The move comes 12 months after BA split regional PR duties between the duo. At the time, Hong Kong incumbent Edelman added Japan, Shanghai, Beijing and Australia to its assignment, while Singapore partner Grayling was handed the Thailand account.
Now, Grayling will manage the airline's PR for all of these markets, ending Edelman's five-year relationship with the airline in Hong Kong.
"It was definitely not a pure financial decision," said BA Asia and Pacific PR manager Abbie Moore.
"Our criteria was a combination of the commercial side, but also the service they could offer in terms of strategic planning and creative thinking. That's what Grayling won it on."
Earlier, Edelman Hong Kong chairman Martin Spurrier described BA's decision as "regrettable" and said: "The most fruitful relationships, however, must be long-term and commercially beneficial to both partners."
"The past contract was not satisfactory from a business point of view, and we could not arrive at a fee level that was commercially sustainable for the new contract and scope of work."
While Grayling only currently counts Asian offices in Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, regional MD James Acheson-Gray confirmed that the BA business would be managed via its network of affiliates in other markets.
This includes the Red Agency in Australia, Japan's Cosmo PR, and Paradigm in China.
"Since we first won BA in Singapore, we have defended it successfully five times," said Acheson-Gray.
"We're happy it has now been broadened to a wider region. We will service the business via in-market teams and a central coordination team."
Acheson-Gray added that the business would initally be hubbed out of Singapore, before migrating to Hong Kong.
"From a PR point of view, the challenge is trying to find new angles around the first and business class product," he said. "There's also a big focus on trying to get additional online usage."
Moore added that the decision to pitch so soon after the previous review stemmed from BA's internal restructuring, which saw her take charge of Asia-Pacific PR, in addition to existing Middle East duties, in mid-2006.
"In the interests of making it as easy as possible, we wanted one agency for the Pacific," she explained.
