British Airways came into being on 1st April 1972, when the British Airways board assumed control and ownership of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). The full merger between the two airlines took place in April 1, 1974  however the trading name of British Airways was adopted from September 1, 1973. The airline at that time was the biggest International airline in the world with a fleet of 218 aircraft and flying to 200 destinations worldwide. The new airline needed a new identity and not just for its aircraft; baggage tags, uniforms and vehicles were just some of the things that needed to be taken into consideration. A design was settled on in 1973 which incorporated recognisable elements from both BOAC and BEA and which was based on the UK's national colours and flags. The first aircraft to receive the new livery was a Boeing 707-336B in 1973. However re-painting the fleet proved to be a timely process and examples of previous liveries were still being seen on aircraft as late as 1981. 

On January 21, 1976 the first Concorde entered service with British Airways initially operating the Heathrow to Bahrain route. Washington was soon added on 24 May but services to New York JFK were delayed due to legal battles. Services eventually began on 22 November 1977. In July 1978 an order was placed for nineteen Boeing 737-200's and three BAC-1-11-539's to replace the tridents on BA's short-haul routes and in 1979 BA placed orders for eight Tristar-200's and nineteen Boeing 757-200's.

British Airways had several problems during 1980. Unable to find a viable economic replacement for the Viscount, BA dropped twenty-six of their regional routes including all from Cardiff, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, the Isle of man and most from Newcastle. Fuel prices also caused a problem for British Airways in 1980. The rising fuel prices caused the early retirement of older aircraft. As a result most Boeing 707's, VC-10's and some Tridents were withdrawn from service by March 1981. 1980 also saw a livery change. 'British Airways' titles on the fuselage were replaced by the single word 'British' in large letters on the upper fuselage. The seventh and final Concorde was delivered in June 1980. 

In 1982 BA established Highlands Division in a successful attempt to reverse many years of losses on Scottish routes. Three HS-748's were acquired on lease to replace the airlines remaining Viscounts. British Airways introduced the 757 into its fleet in February 1983. Initially the aircraft was used on shuttle flights but during the summer the aircraft was introduced onto European routes. The 757 was to be used as a Trident replacement along with sixteen additional 737-236 ordered by the airline during 1983.

In March 1984 British Airways retired its final 707 aircraft, which had been operated by its charter division British Airtours, and in April the airline became British Airways plc. 1984 also saw the unveiling of a new corporate identity designed by Californian company Landor. The livery became known as the 'Landor' Livery. It featured a midnight blue underside and engines and a grey for the upper fuselage and tail. The familiar Union Jack remained on the tail but the upper part was blue and featured a heraldic crest with the motto 'To Fly To Serve'. A red speedwing stripe was added along the lower fuselage and the titles featured the airlines full name again.

In 1985 the last two tridents were retired and in August 1986 BA placed their largest single aircraft order for sixteen 747-436's plus twelve more on option. The order was worth $4.3 billion and the aircraft were destined to replace the 747-136's. 1987 saw the merger of British Caledonian with British Airways. This allowed British Airways to make rapid expansion at Gatwick using British Caledonians slots. BA also acquired a fleet of eight DC-10's, five 747's, thirteen BAC-1-11-500's and an order for ten A320's. British Airways also placed an order for eleven Boeing 767-300ER's plus fifteen on option that year.

During 1988 Airbus A320's began enter service, initially operating from Gatwick and then being transferred to Heathrow. British Airways also changed the name of their charter division from British Airtours to Caledonian Airways the same year. 1988 also saw significant orders from BA with twenty-four 737-300/400/500's, eight BAe ATP's, six 767-336's and a single 757 being ordered throughout the year. The only significant thing to happen to the airline in 1989 was the first 747-436's entering service.

1990 saw the introduction of the 767-336 to the airlines fleet. The new aircraft was to be used on European routes but in particular to Paris CDG. 1990 also saw an order for a further twenty-one 747-436 aircraft plus twelve options, bringing the airlines total to fort-two aircraft. During 1991 British Airways suffered loss of traffic, job losses and the delaying of several aircraft deliveries due to the Gulf War. However 1991 was another good year for aircraft orders with the airline ordering fifteen 777-236's, twenty-four more 747-436's and eleven more BAe ATP's. The total value of this order was valued at £4.3 billion. 

British Airways Regional was established in 1992 to operate flights from Birmingham, Manchester and throughout Scotland. BA also purchased German regional airline Delta Air and later renamed it as Deutsche BA. 1992 also saw BA acquire the assets of Gatwick based Dan Air for the nominal price of £1.00. Dan Air's charter side was closed down but their aircraft and scheduled routes were retained. In 1993 BA purchased 49.9% of French airline TAT European and 25% of Australian national carrier Qantas was also purchased. 1993 also saw the purchase of Brymon Airways and a marketing agreement was announced with CityFlyer Express whereby all of its flight would operate under the 'British Airways Express' brand. A similar deal was struck with Birmingham based Maersk Air ltd leading to the airlines BAC-1-11's and Jetstream 31's operating in the BA livery. 

Loganair became a BA franchise partner in 1994 with the airlines fleet of Islanders, Shorts 360's and a Twin Otter appearing in 'British Airways Express' colours. 1994 also saw the withdrawal of Concorde services to Washington after eighteen years of service. Manx airlines became the fifth franchise partner in January 1995 with GB Airways following soon after in February. The same year also saw the sale of Caledonian Airways and BA's ex-TriStars to Inspirations PLC. The first delivery of the Boeing 777 took place in November 1995 and entered service on the Heathrow to Dubai and Muscat routes. 1996 saw two more airlines becoming BA franchise partners; Sun Air of Denmark and Comair of South Africa. British Airways also purchased French airline Air Liberté and set up British Regional Airlines to operate the BA Express services of Manx Airlines and Loganair. There were also rumours in 1996 about British Airways undergoing an identity change. 

