Below is a list of the liveries worn by BA aircraft throughout the carrier’s history from its formation in 1974 by the merger of BEA, BOAC and the British Air Services airlines (Northeast and Cambrian Airways). Main dates are years aircraft were actually painted in the colours. Dates in brackets are for years aircraft wore the schemes (thanks to 400Scalehangar member ‘Hawaii’ for those).
POST-MERGER HYBRIDS
For many years aircraft of the component airlines wore their old colours with British Airways titles applied. Sometimes the tail was painted into the initial BA scheme but the fuselage kept its original colours. Some of the 747s also wore a basic Negus scheme but with a blue cheatline.
1973-1980: FULL TITLES NEGUS (1974-1981)
Designed by the graphic design firm Negus & Negus formed by Dick Negus (see here for his obituary). The livery had a white crown with a dark blue belly and blue speedbird logo near cockpit. The latter harked back to the BOAC days. The new tail design representing a stylised quarter Union Jack flag with red tail top and bore hallmarks of BEA. Even though British Airways itself didn’t come into being until 1974 the livery was unveiled in 1973.
1980-1984: ‘BRITISH’ NEGUS (1980-1985)
At the beginning of the 1980s BA dropped the airways titles in favour of enlarged British lettering. The rest of the livery was kept the same as the original Negus scheme.
Note: Concorde always wore a modified Negus, and later Landor scheme, due to heat issues at high speed. The blue belly was dropped.
1984: SILVER-TOP NEGUS
In late 1984 BA experimented with a silver topped version of the Negus scheme on the 737-236 G-BKYA ‘River Derwent’
1984-1997: LANDOR (1984-2001)
Designed by the famous design house Landor Associates this updated scheme was unveiled in December 1984. It was quite similar to the Negus scheme but the white roof was replaced with ‘Pearl Grey’ and the blue belly replaced with ‘Midnight Blue’. The speedbird was replaced with a ‘Brilliant Red’ speedwing running along lower fuselage. The red tail top replaced by blue with British Airways’ coat of arms within it. The title font was also changed and capitalised. Aircraft remained individually named.
1994-1997: LANDOR REGIONALS
During this period Boeing 737-200s based at Birmingham and Manchester gained regional titling.
1996-1997: INTERIM PRE-UTOPIA
In 1996 some of the BA fleet began appearing with an odd lowered lighter blue belly lacking the speedwing. The tail remained in the Landor scheme. It was obvious BA was preparing for a new livery and was unwilling to repaint aircraft into the old Landor scheme. It appeared on several 737s, 747s, 767s and A320s.
1997-1999: UTOPIA / WORLD TAILS
Unveiled in June 1997 the basic template was by the UK agency Newell & Sorrell. The ‘Pearl Grey’ upper was replaced with a bright white and the blue belly was lowered and lightened. A new ‘Speedmarque’ logo was added on the upper fuselage and the titles moved under the windowline. The tail and rear fuselage was taken up with a variety of ethnic tail designs and special schemes from global artists designed to show BA as a global airline.
1999-2000: UNION FLAG / CHATHAM ROYAL DOCKYARDS
One of the 1997 Utopia tails, known also as ‘Chatham Dockyard’ and initially applied only to Concorde, it became the standard BA tail livery after the phased withdrawal of all other Utopia tails. Design based upon a stylised Union flag as flown by English naval commander Lord Nelson who’s fleet was based at the historic Chatham Royal Dockyard. Scheme depicted in the left two of the bottom four photos:
2000-2011: UPDATED UNION FLAG
Tail flag enlarged and raised higher on the tail. United Kingdom titling removed from rear of fuselage. Scheme depicted in the right two of the above four photos:
2010: G-CPET 757 RETIREMENT
To mark the retirement of the last 757 G-CPET was repainted into the original 757 negus scheme in late 2010. Named ‘Stokesay Castle’ the only difference from the original scheme was the modern oneworld and BA mark by the entry door.
2011-2014: TO FLY TO SERVE UNION FLAG
New ‘To Fly To Serve’ crest added next to titles. Scheme depicted below:
2014-Present: BRILLIANT WHITE TO FLY TO SERVE
Since summer 2014 aircraft repainted have been given a brighter shade of white on the main fuselage.
2019: CENTENARY RETROJETS
In early 2019 BA announced it would apply special retro colours to several of its fleet showcasing liveries from its past modified to fit newer aircraft plus with additional 100 years logos. These included:
BEA ‘Red Square’ Airbus A319 G-EUPJ
BOAC Boeing 747-400 G-BYGC
Landor Boeing 747-400 G-BNLY
Negus Boeing 747-400 G-CIVB