a blue and white airplane

Just a couple months ago, British Airways unveiled plans to celebrate its 100 year centenary. Amongst those plans was the announcement of four planes to be painted in retro liveries honoring the airlines rich past. Crowds were on hand when the “BOAC” liveried Boeing 747 Queen Of The Skies touched down at London Heathrow for the first time, and today the airline has announced the next jumbo in for a paint job, and it’ll be Landor style.

Aviation geeks love the Landor Livery. Perhaps it’s because the years 1984-1997 were formative years for many and early glory days for the Boeing 747-400. British Airways today announced “cleared for Landor”, as G-BNLY, one of the airlines 747’s, went into the paint shop in Dublin, Ireland. 

a blue and white airplaneThe jumbo jet will return in full Landor livery glory renamed as “City Of Swansea” in honor of the first British Airways plane to sport the livery back in the day. No first flight dates have been announced, but British Airways promises the jet will be taking to the skies on a 747 route before the end of the month.

As always, fans and enthusiasts can track the progress of the plane in the coming weeks using app FlightRadar24, by searching for G-BNLY. This will pull up the planes schedule, as well as a special photo of the new livery, once unveiled.

a plane on the runwayYesterday IAG announced the firm order of at least 18 Boeing 777-9X aircraft to replace its Boeing 747 fleet. New aircraft will reach British Airways by 2022, ahead of the planned retirement date of 2023 for the 747.

The Boeing 777X is the world’s largest single deck jet, with wings so large they must fold during taxi. In addition, the GE-9X engines are so large, you could fit a Boeing 737 in them. British Airways will continue offering a first class cabin of 8 seats, 65 business class seats, 46 premium economy seats and 206 economy cabins seats for a total of 325 passengers. Read more about the new jet here.

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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6 Comments

  1. Absolutely cannot wait for the release date for this! The landor livery was the first BA livery I knew and it’s the one I wanted them to paint – I thought they’d stick it on a 777 but it’s even better that they’re putting it on a 747!

  2. Retro Livery is brilliant! How about a B747 in British Caledonian colours (which BCal flew) after all BCal is a part of BA’s heritage!

  3. Love the BOAC 744 roll on the BEA Red Square A319 plus the Landore 744 and the Negus Negus 744 going to look smart for many a photographer

  4. I’m so happy to see British Airways bring back the original livery with the Crown’s, I’ve had a model airplane collection over the years in a 1/144 scale. I have a 747 with the original jt9d7fw engines and a L10-11 TriStar with it’s RB211’s with the Crown’s on the side alongside the classic RR marking on the side too. I also have an Airbus A330 with the original British Airways livery. And many more, so thank you British Airways for bring back the original British Airways… will the flight attendants be wearing the original British Airways colours as well?

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