Aerospace Events

BA flying high to salute the Games

Posted 11 September 2012

British Airways yesterday led a fly-past with the Red Arrows over London to thank Team GB, ParalympicsGB and the home crowd for making the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games a huge success.

The flame-coloured ‘Firefly’ A319 aircraft - which was used to bring the Olympic Flame to the UK at the start of the Games - displayed a special ‘thank you’ message spanning 13 metres on its underbelly. The airline had been granted special permission to fly over The Mall at 1,000ft during the Greatest Team Parade on Monday 10 September.

On the ground, British Airways ambassadors gave message boards and pens to 10,000 fans to write their own celebratory messages for display during the procession.

British Airways chief executive, Keith Williams, said: “Like everyone else in the country, I have been gripped by the Games. It has been a glorious time for London and the country, which will benefit from the afterglow for years to come.

“Everyone involved has done an outstanding job to show this country at its absolute best. Our fly-past today is a special tribute to all of them.”

Throughout the London 2012 Games, British Airways hosted Park Live at the Olympic Park, where tens of thousands of spectators watched the action on Europe’s largest outdoor LED screen, and saw athletes interviewed on the BA Stage including Sir Chris Hoy, Louis Smith, Rebecca Adlington, Zac Purchase, Mark Hunter, Rik Waddon and Tracey Hinton.

LOCOG Chair Seb Coe said: “Park Live presented by British Airways was a great place for spectators to get together, soak up the atmosphere on the Olympic Park and watch some fantastic sport.”

Over the summer, the airline’s ‘Home Advantage’ campaign, which encouraged people to stay at home and back our athletes, generated over 85,000 tweets using the hashtag #HomeAdvantage. It was named by the public as the Olympic campaign that had the most impact*.

Prior to the Games, the airline placed a giant image of gold medallist Jessica Ennis on the flightpath to Heathrow with the words ‘Welcome to our turf’ and a projection of Wheelchair racer Shelly Woods with ‘Welcome to our manor’ for thousands of incoming passengers to see.

British Airways As airline partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB, as well as official airline partner of the London 2012 Games. BA has, Over the past four years, supported more than 2,400 British athletes and their coaching teams with flights to travel around the world to train, compete and qualify.