BRITISH Airways celebrated its 80th anniversary of flights to the Middle East last month. The airline’s first flight to the region touched down in Sharjah on October 7, 1932, under the banner of Imperial Airways.
The Handley Page HP42 aircraft took off from Croydon, just south of London, on October 2, 1932 and took six days to reach Sharjah. The aircraft travelled at just 160kmh and carried fewer than 20 passengers.
The flight departed from London to Paris, passengers then spent two nights on a train to Italy before flying to Athens, Palestine, Baghdad, Basra, Kuwait, Bahrain and finally landing in Sharjah. The six-day journey cost a mere £84 ($135) for a one-way ticket and was inclusive of all accommodation and food on the six-day journey. The aircraft provided two cabins, decked with leather armchairs and meals served on fine china crockery, with a total of 18 seats for guests.
Besides its guests, the aircraft mainly transferred cargo of mail and pearls from merchants in the UAE to India and the UK, said Paul Jarvis, director of the British Airways Museum.
Today, 80 years later, a British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Dubai on a Boeing 747-400 takes approximately six and a half hours, travels at 988kmh and can carry up to 345 passengers across four classes.
Laila Ali Bin Hareb, executive director of Strategy and International Affairs at General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said: “British Airways has been flying uninterrupted to the region for 80 years now, and celebrating this momentous occasion here makes a perfect match. It was the first airline to ever fly in UAE airspace back in 1932, and since then it has been witnessing the impressive growth of the UAE aviation sector.”
British Airways chairman Sir Martin Broughton said: “The growth of the aviation industry has been one of the most significant developments in travel and we are especially proud to have been a part of it in the Middle East. British Airways has always been committed to using our expertise, experience and knowledge to make flying an enjoyable and exciting experience for customers. We’ve pioneered many aviation firsts and are currently two years into a £5 billion ($8 billion) investment plan that includes new aircraft, smarter cabins, elegant lounges and new technologies.”
Since the first flight in 1932, the Middle East has been a key market for British Airways. Currently the airline flies to eight cities in six GCC countries with 68 flights per week during the winter schedule, including three daily flights between Dubai and London Heathrow. Lebanon and Jordan were also recently added to the network.
British Airways was the first airline to ever fly in the UAE back in 1932, making its 80th anniversary celebration in the country a significant one, said Laila Ali Bin Hareb, executive director of strategy and international affairs at the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
Paolo De Renzis, area commercial manager, Middle East and Central Asia, said: “We have celebrated many great milestones in the region during the past 80 years. In this time, some of the most iconic aircraft have flown here, from the flying boats that landed on Dubai Creek to the Concorde which served Bahrain from 1976 to 1980 and more recently the Boeing 747, which is commonly referred to as the jumbo jet.”
Imperial Airways began flying to Dubai in October 1937 – 75 years ago. BOAC - which stood for British Overseas Airways Corporation and was the result of a merger with Imperial Airways – started services from London Heathrow to Dubai in 1966. Two years later, BOAC began flying to Abu Dhabi.
The airline’s Concorde service flew between London Heathrow and Bahrain from 1976 to 1980. The Concorde flight from Heathrow to Kuwait took less than four hours.