Barbados and British Airways celebrate 70th anniversary with the Barbadian rum, Mount Gay Rum Distilleries

For the first time ever, passengers on board British Airways flights to Barbados are being served Mount Gay Rum for ‘a taste of Barbados at 37,000 feet’

                   As Barbados celebrates 70 years of British Airways flights to the island, the UK flag carrier’s customers have been enjoying rum on board from Mount Gay the world’s oldest-running rum distillery. 

For the first time ever, British Airways’ customers flying between the UK and Barbados throughout April are being treated to the rich flavours of Mount Gay, XO in First and Club World (business class) and Mount Gay, Eclipse in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy).

Mount Gay Rum, the oldest, most storied rum in the world, has been produced in Barbados with passion and unparalleled craftsmanship since 1703, thus earning it the title “the rum that invented rum”. Expertly crafted from the rich sugar cane and pristine, coral-filtered water native to the island, Mount Gay Rum is a spirit with a rich history and true character.

In addition to the onboard festivities, Barbados will host a prestigious evening reception at Ilaro Court, the official residence of the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, S.C., M.P. | Prime Minister of Barbados on Wednesday 24th April. This exclusive event will welcome distinguished guests including, Hon Ian Gooding-Edghill, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Barbados and Colm Lacy, Chief Commercial Officer for British Airways. 

British Airways restarts London - Abu Dhabi route

British Airways returned to Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning as flight BA073 touched down at Zayed International Airport, following a four-year pause of the route.

From now on, British Airways will operate a daily flight between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi all year around  The new route adds to the UK's leading legacy carrier's extensive global network and strengthens connections between UAE and UK.

Flight BA073 to Abu Dhabi departs London Heathrow at 22.25, arriving in Abu Dhabi at 08.30+1.  The inbound flight to London (BA072) departs at 10.10, arriving London Heathrow 15.20.

Elena Sorlini, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said: "We extend a warm welcome to British Airways as they start operating at Zayed International Airport with a daily schedule that promises to enrich connectivity and invigorate both business and tourism. Our new award-winning and cutting-edge terminal offers visitors an unparalleled introduction to the vibrant UAE capital, where they will be greeted with Emirati hospitality at its finest."

Calum Laming, Chief Customer Officer at British Airways said: “We are really excited to be celebrating our Abu Dhabi route launch. The new daily flight connects Abu Dhabi with London Heathrow and beyond, providing our customers with another amazing destination within our expansive global network and further growing our connections with the UAE. With four cabins to choose from, including First, we are confident customers will enjoy our exceptional and original British Airways service brought to life by our incredible colleagues.

And on a personal level, it is an honour to return to the fantastic city and Emirate of Abu Dhabi where I was lucky to live for the best part of a decade."

- Special discount for a limited time! Save up to 30% now. 
 

BA Schedule

Season	Flight number	Departing LHR	Arriving AUH	Flight number	Departing AUH	Arriving LHR
Summer ‘24	BA73	22:25	08:30+1	BA72	10:10	15:20
Winter ‘24	BA73	22:25	09:30+1	BA72	11:10	15:20

British Airways Executive Club members can book flights for £1

In a move to give customers even more choice when spending their Avios, British Airways has announced the latest improvement to its Executive Club loyalty programme by making every one of its flights available from just £1 plus Avios.

When booking any flight or holiday, Avios part payment invites customers to reduce the monetary cost of their booking by selecting the amount of Avios they would like to contribute. Until now, the maximum discount varied depending on multiple factors, whereas the airline is now giving customers the option to reduce their booking to just £1 using Avios.

Using Avios part payment is different to booking a Reward Seat, of which there are a limited number on each flight at a fixed rate. Members booking any flight can use Avios part payment regardless of the seat type, allowing more flexibility, with varying amounts of Avios to contribute.

Colm Lacy, British Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We’ve listened to our Members’ feedback and we’re really excited to be introducing this latest update for them. We know that most of our customers choose the lowest cash amount when it comes to making Reward Flight bookings, so we anticipate this to be a popular option for those using Avios part payment too. Ultimately, our goal is to keeping adding more choice and flexibility for Members.”

