British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, headquartered in London at Waterside near Heathrow Airport, its main hub.
The airline was formed on 31 March 1974 through the merger of four nationalised carriers: British Overseas Airways Corporation, British European Airways, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines. Privatised in February 1987 under the Thatcher government, BA expanded through acquisitions including British Caledonian (1987), Dan-Air (1992) and British Midland International (2012). In January 2011 it merged with Iberia to create International Airlines Group, a holding company registered in Madrid. British Airways is the second largest UK carrier by fleet size and passengers carried, behind easyJet. It became the first passenger airline to generate more than one billion US dollars on a single route in a year. During the COVID-19 crisis the company received £300 million in public support, later augmented by furlough scheme funding and a £2 billion state-backed loan in 2021.
