I belive that there was an order by BA for the A318 , but due to technical problems with the engines for the A318 BA converted the A318 orders to A320 instead, so now we have gone full circle

Look forward to see the mini bus in operation

This is a story with the order:
http://media.www.eraunews.com/media/storage/paper917/news/1999/10/11/CampusNews/British.Airways.Selects.The.A318-1651690.shtml

And here’s a story with the switch over to other Airbuses:
http://www.secinfo.com/dXM1g.2e.htm

I made a boob by not saying the right Airbus model they chose. Also note about the Manchester operations and how they are described. Little did we know that the white flag of surrender was only a few years away!