During 1997 a number of aircraft joined the BA fleet. Three 777-236IGW's, two 747-436's and a 767 joined the fleet in February. Partner airline, British Regional Airlines introduced Britain's first Embraer ERJ-145 into their fleet during August. 1997 also saw many aircraft leaving the BA fleet. Fourteen of the Fifteen remaining 747-136's were sold and nine 737-236's left the fleet. British Airways launched their new identity on June 10, 1997 at 1200 GMT with Various aircraft around the world unveiling the new colour scheme, code named 'Utopia'. The new scheme, known as 'world Images' featured works of art from artists in many of the countries served by the airline. Various competitions were held for designing artwork for the tail, including a competition for children and one only for the airlines employees. British Mediterranean Airways became BA's latest franchise partner in 1997 and a new low-cost airline owned by BA was announced with the codename 'Operation Blue Sky'. 1997 also saw Air Liberté and TAT being merged into one airline, retaining the name Air Liberté and controlling 26% of the French domestic market. 

During January 1998 British Airways acquired seven Boeing 737-300's to begin replacing the noisier 737-236's on regional routes. Franchise Partner, Brymon Airways also ordered eight additional DHC Dash-8-300's in January for growth and route expansion. In April Deutsche BA became fully owned by British Airways, operating a fleet of eighteen 737-300's on German domestic routes. BA's low cost airline 'Go' began operations from Stansted in June. Initial routes were to Rome and Milan followed by Copenhagen in June. During June Maersk Air ltd introduced Britain's first Canadair Regional Jets into their fleet and retired their final BAC-1-11's in August, which were the last to wear BA colours. August also saw BA announcing its largest ever package of aircraft orders. Fifty-nine Airbus A319/A320's were ordered with options for 129 more aircraft. Sixteen firm orders and sixteen options were also placed for Boeing 777-236ER's powered by Rolls-Royce engines. Partner Airline GB Airways also favoured Airbus products and ordered nine Airbus A320/A321's in November. The same month also saw British Airways acquiring CityFlyer Express. Like Brymon Airways CityFlyer would become a wholly owned but independently managed subsidiary. 

The last year of the 90's saw British Airways becoming part of the oneworld alliance along with many other worldwide airlines. BASE Airlines of the Netherlands became the tenth Franchise partner in March and inaugurated services from Eindhoven to London Heathrow. April saw the final 747-436 delivery to British Airways. In total 57 were delivered to the airline. British Airways took delivery of their first Airbus A319 in September 1999 for short-haul operations. This enabled the airline to start disposing of their remaining 737-200's, for which the A319 is a replacement.

The 1990's also saw a significant upgrade in BA's cabin services with every class on the aircraft being upgraded. The first cabin to be upgraded was First Class in 1995. British Airways was the first airline to introduce revolutionary new first class beds. The new beds offered first class passengers a 6 ft 6 in chair that converted to a bed at the touch of a button. Club World was also upgraded in 1995. New cradle seats were introduced into the cabin, which provided passengers with 25% more space between seats than before. Other features were introduced into First and Club world including 'Raid the Larder'. This enabled passengers to eat what they wanted, when they wanted. World Traveller also received a complete revamp. New ergonomically designed seats were introduced which provided passengers with an extra inch of knee room, footrests and adjustable headrests. Personal Televisions were also added to give passengers a greater choice of in-flight entertainment.

The year 2000 was somewhat a troubled year for British Airways. In March 2000 the airline announced its financial performance for the previous year; a loss of £244 million. However British Airways had managed to gain £249 million from asset disposals, and this enabled them to show a small profit on the balance sheet. Many changes were made in the airline due to their poor performance. Firstly a new chief executive was brought in to try and help the troubled airline. The airline underwent a complete review its operations, in-particular loss-making routes from Gatwick. BA announced that it would suspend six unprofitable long haul routes from Gatwick and transfer another 10 to Heathrow, and at the same time reorganise its short-haul operations. This meant a capacity reduction of 40% at Gatwick and a capacity increase of 5% at Heathrow. British Airways plan also incorporated around 1,000 job losses. BA has also sold their loss making, low-fares airline Go, as it does not fit in with their new short-haul strategy. The Concorde tragedy of 2000 also had a big impact on British Airways. The have been unable to operate any of their prestigious Concorde flights since the fatal crash but are hoping to bring the aircraft back into service this summer (2001). British Airways have used the time that Concorde has not been in the air to totally upgrade and re-new the interior of each aircraft. 

The year 2000 also saw British Airways introducing a fourth cabin onto their 747's and 777's, World Traveller Plus. The new cabin offers a service in-between economy and club world. Benefits include wider seats with additional legroom, upgraded meals and laptop computer power points. To coincide with the launch of World Traveller Plus, British Airways also launched their new Club World product. The new Club World features fully flat 6ft beds, similar to those found in first class. Once again British Airways is the first airline to offer this kind of service to its business class travellers. Another unique feature of the new Club World is that half of the seats in the cabin face the rear of the aircraft, as apposed to the front of the aircraft. 

The year 2001 started off with the announcement that British Airways are to spend £30 million on modifications to Concorde's fuel tanks to enable it to fly again, hopefully in the spring. February 9 saw the last ever Boeing 737-200 flight with British Airways. The flight between Glasgow and London was operated by G-BGDR.

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