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British Airways is the UK's largest international scheduled airline. It is also the second largest airline in Europe (behind Air France-KLM), with more flights from Europe across the Atlantic than any other operator. Its main hubs are London Heathrow and London Gatwick. The British Airways group consists of British Airways Plc and a number of subsidiary companies including in particular British Airways Holidays Limited and British Airways Travel Shops Limited.
British Airways origin runs parallel to the origin of civil aviation industry in the world. On August 25, 1919, British Airways forerunner company, Aircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T), launched the world's first daily international scheduled air service, between London and Paris. On March 31, 1924, Britain's four airlines - Instone, Handley Page, Daimler Airways, and British Air Marine Navigation - merged to form Imperial Airways. Around this time a number of smaller UK air transport companies had started their operations. These merged in 1935 to form the original privately-owned British Airways Ltd. In 1939, British Government nationalized Imperial Airways and British Airways to form the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). After Second World War BOAC continued to operate long-haul services, while continental European and domestic flights were flown by a new airline, British European Airways (BEA). In 1972 BOAC and BEA were combined under the newly formed British Airways Board, with the separate airlines coming together as British Airways in 1974.
British Airways has a modern fleet with an average age of 9.7 years. Its fleet consists of Airbus A319-100, A320-100, A320-200, Boeing 737-300, 737-400, 737-500, 747-400, 757-200, 767-300ER, 777-200, and 777-200ER. Presently, British Airways, flies to over 550 destinations worldwide. In India, British Airways flies to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore.