British Airways is grounding cigarettes from all its flights worldwide from the start of the summer schedule on March 29.

The airline is using tomorrow`s ( March 11 ) No Smoking Day to remind passengers that this total ban comes into operation in just 18 days time.

The decision to go 100 per cent smoke-free was the direct result of customer research which showed overwhelmingly that passengers wanted all the airline`s 7,000 services a week to be smoke free.

Bob Ayling, British Airways` Chief Executive says: “In recent years an increasing number of our customers have said that they would like to see us become a completely smoking-free airline.

“We have progressively extended our non-smoking services and feedback from our recent trials tell us that now is the right time to go totally smoke free.”

Research among the airline`s own staff has also led to a smoking ban in all British Airways offices, including the new company headquarters at Harmondsworth in West London.

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