British Asia Airways

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]

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

History

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

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

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

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

Airlines created for political reasons:

• Australia Asia Airlines
• Japan Asia Airways
• KLM Asia
• Swissair Asia
• Air France Asie

• Air Sinai