Last year, British Airways Holidays introduced Avios part payment, with holiday package bookings starting from £1 + Avios.

Members using Avios part payment towards their booking will still collect Avios and Tier Points on their flight as well as any bonus Avios and Tier Points if applicable. Part payment can also be used for flights operated by American Airlines between the UK and North America, and British Airways codeshares with selected partners.

. Special discount limited time offerSave up to 30% now. 
 

British Airways introduces next-generation weather apps for air crew

British Airways will become the first UK airline to roll out two next-generation weather apps, to provide pilots and the airline’s flight planning teams access to real-time weather data, allowing them to better plan and mitigate the impact of weather on any intended flight route, in the moment.

Currently, teams rely on manually produced weather reports that are generated earlier that day. With access to the new apps, pilots and flight planning teams will be able to assess the impact of weather changes in real-time to better plan and adapt flight paths, making more operationally efficient decisions. 

The apps will provide real-time data from The Weather Company to pilots and flight planning teams to help better predict bad weather

This new technology will replace manually produced weather reports, and forms part of the airline’s £7bn transformation programme, as it continues to focus on increasing the use of new technology across its operation

The technology has been developed and configured to meet the exact needs of British Airways’ extensive route network, providing benefits across its short and long-haul operations, and will be introduced ahead of the busy summer season

The first app will give the airline’s pilots streamlined access to weather data from The Weather Company, offering comprehensive insights into weather conditions along flight paths both before departure and while in the air. Additional updates will utilise onboard Wi-Fi connectivity* to support real-time in-flight weather updates, further improving its functionality. 

The airline’s Integrated Operations Control Centre – the operational hub that keeps the airline running smoothly, will also have access to an app that - in the future - will work in conjunction with the new technology available to pilots, giving them precise information on weather changes.

René de Groot, Chief Operating Officer at British Airways, said: “It’s exciting that we’ll be the first UK airline to combine the technology of both apps, which will allow us to make even better operational decisions in the moment using real-time data. These applications represent a step-change in the quality of weather information we receive, and, in the future, will enable pilots to collaborate in real-time during a flight with operational colleagues on the ground, allowing faster decision-making for a variety of issues like diversion planning and recovery.”

British Airways 'Speedbird Pilot Academy cadet programme opens for new applications

The airline is opening the application window for the second year of its fully funded Speedbird Pilot Academy cadet scheme on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. This follows an unprecedented response to its first-year intake which saw more than 20,000 applications for just 100 places.

The Speedbird Pilot Academy initiative, part of the airline’s £7 billion investment across the business, is aimed at levelling the playing field and making a career as a commercial airline pilot a realistic option for all, by removing the previously prohibitive cost barrier of individuals having to pay for their training themselves.

British Airways’ Director of Flight Operations Simon Cheadle, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be able to open the door to a flying career to more people through this programme.

British Airways has increased capacity to Barbados.....

The Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc has welcomed the newest aircraft in the British Airways fleet, to the island, the 787-10 Dreamliner.  BA will use the jets to operate the route from London for the summer 2024 season.

Barbados welcomes increased British Airways

capacity to the island

The inaugural British Airways 787-10 Dreamliner flight to Barbados took place on Sunday 31 March, 2024 and increases capacity by 10 percent.  The four-class aircraft features an exclusive eight seat First class cabin, the airline’s newest business class seat the Club Suite, in a 48-seat forward-facing cabin, while the World Traveller Plus cabin will offer 35 seats and BA's economy World Traveller cabin with 165 seats..

Cheryl Carter, Director, UK for BTMI said: “We are truly honoured that British Airways has chosen to deploy its prestigious Dreamliner 787-10 aircraft to Barbados. This shows BA’s confidence in the robust passenger demand for travel between the UK and Barbados. We eagerly anticipate welcoming passengers to our beautiful island paradise, and are delighted with the enduring partnership we share with BA.”

Neil Chernoff, British Airways Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, said: "As British Airways celebrates its 70th year of connecting London and Barbados, we are thrilled to be increasing capacity on the route with a larger aircraft and the launch of a new double daily service from Heathrow. This is a testament to the popularity of the route from a leisure and business perspective, and its importance as a link for visiting friends and relatives. Our commitment to this special destination remains as strong as ever, and we are proud to offer unparalleled connectivity and convenience for our customers."

