British Airways Air Cargo Profile

British Airways is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom, formed on 1 April 1974 from the merger of BOAC and BEA. It is a founding member of the oneworld alliance and, since 2011, part of International Airlines Group (IAG), the holding company that also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling. British Airways is headquartered at Waterside near its principal hub, London Heathrow (LHR), from which it operates one of Europe's largest long-haul networks alongside a shorthaul base at London Gatwick (LGW) and London City (LCY).

British Airways no longer runs a standalone cargo airline. Its freight is marketed and managed by IAG Cargo, the group cargo division created in 2011 from the merger of British Airways World Cargo and Iberia Cargo. The earlier British Airways World Cargo brand ended on 30 April 2014, when its wet-leased Boeing 747-8F freighters, operated through Global Supply Systems, were withdrawn. Since then British Airways has carried no dedicated freighters; all cargo travels as belly capacity in the holds of its scheduled passenger aircraft.

As part of IAG Cargo, British Airways contributes the largest share of belly lift, with widebody types such as the Boeing 777, 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 feeding the group network of over 15,000 weekly flights to more than 350 destinations. IAG Cargo's main hub sits at London Heathrow, with further hubs in Madrid (MAD) and Dublin (DUB). Specialisations include the Constant Climate temperature-controlled pharma product, which grew about 22 percent in tonnage in 2024, plus premium, secure and general cargo services across the transatlantic and Europe-to-Asia lanes.