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Private company

British Asia Airways

Airline of the United Kingdom

British Asia Airways (Chinese: 英亞航空) was a subsidiary of British Airways founded due to the legal status of Taiwan and territory disputes with China in order to allow British Airways to continue flying to Taiwan from the United Kingdom.2 It is headquartered in Taipei.1 It ceased to exist in 2001.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1993Founded1
  • HeadquartersTaipei1

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Boeing 747-436, British Asia Airways AN1097820
Photo: Tim Rees, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons4

British Asia Airways (Chinese: 英亞航空) was a subsidiary of British Airways founded due to the legal status of Taiwan and territory disputes with China in order to allow British Airways to continue flying to Taiwan from the United Kingdom.2

The story

Due to political sensitivities, national airlines operating flights to China were not permitted to fly to Taiwan. Similar arrangements were made by other airlines, such as Japan Airlines, KLM, Qantas, Swissair and Air France. Lufthansa provided service to Taipei under the name of its then subsidiary, Condor.

British Asia Airways commenced operations in March 1993 with Boeing 747-400s repainted with the Union Flag tail fin replaced by the Chinese characters 英亞 (Hanyu Pinyin: Yīng Yà; that translates as "British Asia"). The airline flew between Taipei and Hong Kong using the code BR, which BA had inherited from British Caledonian, while the flight from London used BA.

The airline ceased operations after British Airways ceased flights to Taipei in December 2001.

From Wikipedia’s article on British Asia Airways, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. Dec 2001Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1993Founded Founded1

Sources

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