BA Connect was a regional airline and a wholly-owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

airline of

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

. It was headquartered in

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, it operated a network of domestic and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an services from a number of airports in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on behalf of

. The airline operated as a

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

, with food sold via a ' buy on board' programme (except for flights to

London City Airport London City Airport is an international airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, Borough of Newham, about east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the two centres ...

). On 3 November 2006, British Airways announced the sale of BA Connect to Flybe. It formally transferred to Flybe on 25 March 2007.

History

The company was incorporated on 26 January 1970 as Brymon Aviation Limited which operated as

Brymon Airways Brymon Airways was a British airline with its head office in the Brymon House on the property of Plymouth City Airport in Plymouth, Devon."World Airline Directory." ''Flight International''. 24–30 March 199961 "Brymon House, Plymouth City Ai ...

. On 30 July 1993 the company was renamed Brymon Airways Limited to reflect the operating name. The company was purchased by

in 1993 and on 28 March 2002 it was merged with British Regional Airlines and was renamed British Airways Citiexpress Ltd operating as BA CitiExpress. British Airways Citiexpress is recognised for pioneering and attaining CAA approval for the print-at-home boarding pass, one of the first self-service tools of the digital era. The regional operations of

at Birmingham and Manchester, and the operations of the former

CityFlyer Express CityFlyer Express was a short-haul regional airline with its head office in the Iain Stewart Centre next to Gatwick Airport, London Gatwick Airport in England. In 1993 it became the first British Airways (BA) franchising, franchisee operating a ...

, were integrated into the new airline later in 2002. On 1 February 2006 the airline was renamed BA Connect Limited operating as BA Connect and operations moved to a

model, with food sold via a ' buy on board' programme (except for flights to

). However, allocated seating and a baggage valet service were still available, while lounge access, tier points and BA Miles remained unaffected for those in the Executive Club. Operationally the new service came into effect on 26 March 2006. G-gntz-mrh

BA Connect handled most of British Airways' domestic and European services that do not serve London’s

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

or Gatwick airports. It had hubs in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, London–City,

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. From these locations the carrier operated services to several northwest European destinations and also to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. A few services also operated from Gatwick. In total, BA Connect flew from 17 airports in the UK and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on 63 routes to major or central regional airports. On 3 November 2006, British Airways chief executive said that he had reached an agreement for Flybe to purchase BA Connect. BA would ensure that Flybe has sufficient funding in order to achieve its growth targets and the transition out of current BA Connect fleet. In return BA would acquire a 15% stake in the new business. The acquisition (which did not include BA Connect routes to London City or from Manchester to New York) would significantly increase the Flybe route network in both the UK and continental Europe, making Flybe the largest regional airline in Europe. Retention of the London City routes would result in BA retaining the RJ100 aircraft for these domestic and European services. BA had to pay Flybe a sum of money to take on the company due to Flybe actually taking on a company that would cost them money rather than make profits for the foreseeable future. Much concern was expressed at the shedding of routes across Scotland, but Flybe stated that BA Connect routes would be kept and expanded. On 6 March 2007 Flybe stated that they would not be operating any former BA Connect services from Bristol. Consequently, the last flights on any of BA Connect's routes from Bristol was on 24 March 2007.

Services

BA Connect operated from several destinations that were also served by the parent company, and were part of British Airways destinations. Those that were not served by British Airways itself, mainly UK regional destinations, are listed in British Airways franchise destinations.

Fleet

The BA Connect fleet included the following aircraft, before the sale to Flybe (March 2007) *1 BAe 146-100 (to Flybe) *2 BAe 146-200 (to Flybe) *1 BAe 146-300 (to Flybe) *10 Avro RJ100 (to BA CityFlyer) *6 Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 (to Flybe) *28

Embraer ERJ 145 The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ 135 (37 passengers), ERJ 140 (44 passengers), and ERJ 145 (50 passen ...

(to Flybe)

References

External links

BA ConnectBA Connect Fleet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ba Connect Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 2006 Airlines disestablished in 2007 Former Oneworld affiliate members British Airways da:BA Connect

History

Services

Fleet

See also

References

External links