as British Airways, with all flights operated under BA flight codes (the range BA6800-6999 were allocated to GB Airways flights). All GB Airways aircraft were presented in full British Airways livery, appointed with the same interior and class product as the BA main fleet, and staff wore the BA uniform. GB Airways flights could be booked through British Airways and the airline participated in BA's Executive Club and BA Miles programme. GB Airways was an affiliate member of Oneworld. However, GB Airways continued its own inflight magazines, Med Life and Elevate (for GB Airways' own duty-free goods range) in addition to the regular BA publications. Additionally, servicing of GB Airways aircraft at Gatwick was carried out by Virgin Atlantic Engineering. At one stage, GB Airways intended to grow by taking over BA routes as the latter's European network was restructured. By 2001, GB operated a scheduled network to 21 destinations in the western Mediterranean and North Africa from Gatwick and Heathrow, normally flying in the low-fare leisure sector with a two-class service. According to managing director John Patterson, GB Airways had come under pressure by the low-fare competition by 2001; instead of lower its quality, the airline chose to focus on three-to-four hour routes where a higher service level would be more valued. It was also in the process of replacing its seven Boeing 737-300/400s with newer Airbus A321s. According to aerospace industry periodical Flight International, GB Airways had "historically been very profitable", but had fallen on harder times during the late 1990s and 2000s, incurring a loss during 2006. Reasons for the airline's hardships reportedly included overcapacity on an increasingly competitive environment as well as constraints that had been imposed by its franchise agreement with BA, limiting commercial freedom. In response to these losses, former BA executive and Britannia Airways managing director Kevin Hatton was recruited in 2006 to manage the company and to seek options for the business. Hatton produced a strategic review of GB Airways, which saw possibilities such as renegotiating the airline's partnership with BA, an entirely new business model or alternative partnership arrangement, and/or the sale of the airline. GB Airways did hold discussions with BA representatives throughout 2007, but these did not result in any meaningful changes; BA rejected the new business model proposed by the company. As the adoption of this model was GB Airways' preferred strategic option, this outcome made the prospects