British Asia Airways (IATA: BR, ICAO: BAW, Call sign: Speedbird) was a subsidiary of British Airways formed in March 1993, based in Taiwan, to operate between London and Taipei via Hong Kong. This was due to political sensitivities, as national airlines operating flights to the People's Republic of China were not permitted to fly to Taiwan. Similar arrangements were made by other airlines, such as Japan Airlines and Qantas. It flew between Taipei and Hong Kong using the code BR, which BA had inherited from British Caledonian, while the flight from London used BA.