British Airways is embarking on a multi-million-pound investment programme to overhaul its ground support equipment at Heathrow Airport

British Airways is embarking on a multi-million-pound investment programme to overhaul its ground support equipment at Heathrow Airport, as part of its commitment to reducing emissions both in the air and on the ground. The airline will gradually be replacing its ground vehicles at Heathrow, such as vans and cars, cargo transporters and passenger steps, moving towards hybrid or electric alternatives where available. Already, more than 90% of British Airways’ vehicles and ground equipment at Heathrow are either zero emissions electrical equipment when being used or driven, (hybrids) or are operating on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel. 

Improvements include:  

Replacing more than 750 pieces of ground equipment, including fuel bowsers from fossil fuel to HVO. HVO is an interim measure whilst the airline gradually transitions to zero-emissions (when being used or driven) or hybrid equipment. Supplied by the airline’s current sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supplier, Phillips 66, the use of HVO is anticipated to save more than 6,000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to traditional diesel fuel, the equivalent of more than 8,000 round-trip economy passenger journeys between London Heathrow and JFK*.  

Replacing all diesel passenger aircraft steps with electric alternatives. This aims to reduce fuel consumption by more than 370 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, based on previous diesel usage, which is the equivalent of more than 500 round-trip economy passenger journeys between London Heathrow and JFK*. Many of the electric steps will be in full service by the end of the year. 

Phasing out its fleet of 20 diesel-powered vehicles which support the loading and unloading of cargo containers onto aircraft, replacing them with Hybrid Electric models.  

Introducing 135 new electric baggage tugs, accounting for 40% of our tugs, to transport customer's luggage. This improved battery and charging technology utilises highly efficient lithium-ion battery technology, requiring less energy and producing 30% less C02 when in use compared to traditional lead acid batteries. We are working closely with our supply chain in order to recycle as many battery components as possible at the end of life. 

Gradually phasing out all 38 diesel passenger buses over the next two years, with 23 expected to be fully electric and the remaining 15 operating on HVO fuel, with a large charging park at Heathrow now in the early stages of development. The use of these vehicles is expected to save 800 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, helping to reduce negative air quality impacts around the Heathrow area. 

Tom Moran, British Airways’ Director of Heathrow, said: “At British Airways, we are committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner and our focus isn’t just about reducing emissions in the air, but on the ground too. This major investment into our vehicles at Heathrow is our largest investment in more sustainable airport ground operations to date and is part of our wider environmental objective to minimise emissions from our airside ground operation. We’re proud of the work we are doing in this space and are excited to continue improving the running of our ground operations at Heathrow.” 

British Airways to recall and update some of new uniform

Five months after launching a new uniform, the UK's leading airline, British Airways has admitted its new threads may need to be revised!

The airline has issued an update that some items of the new uniform have not "fared as well and might need some alterations." and the new designs by Ozwald Boateng, “are not quite hitting the mark”. 

This follows months of complaints and criticisms from staff posted on social media and staff messageboards. In addition, comments from customers have also been less than flattering in the whole with many failing to warm to the design. 

At the time, Ozwald Boateng OBE said: “Designing this uniform was a vast and painstaking undertaking and went far beyond clothes. It was about creating an energetic shift internally. One of my main objectives was to create something that spoke to, and for, the airline’s colleagues. Something that inspired and empowered them, encouraged them to conduct their roles with pride and most importantly to ensure that they felt seen and heard. Although the airline has a strong heritage, it was imperative to support in creating a fresh narrative of change and transcendence, while remaining timeless.”

Aerotime reports that the airline has asked some uniform suppliers to work on new blouses and shirts and supply sample remedies for the originals that were so thin they were almost transparent when worn by cabin crew. The carrier has also already updated some items that had already been approved. 

Your travel planning isn’t complete without learning the language—or at least some essential phrases. Fully immerse yourself in the language, or use Phrasebook to learn travel essentials—the choice is yours!

