BA begins new chapter with old motto

British Airways is promoting its company motto – “To fly, to serve” – as the centrepiece of the carrier’s first television advertising campaign since a long-running battle with cabin crew ended this spring.

Revival of the phrase, which is still stitched into BA uniforms and emblazoned on the company crest, is part of a campaign that harks back to key moments in the development of commercial flight.

The sepia-soaked imagery is unlikely to provoke the sort of indignation displayed by Margaret Thatcher in 1997, when the former prime minister held a handkerchief over a model BA aircraft, complaining that the tail-fin artwork, inspired by designs from around the world, did not incorporate the union flag.

BA later restored the flag to tail fins across the fleet. Tail-fin art will not change as part of the new campaign, although the motto will be added elsewhere on the aircraft.

“We’re painting it back on all our planes,” said Frank van der Post, managing director of brands and customer experience at BA.

The first television advertisement in the campaign re-enacts flights from 1918, the mid-1930s, 1950 and the late 1960s, with a voice-over that hails the men who “battled storms and stars” in aircraft ranging from two-seaters to one of the company’s retired Concordes. Print advertisements boast of BA staff’s medical and engineering skills.

The focus on pilots and cabin crew might go some way to building rapport with staff alienated by a battle between management and the Unite union, representing cabin crew, that lasted more than a year and a half.

While the fight began over cost cuts, acrimony grew when the company withdrew travel concessions from about 7,000 Unite members who had gone on strike.

Keith Williams, BA’s chief executive, said the brand campaign – the company’s first in more than a decade – represented “a new chapter for British Airways”, citing other woes of the past 10 years, from the September 11 terrorist attacks to pandemics such as Sars to last year’s volcanic ash cloud.

Mr Williams said he did not know whether any of the BA staff who acted in the television advertisement, filmed this summer, had taken part in the Unite strikes, which cost the company £150m over 22 days.

Mr van der Post, a Dutchman who arrived at BA eight months ago after a career in the hotel industry, said he felt the company needed to “overcome our natural British reserve ... and tell our story a little louder”.

As well as the brand campaign, the group plans to spend £5bn on customer products and services over five years.

Improvements will include refurbished cabins, snack boxes following main meal services for travellers on long-haul flights, improved technology for check-in and booking, and the provision of iPads to senior cabin crew that will “enable them to offer more personalised service”.

Mr Williams said the push to build the BA brand complemented efforts by its parent company, International Airlines Group, to add to its portfolio of ­carriers.

The carrier’s “World’s Favourite Airline” strapline was last used in 1999.