{"id":10075,"date":"2022-05-02T17:45:25","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T17:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=10075"},"modified":"2022-05-05T10:48:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T10:48:45","slug":"when-was-the-first-british-airways-flight-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/when-was-the-first-british-airways-flight-to-china\/","title":{"rendered":"When was the first British Airways flight to China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first British Airways flight to Beijing was a key moment for the airline and for British business in general, writes Paul French<\/strong>. This is just one of the many key events that have taken place during the 50 years since the establishment of ambassadorial relations between China and the UK<\/h2>\n

British tourists were heading to China by the end of the 1970s, but invariably having to fly with TAROM, Iran Air or Pakistan International Airlines. It was clearly time for the flagship carrier, British Airways, to fly to Beijing.<\/p>\n

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Starting in November 1980, a Boeing 747 departed every Wednesday from Heathrow, with first, club and tourist classes available. The deal was in partnership with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Tourism was steadily growing, but BA\u2019s initial focus was on the emergent business traveller looking to unlock the potential of what was then 980 million customers.<\/p>\n

Yet it almost didn\u2019t happen. In November 1979, a trade delegation led by Chairman Hua Guofeng spoke with Margaret Thatcher and agreed in principle to a direct air link \u2013 one flight a week operated by BA and a reciprocal weekly service by CAAC. The first stumbling block was that BA suggested Gatwick for the flight. The Chinese delegation felt this was not prestigious enough and demanded the flight be based out of Heathrow. BA then got nervous, fearing the route would never be profitable and worried about the adverse effect a loss making service could have on its impending privatisation. To make things tougher, China was insisting on a revenue-sharing deal that would effectively mean BA ended up subsidising the CAAC service.<\/p>\n