A Step-by-Step Guide To British Airways’ 49-Year Livery Evolution – Simple Flying

Summary

In almost 50 years of flying as British Airways, the UK flag carrier has only changed the external color scheme on the exterior of its fleet three times. Simple Flying looks at each of the liveries used by the airline over that time and speculates whether the carrier might be due for another update.

In 1974, the British government decided to merge several of the airlines operating in the United Kingdom - British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), plus other smaller domestic carriers such as Northeast and Cambrian Airways. The resulting single airline became known simply as British Airways.

2024 will mark the 50th anniversary of that merger. In the almost half decade since coming into existence, British Airways' fleet (and those of subsidiaries, partners, and franchisees) has only had four external color schemes applied fleetwide.

The liveries predominantly used by the airline over that time are best known as the 'Negus' scheme, the 'Landor' scheme, and the 'World Tails/Project Utopia' schemes. Most recently, the 'Chatham Dockyard' scheme is currently used by the carrier.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

In this article, Simple Flying briefly looks at each color scheme - its key features, choice of colors, and background. Lastly, it will discuss the likeliness of whether the airline will be introducing a new color scheme any time soon and what that might look like.

After its formation, the fleet of the newly-founded British Airways (BA) initially retained their individual liveries, although having their respective titles replaced with the new airline's name.

Photo: Steve Fitzgerald | Wikimedia Commons

However, around the time BA came to be, the airline's management instructed London-based design firm Negus and Negus to develop a new design that would encapsulate the company as Britain's new flag carrier.

The new livery created by the design firm featured an all-white upper fuselage paired with a navy blue lower half. The tail design featured a stylized quarter of the Union Flag (the official name of the national flag of the United Kingdom), retaining its blue and vibrant red colors.

Possibly the most iconic element of the new livery was incorporating the Speedbird logo, previously seen on BOAC aircraft in the lead-up to the merger. The new design was widely acclaimed by the travel industry and the public alike.

At the time of its unveiling, British Airways described it as "a modern and fresh design based on the British national colors of red, white and blue. It features a streamlined evolution of the BOAC and BEA insignia through a quartered Union Flag with a red tip on the tailfin and the Speedbird symbol on the nose."

In 1980, there would be a slight change to the titling when the 'airways' suffix was dropped entirely, and the 'British' element of the name became larger and more prominent. The fleet quickly adopted this change, cementing the airline in the public's eye as 'Britain's airline.'

What would become a regular feature of BA color schemes over the decades, the carrier's seven-strong Concorde fleet would display a slightly modified version of the Negus livery. Instead of the navy blue lower fuselage, the Concordes would sport a narrow navy window line while retaining the same titles and tail design of other types in the fleet.

In 1984, just as the UK government began preparing the airline for privatization, there would be experimentation with a silver-colored fuselage top. This scheme only featured on a couple of aircraft and was not widely adopted.

However, it was an early sign of what would come later that year as preparations were made to sell the airline into public ownership.

With privatization planned for late 1987 to stem the airline's losses (which were becoming too much of a burden for the UK government to endure), the airline began transforming to make it more attractive to private and institutional investors.

This major rebranding exercise included the adoption of the marketing slogan 'The world's favorite airline' along with a complete refresh of the livery. Designed by the famous design house Landor Associates, an updated scheme was unveiled in December 1984.

The new design bore some resemblance to the previous Negus scheme, although the white upper fuselage was replaced with a Pearl Grey color, while the navy lower fuselage color was replaced with Midnight Blue.

Also featured in the new scheme was a Brilliant Red 'speedwing' along the lower fuselage, which replaced the outdated speedbird logo. The tail, modified to feature a midnight blue upper half, also saw a coat of arms emblem added (which displayed the airline's new motto, 'To Fly, To Serve') in silver.

Lastly, a change that marked a reversal for the company: the titles reverted to the full 'British Airways' once more, although this time capitalized using a different, sharper, and more modern font.

BA's Concorde fleet again would display a slightly modified version of the livery. Instead of the navy blue lower fuselage, the Concordes would sport an all-white fuselage with the speedwing in red while retaining the same titles and tail design of the rest of the fleet.

In 1996, some 12 years after the Landor scheme was introduced, several members of the BA fleet began appearing with a lighter blue belly color but without the speedwing. And while the tail remained in the Landor scheme, the fuselage color reverted from pearl grey to white.

