To mark the impending retirement of the last British Airways Boeing 757 in the December 2010 issue of Airliner World, Nathan Jones reviewed the airliner’s service with the UK flag carrier
‘The Boeing King’ was one of the milder epithets aimed at British Airways’ (BA) chairman Ross Stainton by British MP Robert Adley when BA’s decision to buy the Boeing 757 was announced in 1979. “BA should buy the Airbus A310,” said Adley, “and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher should intervene to ensure that the state-owned flag carrier supports Britain’s aerospace industry by ordering the European jet.” Looking back, life would have been very different if BA had listened to the MP’s pleadings. Major European flag carriers retired their last A310s back in 2002 while BA’s Boeings have continued to clock up an incredible and impeccable service record. In 27 years of service, BA’s B757s have safely carried 135 million passengers on 1.1 million flights over a distance equivalent to 26,000 times around the world.
‘The Boeing King’ was one of the milder epithets aimed at British Airways’ (BA) chairman Ross Stainton by British MP Robert Adley when BA’s decision to buy the Boeing 757 was announced in 1979. “BA should buy the Airbus A310,” said A…
