British Airways Unveils Its Next Retro Livery

a drawing of a plane

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On February 18th the world got to see the first of British Airways’ retro liveries which the airline is unveiling this year in honor of its 100th birthday.

The first livery is a trip back to the years spanning 1964 through 1974 and sees a Boeing 747 decked out in the first BOAC colors that ever adorned a British Airways 747:

a large airplane on a runway
Image courtesy of British Airways

The second livery, announced today, will be a British European Airways (BEA) livery that was predominantly seen on domestic routes between 1959 and 1968.

Here’s the livery back in its heyday:

an airplane on the runway
Image courtesy of British Airways

This second retro livery will be added to a British Airways Airbus A319 (reg G-EUPJ) this weekend and will return to Heathrow and enter service on domestic and European routes next month.

In an interesting twist (interesting if you’re into aviation geekery), the retro livery on the A319 won’t be identical to the original BEA livery as that would contravene current regulations.

The A319 will be painted with a grey upper wing (rather than red) in order for the wing to meet current “wing paint reflectivity standards” – I had no idea such a standard existed.