Monday 4th March 2019 a British Airways A319 arrives at London’s Heathrow Airport in the second heritage livery. This one belongs to British European Airways otherwise known as BEA.
The Airbus A319 swapped its British Airways livery for the BEA colours and design as part of the celebrations to mark the centenary of the beginning of British Airways back in August 1919. For these celebrations, British Airways are painting four of their aircraft in heritage liveries.
The first, the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet has already put in an appearance and has already flown to Los Angeles, Lagos, New York City and several other destinations. Travel Unpacked has already covered its appearance and included a potted history of British Airways in that post.
BEA flew predominantly domestic and European routes between 1959 and 1968. BOAC flew predominantly the long-haul routes. The livery matches the original in all but one aspect. Today’s modern wing paint reflectivity requirements mean the wing could not be the standard red of BEA aircraft of the past. Instead, it is painted grey.
As with original BEA aircraft this aircraft will see service on European routes. Beginning with a domestic flight to Manchester it will fly routes across the UK and Europe. Which routes exactly are down to operational needs but you can see proposed routes a day or two ahead by following @BAretrojets on Twitter. At the time of writing Zurich, Brussels and Manchester are on the list with Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Paris following. They also post a flight timetable for the BOAC liveried B747.
The BEA liveried Airbus A319 will continue to fly in the heritage design until its retirement from service in 2020.
British Airways also unveiled the next design in its heritage designs. The next design is the British Airways Landor livery which will be on another Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. The Landor livery was the first of British Airways liveries after BOAC and BEA became BA. A fourth and final design will be revealed later this month featuring yet another livery from the past as the airline looks to the future.
My thanks to British Airways for supplying the photographs used in the post. This post is not sponsored by British Airways nor do I have any connection to the airline.