Major changes for British Airways as part of a £7bn transformation plan...

The UK's leading legacy carrier British Airways has announced an array of new initiatives as part of its £7bn transformation plan.  

The airline's Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle outlined his modernisation plan at a recent showcase that will see the airline try to regain its former reputation of delivering a world-class customer experience. The new plan will also see the company modernizing its crumpled IT systems, work on sustainability issues and drive up on-time performance.  

Sean Doyle, British Airways Chairman and CEO, commented:  “We’re on a journey to a better BA for our people and for our customers, underpinned by a transformation programme that will see us invest £7bn over the next two years to revolutionise our business".

Doyle continued: “We’re going to take delivery of new aircraft, introduce new cabins, elevate our customer care, focus on operational performance and address our environmental impact by reducing our emissions and creating a culture of sustainability. We’re also heavily investing in the development of a new ba.com website and app and are laser-focused on transforming our business and fixing any pain points for our customers.”  

Long gone are the days of 'The World's favourite airline' when BA was a global brand epitomising quality, style and premium levels of service. A series of strikes, high-profile data breaches, massive IT failures, in-flight service cuts, staff morale issues and mismanagement have all taken their toll on the carrier.  

Ba.com and app 

British Airways has confirmed plans to overhaul its digital user experience with a new ba . com website and mobile app which it says will offer deeper personalisation. The new website is already in BETA testing mode with platforms designed to offer a range of new services, including allowing customers to self-serve if they wish, taking control of and making changes to their journeys online, in keeping with other major airlines' websites and systems. BA says the initial changes will start to roll out by the end of the year.

WiFi enhancements for customers 

In-flight WiFi is increasingly popular with passengers, with many seeing it as a prerequisite in their choice of airline, therefore, from 3rd April, British Airways Executive Club Members will start to be able to send messages free of charge on a single device using the airline’s WiFi - whatever cabin they’re travelling in. The service will be available on every WiFi-enabled aircraft within two weeks of the rollout date*. 

The free messaging pass will allow British Airways Executive Club members to use messaging-type online applications, such as WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and Teams Chat - without images, videos or attachments, text only.

*WiFi is available on all of the airline’s Gatwick fleet and more than 80 per cent of British Airways’ Heathrow fleet, rolling out to 100 per cent by the end of 2025.

The airline has also become the first to offer a WiFi-enabled inflight customer care solution to solve issues in the moment – even at 35,000ft. Created especially for British Airways by Microsoft, customer care teams on the ground are now able to connect with cabin crew colleagues across more than 300 flights a day. The functionality allows the crew to help solve any unexpected issues before a flight lands at one of the airline’s more than 200 destinations. 

AI implementation 

BA said it plans to invest £100m in AI & machine learning, automation all the way through the company. It says these moves will drive improvements from bookings to baggage handling and help to revolutionise its operation, speed up departures and respond to disruption.

Innovative new tools are helping to predict delays (prompting pre-emptive action to reduce disruption) and analyse real-time weather, aircraft capacity and customer connections data to help teams make better decisions. Since the introduction of the systems, alongside a number of new processes and ways of working, the airline has seen improvement to its on-time departures.   

The airline is also investing £750m in its IT infrastructure to move 700 systems and thousands of servers to the cloud by early next year.   

British Airways has also started to create around 350 roles at its home base, London Heathrow which will, it hopes, improve the level of services customers experience. The airline is investing in new equipment, such as baggage tugs and towing vehicles.

New lounge design concept 

BA is all set to open another brand-new lounge in Dubai, which is relocating to a new larger space at Dubai Airport later this year. This lounge will be the first to feature British Airways’ new lounge design concept, followed by the opening of its Miami lounge in 2025. The new Dubai lounge will replace the existing lounge facility at the airport, offering more space and more features for its premium customers. BA will also complete lounge refreshes in Lagos and Seattle, these follow recent lounge refurbishments at Heathrow Terminals 5 and 3, as well as Edinburgh.  

