BRITISH Airways has been voted the UK’s favourite brand after beating off stiff competition

British Airways is the first travel company to reach number one in the brands ranking.

It came ahead of 1,500 others — including giants like Apple, Coca-Cola, Heinz and the BBC — to take the title of 2014 Superbrand.

BA impressed industry experts and consumers for its “consistently strong performance” and is the first travel company to top the list.

The Superbrands panel also put BA’s success down to residual goodwill from its association with the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

Diane Corrie, BA’s commercial manager, Caribbean said: “This award is really very encouraging as British Airways strives to deliver the best service and products to customers all over the world. It is this type of customer reaction to the brand that has seen the airline proactively adding flights to and from the Caribean this summer, including a fourth flight to Kingston from London, Gatwick.

Technology companies struggled in the survey with a former number one — Apple — dropping from second last year to 14th.

Superbrands chairman Stephen Cheliotis said: “British Airways has always performed well in the survey but over the last two years its reputation has climbed to new heights, partly through the cementing of its successful ‘To Fly, To Serve’ positioning. On the flip side, Apple and the other tech giants have suffered, with Apple particularly struggling to meet arguably unrealistically high expectations.

“It is increasingly clear that in the short term Apple is struggling to maintain its enviable innovation record in the eyes of consumers while failing to inspire individuals without its hugely influential leader, the late Steve Jobs.”

Google slid for the second year running, from sixth to seventh, while Microsoft slipped from third to sixth.

Facebook, which was 14th last year, fell out of the top 20. Sony climbed from 25th last time to 17th.

Marks & Spencer fell one place to 18th, while Boots entered the top 20 for the first time, to be 15th.

Amazon made the top 20 for the first time, in 13th spot. Cadbury and Andrex were 11th and 12th respectively.