March 07, 2020
British Airways’ week of Sport Relief fundraising events has taken off today by achieving a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® title for the Heaviest Aircraft Pulled Over 100 Metres by a team (mixed), made up of colleagues and sporting celebrities.
British Airways’ support for Sport Relief comes as part of the airline’s global charity partnership with Comic Relief, Flying Start, which focuses on helping disadvantaged young people in communities around the world have a better start in life.
British Airways employees teamed up with Sport Relief celebrity supporters ‘The Body Coach’ Joe Wicks, presenter Gabby Logan MBE, sports broadcaster Gary Lineker OBE, boxer Nicola Adams OBE, sprinter Iwan Thomas MBE and Paralympic silver medalist Alfie Hewett, who led the charge of a 90-strong team to pull the airline’s brand new A350 over 100m.
The aircraft weighed 182.9 tonnes, helping the team beat the current record of 180 tonnes.
The British Airways plane pull is part of a number of sporting activities the airline is undertaking to fundraise for Sport Relief including flyathons, sky dives and sports matches. The airline has pledged to Match Fund up to £100,000 of the funds raised by colleagues. Flying Start has raised £24m over nine years through onboard donations, sponsored events and challenges and helped more than 800,000 people in communities across the British Airways network.
Louise Evans, British Airways’ Director of Communications & Sustainability, said: “We’re thrilled to support Sport Relief, which inspires the UK to raise money and take on some of the world’s problems through the power of sport. At British Airways, we’ve got our sports kits on and are taking on a selection of challenges for a whole week, starting with achieving a Guinness World Records title, to help raise money to support people living tough lives in the UK and around the world.”
Joe Wicks said “It was incredible to achieve a Guinness World Records title with British Airways today for Sport Relief, which is a great cause. From leading the warm up through to the plane pull itself the support has been fantastic.”