New cabins and seats 

New short-haul seats and cabin interiors will feature on the next generation of British Airways’ Airbus A320neo and A321neos, with eight aircraft set to arrive from May this year. The airline is working with the best of British suppliers from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the new short-haul Euro Traveller and Club Europe seats reflecting a modern yet classic British interior. The re-designed cabins will also be fitted with extra-large overhead bins for luggage. 

Post by @british_airways

View on Threads

New short-haul seats

Club Europe seats will see the return of the bespoke leather tray that sits between the aisle and window seat. All Club Europe seats will also be fitted with USB-A & USB-C power (60W) backrest-mounted charging ports, while the Euro Traveller seats will be fitted with USB-A & USB-C (15W) backrest-mounted charging ports.

Investment in First  

British Airways is the only European carrier to offer First Class between the UK and US and the carrier seeks to capitalize on this with the introduction of a brand-new and exclusive First suite. BA believes the new seat will come into service at the end of 2025 into early 2026 as part of its Airbus A380 aircraft refurbishment.  

The Heathrow - New York JFK route has, for many years been the airline's most lucrative route, it is also the 8th busiest route in the world with nearly 3.9 million seats on offer last year. Between April 2018 and 2019, BA earned over $1.15 billion from this route alone. 

New Routes 

British Airways partners with Franklin Barbecue to bring a taste of Texas to the air.....

British Airways has partnered with Austin's renowned barbecue joint, Franklin Barbecue, to produce limited edition bottles of their Original BBQ sauce, aptly labelled BA-B-Q sauce (see what we did there), to gift Club World customers flying from Austin to London throughout March.

Customers flying from Austin during the anniversary month will also enjoy a Texas-inspired barbecue menu on board. The menu will showcase the rich and savoury taste of Austin's barbecue tradition, offering customers a culinary treat that pays homage to the city's renowned barbecue culture and brings the essence of this vibrant city to the skies.

"We're excited to celebrate a decade of connecting Austin and London," said Calum Laming, British Airways' Chief Customer Officer. "At British Airways we're committed to providing an exceptional and original experience for our customers and we're always looking for new ways to do that. Bringing the flavours of Austin to the skies with this special menu is one way of us celebrating this remarkable city and expressing gratitude for the support we've received over the past 10 years. And we can't wait for customers to enjoy our limited edition bottles of Franklin Barbecue's Original BBQ sauce."

British Airways invests in new predictive automated maintenance reporting system

A cutting-edge engineering system that uses real-time data to predict aircraft maintenance issues is helping British Airways reduce delays and save the use of more than 900,000 pieces of paper a year.

The E-Logs platform will provide live performance information about all of the airline’s 270 jets, allowing the airline to immediately spot potential problems and proactively fix them and reduce downtime.

It is replacing a costly and time-consuming paper-based system with an entirely automated process that makes it much easier for pilots and cabin crew to log issues.

Andy Best, Chief Technical Officer at British Airways, said:  “We’re using the latest technology to help ensure we continue delivering a consistently high standard of service for our customers – always with a focus on safety.

Our investment in innovative tools like this, means we can support our teams to identify and put solutions in place ahead of time. By replacing time-consuming manual processes with digital technology we are constantly improving the reliability of our aircraft fleet and as a result our customers’ experience.” 

Aircraft technical logs are a regulatory requirement that have historically been paper-based.

Flight and cabin crew would log any faults in writing and these are then transcribed and transferred to maintenance teams, which carry out any required work and again update the aircraft maintenance log in writing.

The E-Logs system, which will see a number of specialist iPads placed on every aircraft, will replace the paper-based system entirely and allows the immediate transfer of data from the aircraft to engineers within seconds - before the aircraft arrives at its destination.

This means engineers can pre-order any required parts and resolve issues more quickly on arrival, reducing the amount of time planes are out of action.

The technology also allows BA to predict faults and pre-emptively correct them before they become an issue that might take an aircraft offline.

The system forms part of BA’s £7bn transformation investment over the next two years. This is the biggest ever investment in the business to revolutionise how teams work, rolling-out the very latest technology to boost the customer experience. 

This includes cutting-edge machine learning, automation and AI across the operation, driving improvements from bookings to baggage handling and helping cut cancellations and delays. 

