Explore our past: 1970 - 1979

Mr Henry Marking became chairman of BEA and a member of the board of BOAC following the retirement of Sir Anthony Milward on 31 December.

Mr Keith Granville became chairman of BOAC and a member of the Board of BEA, succeeding Sir Charles Hardie.

Mr J Ross Stainton was appointed BOAC Managing Director.

The first of 26 Trident Three aircraft was accepted by BEA.

A new Birmingham to Malta Trident Three service was introduced. New BEA services commenced from London to Rhodes, and also commence non-stop flights from London to Istanbul.

The Queen’s Award for Industry was conferred upon the Management Services Department of BOAC for technological innovation in respect of the BOADICEA real-time computer system.

New BEA services commenced from London to both Tangier (via Malta) and Marseille, and also from Manchester to both Geneva and Munich.

New BEA services from London to Cagliari (Sardinia), and from Jersey to Amsterdam commenced.

Following the recommendation of The Edwards Committee, the government announced its intention to merge BEA and BOAC to form British Airways.

BOAC and BEA were dissolved following the formation of British Airways the previous year.

Two British Aerospace 748s were ordered shortly after the merger, with delivery scheduled for 1975 for use in Scotland, where they would begin to replace the ageing Viscount and also support North Sea exploration.

The Standard VC-10 fleet and three remaining Vanguards were retired due to over capacity.

An agreement with Air New Zealand (ANZ) enabled ANZ’s DC-10 aircraft to be flown by BA crew for use on the Heathrow to Los Angeles route, in place of BA's Boeing 707 aircraft.

13 Viscounts were withdrawn during 1975 to 1976 to reduce some of regional division’s losses.

The Rolls Royce-powered Boeing 747-200 aircraft was launched after British Airways placed an order for four aircraft.

A major reorganisation saw the airline adopt a single functional-based operating structure with departments set up to oversee Flight operations, Engineering and Planning for the whole airline. Commercial operations were split into geographical route groups: UK & Ireland, North and East Europe, West and Southern Europe, and for the longhaul network: Eastern, Southern and Western routes.

The search for new shorthaul airliners to replace Tridents began.

Two Lockheed Tristar – 200 aircraft were ordered, followed by six in September, which was BA’s final Tristar order. Deliveries took place between March 1980 and May 1981.

Concorde began operating between Washington and Dallas under a lease agreement with Braniff International in January. Three services per week operated until June 1980.

The first of six long-range Tristar – 500 aircraft entered service between London and Abu Dhabi.

A Conservative government was elected which declared that BA would no longer receive any state support or interference in its commercial decision making.