British Airways has confirmed speculation around its fourth and final retro-livery, revealing that a Boeing 747-400 will be painted in the airline’s original red, white and blue Negus design dating from 1973.
The 747-400 (G-CIVB) is currently at Dublin for painting into the first version of the Negus livery featuring full “British airways” titles, which was employed until 1980. This scheme was adopted directly after BA was created following the merger of BOAC and BEA in 1973. A later version of the scheme used “British” titles before the Landor rebrand in 1984.
British Airways
The repainted 747 will enter service later this month from Heathrow on BA’s long-haul network and the scheme will remain on G-CIVB until it retires in 2022.
The Negus scheme, named after the Negus & Negus creative agency run by Dick Negus and his wife Pam, joins four other heritage liveries that BA has introduced this year to mark its centenary. These comprise 747-400s in BOAC and Landor schemes, and an Airbus A319 painted in the BEA “Red Square” livery.
Boeing
“It’s particularly significant for us because Negus is the first design worn by the British Airways that we all know today, with the distinctive lower case ‘a’ and the Union Flag on the tailfin,” says Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and chief executive.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