The tools being used are revolutionising how the airline works, replacing time-consuming manual processes with tech-based solutions to ensure that the right information is in the right place at the right time.  

Your travel planning isn’t complete without learning the language—or at least some essential phrases. Fully immerse yourself in the language, or use Phrasebook to learn travel essentials—the choice is yours!

A taste of love in the skies..... BA's Valentine Menu

British Airways is bringing romance to the skies this Valentine’s Day with love-themed desserts, complimentary heart chocolates, hours of rom-coms available through the airline’s ‘Love is in the air’ inflight entertainment category, as well as romantic gift ideas from its High Life Shop.

In addition British Airways Holidays has launched a range of city break offers from £142pp to celebrate the most romantic date of the year (the 14th day of the second month). Customers can choose from a range of options including Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Turin, Edinburgh, Nice, Prague, Stockholm, and Verona*. 

Whether flying short-haul or long-haul, every customer travelling on 14 February from Heathrow and Gatwick will feel the love with a complimentary heart shaped chocolate upon boarding. Customers in First and Club can enjoy the following desserts:

Valentine’s themed desserts

• White chocolate mousse heart with passion fruit and mango: A red chocolate-coated heart with a white chocolate, mango and passion fruit mousse, complemented by fresh berries, exclusively for those travelling in First.
• Chocolate and raspberry mousse: An indulgent chocolate and raspberry mousse with a gingerbread crumble, complete with a chocolate heart on top, for those travelling in Club World and Club Europe (long and short-haul business class).
• Raspberry and rosewater Valentine’s macaron: As part of the Club Europe (short-haul business class) afternoon tea, customers can enjoy a raspberry macaron with a rosewater and raspberry filling, back by popular demand following its debut last year.

Long-haul: Rom-com inflight entertainment

British Airways has re-launched its popular ‘Love is in the air’ category on its inflight entertainment. Customers looking to soak up the romance on long-haul flights can watch a range of rom-com classics, including Marry Me, Along Came Polly and Music and Lyrics amongst others.

Anti-Valentine’s advocates need not worry though, as thrillers such as Birds of Prey, Nocturnal Animals and The Meg are being added for a limited time.

British Airways brings a little romance to the air with Valentine treats!

British Airways is bringing romance to the skies this Valentine’s Day with love-themed desserts, complimentary heart chocolates, hours of rom-coms available through the airline’s ‘Love is in the air’ inflight entertainment category, as well as romantic gift ideas from its High Life Shop.

In addition British Airways Holidays has launched a range of city break offers from £142pp to celebrate the most romantic date of the year (the 14th day of the second month). Customers can choose from a range of options including Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Turin, Edinburgh, Nice, Prague, Stockholm, and Verona*. 

Whether flying short-haul or long-haul, every customer travelling on 14 February from Heathrow and Gatwick will feel the love with a complimentary heart shaped chocolate upon boarding. Customers in First and Club can enjoy the following desserts:

Valentine’s themed desserts

• White chocolate mousse heart with passion fruit and mango: A red chocolate-coated heart with a white chocolate, mango and passion fruit mousse, complemented by fresh berries, exclusively for those travelling in First.
• Chocolate and raspberry mousse: An indulgent chocolate and raspberry mousse with a gingerbread crumble, complete with a chocolate heart on top, for those travelling in Club World and Club Europe (long and short-haul business class).
• Raspberry and rosewater Valentine’s macaron: As part of the Club Europe (short-haul business class) afternoon tea, customers can enjoy a raspberry macaron with a rosewater and raspberry filling, back by popular demand following its debut last year.

Long-haul: Rom-com inflight entertainment

British Airways has re-launched its popular ‘Love is in the air’ category on its inflight entertainment. Customers looking to soak up the romance on long-haul flights can watch a range of rom-com classics, including Marry Me, Along Came Polly and Music and Lyrics amongst others.

Anti-Valentine’s advocates need not worry though, as thrillers such as Birds of Prey, Nocturnal Animals and The Meg are being added for a limited time.

