British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was founded in 1939 after the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. In 1946, following the Civil Aviation Act, the British government formed two state-owned airlines, British European Airways (BEA), which handled domestic and European flights, and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), which focused on long-haul flights. When BOAC and BEA merged in 1974 to form British Airways, the newly formed airline continued with the Junior Jet Club.