It’s been a big month for retro liveries, with British Airways putting out four of them to celebrate their centenary. Today marks the end of this parade with the Negus & Negus livery making its debut.
This follows the very well received BOAC livery on a Boeing 747, the BEA Red Square livery on an Airbus A319 and the British Airways Landor scheme, also on a Boeing 747.
Negus Livery
Worn by Boeing 747-436 registered G-CIVB, the Negus livery is expected to remain until the aircraft is retired in 2022. It is great that these will be flying for such a decent length of time.
There were two versions of these colours, one with the full title of the airline as it was in 1974, with the other changing the airline name to say “British”. The original version was chosen in this instance, which I think is fitting.
All of the previous Boeing 747 heritage jets were painted at IAC in Dublin and this one is no exception. It usually meant the first pictures and video came out of Ireland, before the aircraft headed back to London Heathrow.
While the exterior has changed, the interior retains the standard seating in all classes. I don’t know whether it would be horror or joy for passengers arriving in an interior from the 1970s!
Overall Thoughts
I think the four heritage liveries have been well chosen. They reflect the two airlines that merged in 1974 to become British Airways, plus the colours worn since.
Selecting which order they were to appear seems to have been given careful consideration. BOAC was definitely the correct one to make a big splash with as it is well remembered even today.
What do you think of the new livery and the four as a whole? Are you looking forward to getting one on a future trip? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Images by Stuart Bailey via British Airways.