Loved-up lounges

Customers relaxing before their flight will be able to enjoy heart-shaped gingerbread at the Heathrow Club and First lounges, plus beautiful fresh flower arrangements in both the airlines Heathrow and Gatwick lounges. 

In addition, an exclusive wine tasting will take place at the Whispering Angel bar in the Club Lounge at T5B from 12:00 for rosé lovers who want to celebrate together.

For customers travelling from the USA, all British Airways lounges, including San Francisco, New York and Boston will be offering a pink gin-based cocktail called ‘Strawberry Aviation’ to make travelling a little bit sweeter this Valentine’s Day.

Short-haul: Make a flight more special with the High Life Café

For those customers who’d like to make their trip a little more special, or for those whose gifts got lost in the post, the High Life Café is offering a pre-ordered Champagne and chocolate celebration set. Customers can also call British Airways’ customer service team and include a complimentary personalised message in their order if they are treating someone on board.

There is also a range of Valentine’s gifts from the High Life Shop. From Tom Ford’s Café Rose Eau du Parfum to Hot Diamonds’ ‘The Romantic Pendant’, customers can purchase a selection of gifts from duty free for a pre- or post-flight treat.

*Offer is available when booking between 12 - 19 February 2024 for travel in March 2024. The price includes return flights plus a two-night stay in one of our recommended hotels, such as the example below:

.

BA apprentices perform key flight dispatch.....

A team of skilled British Airways apprentices have successfully dispatched a flight to South Africa, marking a first for the airline and reinforcing the key role apprentices play throughout the business.

As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2024, around 40 apprentices worked across a variety of roles for the successful departure of the 18:25 Boeing 777 BA43 flight from London Heathrow to Cape Town, South Africa.

Apprentices were stationed across check-in, lounges and at the boarding gate, to support more than 300 customers as they prepared to depart. On the airfield, ground operations apprentices supported with baggage handling and engineering tasks to ensure the aircraft was ready for departure.  

Jawad Arbi, Heathrow Operations Apprentice at British Airways, said:  “Working in collaboration with other apprentices from across the operation to ensure a safe departure has been a fantastic experience. Starting an apprenticeship with British Airways has transformed my career, and I’m excited to continue to develop my skills and see where it takes me."

British Airways’ apprentice scheme, now in its 13th year, has seen a 75% increase in applicants compared to 2022, with 4,500 last year, compared to 2,562 in 2022. The airline is now offering more apprenticeship positions than ever before – it started out offering 30 places in 2011, to 290 today.

Apprentices that join the airline will begin work in 10 area-focused roles across three business areas: Customer, Business and Operations. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work alongside experienced airline colleagues, engage in real-world aviation projects and receive valuable mentorship to kickstart and develop their careers.

The significant interest in the programme reflects British Airways’ position as an industry leader and a key player in shaping the future of aviation professionals and underlines the airline’s commitment to developing and growing the next generation of emerging talent and supporting early careers in aviation.  

Rachel Iley, Director of Global Learning Academy, at British Airways, said: “This landmark flight demonstrates the integral role apprentices play in our workforce and the opportunities available to those who join British Airways on one of our schemes. Our talented apprentices bring a fresh perspective to our airline, and their ideas and enthusiasm will help propel us into the future.”

Throughout 2023, British Airways’ Emerging Talent team, which is responsible for sourcing new talent through apprenticeships and graduate schemes, attended almost 250 career and job fair events and met approximately 37,000 young people to inspire them to consider a career in aviation.

The next cohort of apprenticeships will open for applications October 2024.

Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Robert Halfon, said:  “Apprenticeships are crucial to giving people from all backgrounds the chance to climb the ladder of opportunity while addressing skills gaps and helping to grow our economy.

 So, it is brilliant news that British Airways continues to embrace apprenticeships offering 178 positions this year, and receiving a record number of applications. British Airways understand the levy and use it well. They have experienced the wealth of benefits apprentices bring to their business, and I hope more businesses follow their lead and experience this for themselves.”

British Airways adds a touch of eastern delight to its menus for Chinese new year.

To welcome the Year of the Dragon, British Airways is introducing special touches on the ground and in the air this festive season.       

During the festival, all customers flying between London and Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore can enjoy traditional festive dishes* that signify luck and prosperity.  

