) The A318 is the smallest airliner to operate transatlantic since BA's corporate predecessor, BOAC, began transatlantic jet flights on 4 October 1958, with the De Havilland Comet 4.

He feared that it was part of a new BA strategy to drive Virgin Atlantic, BA's main UK-based transatlantic competitor, out of business.

The routes the CAA had awarded BA's independent rivals included the most profitable former British Caledonian short haul routes that had generated a substantial amount of transfer traffic for that airline's Gatwick-based scheduled operation, such as London Gatwick — Paris Charles de Gaulle and Gatwick — Brussels.

They included the inexorable rise of the low-cost, " no frills " airlines, first and foremost EasyJet and Ryanair, in BA's own backyard as well as the growing competitive threat posed by the government-assisted recovery of Lufthansa and Air France, BA's main European full-service, network airline rivals, both of which had been in no position to challenge BA commercially in the early to mid-1990s as they were effectively bankrupt at that time.

The decision to open Heathrow to all newcomers in 1991 – other than those governed by Bermuda II – angered BA's chairman Lord King, who stopped British Airways ' donations to the Conservative Party in protest.

The power of the unions representing the affected workers as well as the entrenched attitudes of the middle management within BA's complex, hierarchical organisation also meant that the airline was unable to win any concessions that would have helped it offset the additional costs it was going to face in its short haul operation at Gatwick against increased labour productivity, in return for not cutting those workers ' pay.

The role BA had assigned its franchisees generally and CityFlyer in particular to make Project " Jupiter " work was to provide feeder services that were expected to be profitable in their own right and enable transfer passengers to connect at ease with BA's long haul services at Gatwick, thereby improving those services ' load factors and increasing their profitability.

In 1993 BA's PR director, David Burnside, published an article in BA News, British Airways ' internal magazine, which argued that Branson's protests against British Airways were a publicity stunt.

Loganair continued to operate BA's BAe ATPs on these services until 28 May 2005, when further Saab 340 aircraft were purchased to replace them.

Under this agreement, Loganair's services were operated under British Airways flight codes and flights were sold through British Airways and the airline participated in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme.

BMED flights were booked through British Airways and the airline participated in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme.

The losses BA's mainline short haul services generated at Gatwick were at the heart of the unsatisfactory financial performance of the entire Gatwick operation.

However, BA's unilateral decision to force everyone working for its short haul operation at Gatwick to take a pay cut caused bitter feelings towards the company, among both former Dan-Air staff as well as BA's existing employees at Gatwick who were already working for its short haul operation there prior to Dan-Air's acquisition.

At the same time, BA's senior management had become so preoccupied with this alliance that it did not pay any attention to the fundamental changes that were beginning to re-shape the airline industry at the time.

He furthermore stated that Gatwick's loss was entirely accounted for by its mainline short haul operation whose schedules were primarily designed to feed BA's long haul services at the airport.

Under the franchise agreement it had concluded with BA before being taken over in 1999, CityFlyer Express initially operated as an independent business unit within British Airways serving a number of short haul European and UK regional routes from Gatwick that were completely separate from the services BA's mainline operation provided from the airport.

There were two reasons for fully integrating CityFlyer into BA's mainline short haul operation at Gatwick.

Therefore, as far as the bigger picture was concerned, BA's senior management felt that the franchise agreements with its various franchisees, all of which were profitable in their own right, had benefited the franchisees more than itself.

Following the integration of CityFlyer Express into BA's mainline short haul operation at Gatwick, all former CityFlyer employees other than flight crew and engineers working on the jet fleet were made redundant.

The ex-CityFlyer flight crew and engineers whom BA continued to employ were transferred along with their equipment to BA's regional bases in Birmingham and Manchester.

BA's access rights to Heathrow under Bermuda II derived from the fact that it was the legal heir to British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) on all routes that airline used to operate between Heathrow and various points in the US under the original Bermuda agreement.

The decision to abolish the London TDRs and to let Virgin Atlantic operate at Heathrow in competition with British Airways became the trigger for BA's so-called " dirty tricks " campaign against Virgin.

After the failed attempt to use the acquisition of Dan-Air, which was on the verge of bankruptcy at the end of October 1992, to form a new low-cost, short haul unit within BA's mainline short haul operation at Gatwick, franchising seemed to offer the best solution for providing the level of feeder services BA needed to protect its long-haul loads and profits at Gatwick, without re-creating the complex organisation and fleet mix, and without duplicating the costly overheads of the BA mainline short haul operation at Heathrow, which did not suit the revenue environment at Gatwick.

The aim of this secondary strategy was to prevent these carriers from posing an ever greater threat to BA's high-cost, mainline short haul operation at Heathrow, which suffered annual losses to the tune of several hundred million pounds during that period.

The feeder services CityFlyer provided for BA at Gatwick under the franchise agreement did not impact the direct operating costs of BA's mainline operation.

Unlike some of the North American commuter carriers that operate under franchise agreements on the same routes as their mainline partners using smaller aircraft at less busy times, BA's franchisees only operated on routes the company's mainline short haul operation could not serve profitably from Gatwick itself due to its higher cost base.

The German designs refer to the BA subsidiary Deutsche BA, and the Australian designs to the BA's alliance with Qantas.

For all these reasons the grandiose BA-AA alliance ultimately turned out to be a very costly distraction for BA's management and was the main contributing factor that led to Robert Ayling's downfall who happened to be the BA chief executive during that period.

Under this arrangement the CityFlyer aircraft would be painted in full BA livery with interiors and cabin layout conforming to BA's contemporary, standard two-class European product.

Therefore, BA's attempt to extend the lower pay scales and less generous terms of employment that prevailed at Dan-Air to align the costs of its short haul operation at Gatwick with the airport's revenue environment eventually turned out to be a costly failure.

In 1996 Ayling became sole CEO, and his tenure was to be one of the most turbulent in BA's history.

GB Airways flights could be booked through British Airways and the airline participated in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme.

In addition to the comprehensive list of destinations offered by British Airways itself, many more towns and cities can be reached through BA's franchise and subsidiary operations.

In 2004 Ford introduced the Territory crossover SUV which was based upon the BA's engine, floorpan and IRS.

He opposed the slicing off of BA's routes just when it was becoming successful.

BA's acquisition of the bulk of Dan-Air's scheduled activities at the end of October 1992 was intended to create the basis for a new in-house, low-cost unit that would enable the airline to reverse the heavy losses its own mainline operation's Gatwick-based short haul services incurred by transferring its entire short haul operation at the airport to the new unit.

Apart from the additional transfer traffic this generated for BA's long haul services at Gatwick, the main benefit of this arrangement for BA was that CityFlyer was to remain completely independent of the BA mainline operation.

At the time, in addition to BA's mainline operation, which accounted for the bulk of the airline's scheduled services at Gatwick, all of its UK-based franchisees ( with the exception of British Mediterranean and Loganair ) as well as the company's subsidiaries and partners provided scheduled services at the airport as well, in some cases with a single aircraft on one route only, operating all aircraft types in their combined inventory except Concorde and some of the smaller commuter planes.

BA's subsequent decision to retire the former CityFlyer turboprop fleet, resulted in the withdrawal of the airline's services from Gatwick to Antwerp, Guernsey and Rotterdam.

BA's failure to simplify its complex, hierarchical organisation to enable it to reduce its overheads has been the main reason that has until now prevented the airline from achieving a cost structure that would make its Gatwick operation profitable.

And in Eweida v British Airways plc a lady who wished to wear a cross claimed that BA's instruction to remove it was indirectly discriminatory against Christians.