British Airways (BA/BAW) is, obviously, mainly associated with the United Kingdom. However, throughout the airline’s decades of operation, it also had other airlines carry the brand around the world. This includes airlines based in France, South Africa, Kenya and Gibraltar. However, only one of these still operates under the BA brand, Sun-Air of Scandinavia. So, why are they still flying for British Airways?
Why does Sun-Air use the BA brand?
Sun-air of Scandinavia (often abbreviated to Sun-air) first struck a deal with the British flag carrier in August 1996. As part of this, Sun-air would use the BA brand, meaning a British Airways livery, using their logo, and crew uniforms. In return, Sun-air would pay British airways a certain percentage of their revenue. The reason they would do this is mostly to have a strategic partnership with BA, they can codeshare routes and have the backing of the airline should they come to any trouble. Equally, because they are now under the BA brand, they don’t necessarily have to build up a reputation as being a good airline, as this belongs to BA, and so have higher numbers of passenger traffic.
Tracking Sun-air on Flightradar24
Sun-air uses a rare fleet of Fairchild Dornier 328 Jets, having previously been the largest civilian operator of the type. This aircraft has an ICAO code of J328, which can be used when input into the filters section of Flightradar24. Sun-air’s ICAO code is SUS, and has an IATA code of EZ. Sun-air mostly operates commercial flights around Europe, with a few charter flights on the side. Destinations include Billund, Gothenburg, Manchester, London City and Cambridge.
Other British Airways franchise partners
Of course, Sun-air isn’t the only airline that has operated for British Airways. In fact, its one of two that are still operating today, with the UK’s largest regional airline Loganair having operated under the BA brand until 2008. Loganair flew some aircraft considered unusual for the BA fleet, the Saab 340, the Short 360-300, the Britten-Norman Islander and the DHC-6 Twin otter. After this, it deployed its recently retired Saab 340s under Flybe until it launched as its own brand in 2017.
Up until its bankruptcy in 2022, South African-based carrier Comair also operated for BA. The airline used a fleet of Boeing 737s and had an extensive route network. This included being the first airliner to land at the newly built Saint Helena airport, being a British Airways franchisee landing at a British Oversees territory seemed fitting. Comair was the franchisee which operated the furthest away from Great Britain proper, creating a rather drastic example of unusual franchise airlines.
For 10 years between 1993 and 2003, Maersk Air UK operated under the BA brand. It was a UK-based subsidiary of Danish carrier Maersk Air, a former competitor of Sun-air of Scandinavia. The airline used the UK’s second largest city, Birmingham, as its only hub, and flew to areas in Europe using a fleet of Bombardier CRJs.
![An example full flight summary response from the Flightradar24 API: { "data": [ { "fr24_id": "0987654321", "flight": "SK1415", "callsign": "SAS1415", "operated_as": "SAS", "painted_as": "SAS", "type": "A20N", "reg": "SE-DOY", "orig_icao": "ESSA", "orig_iata": "ARN", "datetime_takeoff": "2023-01-27T05:15:22", "runway_takeoff": "12R", "dest_icao": "EKCH", "dest_iata": "CPH", "dest_icao_actual": "EPWA", "dest_iata_actual": "WAW", "datetime_landed": "2023-01-27T06:15:10", "runway_landed": "27L", "flight_time": 3600, "actual_distance": 1007.74, "circle_distance": 6245, "category": "Passenger", "hex": "4A91F9", "first_seen": "2023-01-27T05:06:22", "last_seen": "2023-01-27T06:18:10", "flight_ended": "true" } ] }](https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Flight-summary-API-cover-300x148.jpg)