Customers in First can enjoy black pepper spiced fillet of beef with Chinese seven spiced broccolini, while those travelling in Club World (business class) can order spicy Kung Pao prawn, a dish previously served in the Chinese Imperial Palace. Both First and Club World customers can enjoy a white chocolate tangerine mousse, a fruit that symbolises gold in Chinese culture.

Customers flying in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy) can enjoy the traditional Huaiyang dish, Lion’s Head meatballs, which are made of steamed pork in oyster sauce. The dish is named for its round-shape resembling the head of a lion and signifies unity amongst the family.

Calum Laming, British Airways’ Chief Customer Officer said: “Many of our customers will be celebrating the Lunar New Year this month and reuniting with family and friends, so we wanted to make their journey extra special this festive season. For those celebrating we’d like to wish them a very Happy Year of the Dragon from everyone at British Airways.”

During the week of the festival, customers travelling through London Heathrow Terminal 5 will be gifted red envelopes with chocolate coins, with lion dancers performing on the concourse.

For London bound travellers, the airlines’ customer service teams will spread holiday cheer by surprising customers with upgrades to Club World (business class) and lounge access to make their journeys extra special**. The team will select a handful of customers who were born in the Year of Dragon.

First come, first served – uncovering first-class cabin designs

As any seasoned traveller knows, there is flying – and there is flying first class. The vast majority of us will never attain such dizzy heights and can only dream of that elusive upgrade.  Artemis Aerospace has a look at what we’re missing and explores some of the world’s best first-class cabins.

As you board a plane and shuffle down the aisle of economy class, you might have booked a window seat for the view or opted for an aisle seat for easy access to the loo. However, what happens next is in the lap of the gods.

Heading towards your seat, you might be considering a whole host of possibilities that could cause you unwelcome distractions while onboard. For example, will your neighbour be fidgety or insist on fighting for the armrest? Or will there be a lively child directly behind you constantly kicking the back of your seat? Will there be enough legroom? Will the meal be something you like, and will there be enough to sustain you during the journey? Despite these concerns, economy class passengers usually end up at their destination having had a perfectly pleasant flying experience.

For passengers who want a more exclusive experience, there is the option of business class or first class. Both are more luxurious compared to economy, but the differences vary from airline to airline. Generally, business class offers more legroom than economy but you won’t necessarily be given a private space. In first class, there is usually a seat which turns into a bed, and sometimes a private space or even apartment. Food and drink in business class is typically at good restaurant level, whereas in first class, there is likely to be an impressive menu carefully curated by an award-winning chef.

In today’s economy, however, with commercial aviation only just beginning to recover from the pandemic, some airlines are concentrating on business class and phasing out the first class offering altogether. Even before COVID-19, in the ten years to 2018, British Airways dropped 100,000 of its first-class seats, and when ordering new aircraft today there is no first-class option included. The US airline Delta has halved its first-class seats from 400,000 to 200,000 in the last ten years.

So, if you want to experience the high life, now is the time to do it; we’ve selected five of the most luxurious first-class spaces to take your pick from.

Qatar Airways

The luxury first class experience on Qatar Airways ensures complete privacy and offers a top of the range, full flat bed to ensure passengers get a perfect sleep and arrive refreshed, along with designer lounge wear from The White Company. There is an à la carte menu prepared by top chefs, including some with Michelin stars, and food can be ordered from it at any time. The personal spaces can be transformed into a workspace with onboard Wi-Fi and there are in excess of 4,000 entertainment choices.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways is one of the two national airlines of the United Arab Emirates. A first-class passenger’s journey starts with a luxury limousine to the airport, and, once on board, encompasses fine dining, expert wine pairings with your meal and a ‘signature Cognac service’ to finish. Chairs recline into a flat bed when required and there is free Wi-Fi access, an amenity kit with body lotion, cologne, eye mask, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, plus over a thousand hours of on-demand in-flight entertainment. For the ultimate experience, passengers on the airline’s A380 can book a luxurious suite for two, with its own private shower room, bedroom with double bed and separate living room.

Singapore Airlines