A picture of northern leaders, the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Gwandu and the Emir of Kano inspect imperial Airways’ brand new ‘Syrinx’ aircraft at Croydon Airport on July 2, 1934. Imperial Airways was one of Britain’s first long-haul commercial airlines, operating from 1924 to 1939, serving primarily British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Imperial Airways never reached the level of technological innovation of its competitors and merged with the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939.
BOAC in turn merged with British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 to form British Airways.
