Union Airways Union Airways Union Airways of South Africa was the first South African commercial airline. It operated as an independent company for five years, from 1929 to 1934, before being taken over by the government as South African Airways. Union Airways were founded by Major Allister Miller, a World War I flying ace, who had recruited some 2000 South Africans for service in the Royal Air Force. The word "Union" referred to the official name of the country at that time: the Union of South Africa. The company was financed by the Atlantic Refining Company, and supported by a small government
British European Airways July 2002, independent UK regional airline Jersey European Airways (JEA) revived the by then long-dormant "British European" name by adopting it as its new trading name to reflect JEA's UK-wide expansion and growing partnership with Air France. This also included the prefixing of all JEA flights with the former BEA two-letter, IATA airline identification code BE, which continued in use when JEA rebranded as "Flybe" on 18 July 2002. British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle