermore, the Parent company is International Airline Groups as they(BA) has a fleet size of 288 and 150 destinations(including european centers such as Frankfurt and Paris)[2] and excluding subsdiaries and codeshares(connecting airlines) respectively. Moreover, due to its popularity in the later years it own subsdiaries such as BA CityFlyer and OpenSkies. In reality, the structure of the member lounge in the air plane has a Conrode Room, Galleries First, Galleries Club, Galleries Arrivals, First Lounge, Terraces Lounge and Executive Club Lounge. Additionally, the frequent flyer program has a Executive Club and Premier(Invite Only).

As outlined above about the foundation date of the airline after the merging, it was nationalised for 13 years before the conservative government privatised the company in February 1974. While the airline was growing it had takeover two other British airlines in 1987 and 1992 which are: British Caledonia(BCAL) and Dan Air(based in Gatwick) respectively. This done due to overhauling each other routes competitively as the conservative government changed the aviation policy in 1976. What is more is it was implemented in order to bring profitability back to the airline. Since privatisation the airline barrier was brought to the London Stock Market Exchange.

The BA began operating the supersonic airliner ,Aerospatiale BAC Concorde in order to provide passenger service routes to Bahrain as well as service to Washington Dulles(24 May 1976) and JKF New York( 22 September 1977). In the early years it began conroding operations with other airline such as Singapore Airlines(1982) and Miami(March 1984). During 1993 the BA purchased a 25% stake at popular Australian Airline, Qantas in march and made a takeover bid in Brymon Airways(May same year) to form BA Connect.

By September 1998, the British airways formed a oneworld airline alliance consisting of American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Qantas and bankrupt Canadian Airlines to compete with Star Alliance Airline members. By February 1999 it was the largest airline alliance in the world beating competition off SkyTeam and Star Alliance.

Identification of Innovation

Management of BA[3]

The BA use Strategic management to manage the business efficiently. First of all, strategic management is set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long run performance of a cooperation. Conversely, the use of this type of management determines success as its never ending, on-going, integrate process, dynamic and use of complex patterns of actions and reactions. The BA adopted this management strategy for many reasons for better service. First of all, alliances and merging were part of the strategy. While using this strategy they merged with other airline companies in the early years( 31 March 1924) with there local airlines Instone, Handley Page, Daimler Airways and British Air Marine Navigation to form Imperial airways(Now named British Airways in 2006). By 1935 it privately owned British Airways Ltd. Correspondingly, due to the airline alliance long term profitability existed. Furthermore, the company were able to access larger markets, establish global brand loyalty(market reputation) and build hub facilities. As a result their use of strategic management it made them dynamic that caused them to innovate and improve the quality of service.

Secondly,