Which airline’s radio callsign is “Speedbird”?

British Airways uses “Speedbird” as its radio callsign.

An airline radio callsign is the spoken identifier used in air-traffic communications, usually alongside a flight number. British Airways flights therefore may be heard as “Speedbird” followed by the flight number, rather than simply by the airline’s full name.

The callsign comes from the Speedbird emblem associated with Imperial Airways and later British Overseas Airways Corporation. The stylized emblem was used by British aviation organizations before British Airways was formed in 1974 through the merger of BOAC and British European Airways.

“Speedbird” is not British Airways’ IATA code or ICAO designator. Its two-letter IATA code is BA, while its three-letter ICAO designator is BAW. The distinction matters because flight bookings generally use IATA codes, whereas air-traffic control uses ICAO identifiers and spoken callsigns.