A direct predecessor to today’s British Airways, Imperial Airways was the first British airline to service the majority of the British Empire’s routes in the Eastern Hemisphere, before being merged into BOAC in November 1939.
When Imperial Airways merged into BOAC, most of their procedures and techniques were employed by the new company, allowing it to effectively compete against Juan Trippe’s Pan Am.
35 years later, when BOAC was merged into today’s British Airways, those very same procedures and techniques pioneered by Imperial Airways were employed by the new British Airways… albeit significantly updated for the modern world.
Background
On December 17 1903, American aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully flew their Wright Flyer for the first time. Aside from being the first manned flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft, the flight also set off the so-called “pioneer era” of aviation.
Lasting from 1903 until the onset of WWI, the pioneer era saw aircraft design advance greatly, going from rickety aircraft that could only fly one person only a few hundred feet, to being able to fly dozens of people for hundreds of miles.
With the invention of these latter aircraft in the late 1900’s and early 1910’s, wealthy entrepreneurs began toying with the idea of creating steamship line-like companies but in the sky, calling them “air-lines”.
The first of these airlines was Germany’s DELAG in November 1909, followed by Austria-Hungary’s Aero Rt. in December 1910 and the US’s St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line in 1913.
Seeing the success of airlines in other countries, British aircraft manufacturer, Airco, established Aviation Transport and Travel (AT&T) in October 1916, thus creating Britain’s first airline. In February 1921, AT&T ceased trading.
In the aftermath of WWI – the first major war to rely on aircraft – Britain experienced an aviation boom that led to the creation of hundreds of airlines, partly brought on thanks to cheap ex-military aircraft flooding the market.
Aviation Boom
The first of these postwar airlines was Daimler Airways, founded on June 7 1919 as a subsidiary of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (then Britain’s largest defense contractor).
Later that same year, English industrialist and pioneer of the heavy bomber, Frederick Handley Page, established Handley Page Transport using Handley Page Type O/400 bombers modified for passenger transportation.
Around the same time, British shipping magnate Sir Samuel Instone founded Instone Air Line as an extension of his shipping empire.
In August 1923, Southern Railway joined with aircraft manufacturer, Supermarine, to create an airline they would both own.
Known as British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd, the airline operated three Supermarine Sea Eagle flying boats on channel-crossing routes, focusing on the French cities of Le Havre and Cherbourg as well as the Channel Islands.
During the same period, other European countries – namely France and Germany – also experienced aviation booms that saw dozens of airlines be established in their own countries, many of which were heavily subsidized by their respective governments.
Foundation
Fearful that Britain was lagging behind the French and German neighbors and wanting to connect the British Empire by both air and sea, the British government established the Hambling Committee to investigate how best to do this.
Though it was seriously considered for a while, the committee ultimately ruled against subsidizing each of Britain’s airlines reasoning they’d be subsidizing airlines for duplicate services and thus, wasting taxpayers’ money.
Instead, the committee found that if the operations of all four of Britain’s main airlines merged into one airline and were then subsidized by the British government, they stood a better chance of competing with their French and German counterparts.
To that end, the Air Council (the RAF and Air Ministry’s governing body) and British, Foreign and Colonial Corporation signed an agreement on December 3 1923 for the latter to establish a subsidiary and acquire all four airlines.
Knowing it would be difficult to get the owners to sell under the best circumstances, the agreement also stipulated that the government would subsidize the new, merged airline to the tune of £1 million (£63.8 million adjusted for inflation) over 10 years.
For the next three and a half months, BFCC negotiated with the owners of each airline and eventually convinced them to sell their respective airlines to the company, allowing them to formally incorporate Imperial Airways Limited on March 31 1924.
Each of the four airlines were able to nominate one director of the new company each, whilst the government nominated a further two (to ensure subsidies were being well spent) and BFCC nominated the chairman.
In 1924, BFCC nominated former First Lord of the Admiralty, politician and businessman Sir Eric Geddes to be the chairman of the board, whilst the government appointed Sir Herbert Hambling (former chairman of the Hambling Committee) and John Hills as directors.
Early Years
Based out of Croydon Airport just south of London, then Britain’s largest airport, the newly formed Imperial Airways made the decision to focus on imperial (hence the name) and international flights – all whilst undercutting the French and Germans on price.
After years of perceived lagging behind the French and Germans, Imperial Airways hoped to begin service immediately using the crews and aircraft it had inherited from its predecessors. Sadly, this did not come to fruition.
Complaining about dangerous working conditions and lower pay than their French and German counterparts, Imperial Airways pilots went on strike, hoping to force the new airline to give in to their demands or be embarrassed on the international stage.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the new airline quickly caved in to their pilots’ demands so they could commence operations as quickly as possible.
The first Imperial Airways flight took place on April 26 1924 with a former Daimler Airways de Havilland DH.34, registration G-EBCX, piloted by Captain H. S. Robertson, flying from Croydon to Paris-Le Bourget.
Undercutting the French and Germans in price thanks to their backing by the British government, the airline soon started to add more routes, beginning with Southampton-Guernsey on May 1 1924 – only five days after they commenced operations.
Two days later, on May 3 1924, the airline added a London-Brussels route, followed by a London Amsterdam route on June 2 1924 and a London-Brussels-Basel-Zurich summer route on June 17 1924.
Flying a mix of passengers and airmail (the only way early airlines could turn a profit before the invention of larger airliners), Imperial Airways had transported 11,395 passengers and 212,380 letters by the end of its first year.
Forming Qantas
Merger
How Safe Was Imperial Airways?
Today, British Airways is often cited as one of the safest airlines you could fly on, having some of the best pilots and maintenance crews – both vital for safety – in the world.
Yet for Imperial Airways, they operated in a time when safety regulations were almost non-existent, when airlines and aircraft manufacturers alike were expected to regulate themselves, something that often didn’t happen, to devastating effect…
During its 15 years of operations, Imperial Airways was no stranger to crashes – having 18 fatal crashes and 10 non-fatal crashes resulting in 99 fatalities.
Though this is still 99 fatalities and 28 crashes too many,