British European Airways Corporation
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| Founded | 1 January 1946 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 31 March 1974 (merged with British Overseas Airways Corporation to form British Airways) |
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| Hubs |
RAF Northolt London Heathrow Airport |
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| Secondary hubs |
Croydon Airport Liverpool Speke Manchester Ringway Glasgow Renfrew Glasgow Abbotsinch Jersey Guernsey Berlin Tempelhof |
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| Destinations | Europe, North Africa, Middle East | ||||||
| Company slogan | Number One in Europe | ||||||
| Headquarters | BEAline House, Ruislip, London Borough of Hillingdon, United Kingdom | ||||||
| Key people | Gerard d'Erlanger Lord Douglas of Kirtleside Peter Masefield Anthony Milward Henry Marking |
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British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.
BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The airline was also the largest UK domestic operator, serving major British cities, including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, as well as areas of the British Isles such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. From 1946 until 1974, BEA operated a network of internal German routes between West Berlin and West Germany as well.
Formed as the British European Airways division of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) on 1 January 1946, BEA became a crown corporation in its own right on 1 August 1946.
Operations commenced from Croydon and Northolt airports, with DH89A Dragon Rapides and Douglas DC-3s.
Having established its main operating base at Northolt, BEA operated its first service from Heathrow in April 1950; by late 1954, all Northolt operations had moved to Heathrow, which remained the airline's main operating base until the merger with BOAC in 1974.
During 1952, BEA carried its millionth passenger, and by the early 1960s it had become the western world's fifth-biggest passenger-carrying airline and the biggest outside the United States.
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