BA compiling catch-all roster

British Airways is in the final throes of building a multidisciplinary approved suppliers list to cater for its expanded non-core airline activity.

The airline has approached 50 consultancies. Conran Design Group, Fitch and 20/20 Design and Strategy Consultants are believed to be among those which have presented for the interiors line-up, with MetaDesign, Deep End Design, Nucleus Design, Edward Briscoe Design, The Attik, Real Time Studio and English & Pockett for multimedia. On the product side Factory Design is believed to be involved. And Design House is believed to have been approached for graphics. All groups decline to comment.

Wolff Olins, which designed the identity for BA’s “no frills” airline last year has not been approached.

The list is being put together by BA design manager Mike Crump. It will include graphics, multi-media, interiors and product design. Consultancies on the existing seven-strong graphics roster have also been reviewed, and the graphics list is likely to end up bigger than the other line-ups, says Crump.

“We have had a successful design roster – it is strong on graphics, but not on product and interiors,” he says. “We are trying to bring structure to the approved list.” He expects the final line-up to be about a quarter to a third of the original 50 being reviewed.

Crump will only go off list for specialised projects. He hopes to have the roster formalised by the end of July.