This interim design appeared on many of the carrier's Boeing 737s, 747s, 767s, and Airbus A320s. Since the scheme started appearing fleetwide, many took this as a sign that another livery refresh was on the horizon.

With fleet members appearing in this hybrid scheme over 1996/97, the reason was finally unveiled to the world on June 10, 1997. However, the rollout of the airline's new corporate identity was to prove anything but successful and was ultimately short-lived.

The new design revealed a lighter blue lower fuselage color (as seen on the hybrid aircraft) along with new titles (in a softer typeface) below the window line.

The speedwing had gone, replaced by a new three-dimensional 'speedmarque' design in red and blue, in a nod to the former speedbird logo of the Negus scheme. The BA coat of arms was also dropped.

Photo: Robert Sarosiek | Shutterstock

The signature element of the new livery was for aircraft to feature a range of new tail designs, each designed by notable artists from across the globe.

The rebranding by design agency Newell & Sorrell aimed to present a new livery but also an entirely new BA as a world airline. The concept was formulated to reflect that 60% of BA's customers originated outside the UK.

Photo: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt | Wikimedia Commons

Named the 'World Images' livery, new designs started appearing on everything from baggage tags to company vehicles and stationery. Fifteen designs were unveiled initially, with the aim of adding 12 new ones each year until the millennium in 2000.

However, the overall project ('Project Utopia') was rejected by many, with BA being accused of ditching its 'Britishness' and turning its back on its homeland.

Indeed, British former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took particular exception to the designs so much that she covered the tail of a model BA aircraft with a handkerchief at the 1997 Conservative Party conference as a public display of her dissatisfaction.

With the majority of the British public against the design and even the then Prime Minister showing her objections, BA was forced to admit that its rebranding had been a corporate disaster.

In 1999, BA conceded defeat and revealed that in light of negative criticism, it planned to paint half of the BA fleet in the British-designed 'Chatham Dockyard' scheme - one of the bespoke World Images designs.

As more and more of the fleet appeared in this very British livery, the World Tails began to be phased out. With the eclectic mix of tail designs quickly disappearing, the entire Project Utopia was eventually abandoned in 2001.

One good thing from the whole 'World Images' debacle was that the 'Chatham Dockyard' tail design was adopted and subsequently became the standard BA livery we know and recognize today. The livery takes its name from the Historic Naval Dockyard in Chatham in southeast England.

Photo:Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

Based on the original flag used by Admiral Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the Chatham Dockyard tail design was created for BA by the Admiral's Original Flag Loft Factory in Chatham, which had made flags for more than 400 years. The factory has since closed.

The tail design bears a red, white, and blue interpretation of the Union Flag. It could be said that the design is a modern take on the Negus livery of the 1970s and 1980s and brings BA livery designs full circle in many ways.

With the flag tail design, the fleet retains the mid-blue belly color and the British Airways titles below the window line. BA's Concordes (before their retirement in 2003) featured the same tail design but with an all-white fuselage.

In 2019, the airline celebrated its centenary year (tracing back through its predecessors) and re-introduced the BA coat of arms in pale silver alongside the fuselage titles.

While the Negus design lasted around a decade before being replaced by the Landor scheme, which survived thirteen years, then ignoring the World Tails fiasco, the Chatham Dockyard scheme has been flying around for an impressive 26 years!

Given that airlines tend to update or change their liveries entirely on average around every 20 years, and given how long both Negus and Landor lasted, it would be fair to assume that BA might be considering an update soon.

Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying

With Iberia, Level, Vueling, and Aer Lingus (all sister airlines in the International Airlines Group) sporting similar schemes to each other, albeit in different colors, might BA also be tempted to adopt a similar all-white fuselage with a colored swoop down the tail and encompassing the rear fuselage paired with colored engine cowlings?

Although the carrier might opt for something else entirely, that prospect would seem unlikely given the commonality shared by the rest of the IAG airlines.

However, with Chatham Dockyard possibly nearing the end of its natural lifecycle, it wouldn't be ridiculous to imagine that there are people in an office around London Heathrow Airport discussing where the BA livery goes from here. After all, the BA cabin crew uniforms were relaunched earlier this year, so is the livery next?

Photo: Thiago B Trevisan | Shutterstock

With airline liveries constantly evolving and the current BA livery aging fast, only time will tell if an all-new BA design will be appearing at an airport near you sometime soon.

What was your favorite British Airways livery over the past 50 years? Tell us which one you prefer and why in the comments.

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A Step-by-Step Guide To British Airways' 49-Year Livery Evolution - Simple Flying