On 31 March 1924, Britain's four pioneer airlines - Instone Air Line, Handley Page Transport, Daimler Airways (a successor to AT&T) and British Air Marine Navigation - merged to form Imperial Airways, which developed its Empire routes to Australia and Africa.

Meanwhile a number of smaller UK air transport companies had started flights. These merged in 1935 to form the original privately owned British Airways Ltd. Following a government review, Imperial Airways and British Airways were nationalised in 1939 to form the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). Post-war, BOAC continued to operate long-haul services, other than routes to South America - these were flown by British South American Airways, which was merged back into BOAC in 1949. Continental European and domestic flights were flown by a new airline, British European Airways (BEA).

Flight Details

• Boeing B 767
• Route: London - Budapest & retour
• Date: 3 July 2003 & 28 August 2003
• Time: 2h:25m & 2h:40m

• Boeing B 747 - 400
• Route: Vancouver - London & retour
• Date: 3 May & 21 May 2006
• Time: 9h:05m & 9h:25m