British Airways BEA, BOAC, Negus, Chatam Dockyard and Landor liveried aircraft at Engineering, London Heathrow on 09 April 2019  (Picture by Nick Morrish/British Airways)

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

British Airways, for the first time, brought together its four heritage liveried aircraft which were repainted to mark the airline’s centenary this year, alongside an A319 in the current Chatham Dockyard livery, to capture a rare image of some of the airline’s most iconic designs together. The historic event took place Apr. 9, 2019 at London Heathrow.  The photos captured of the  event marked the fact that 50,000 customers have already flown around the globe on the four heritage liveries since they re-joine d the fleet, with the Boeing 747s having travelled to destinations such as New York, Cape Town, Dubai and Lagos, while the BEA liveried Airbus A319 has flown far and wide across the airlines’ UK and European network to cities including Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Milan, Zurich and Amsterdam.

“The excitement and pride that we’ve witnessed from customers and colleagues as these heritage liveries, which we painted to mark our centenary, have flown around the globe has been unparalleled. “Social media has been fired up with images from travellers all over the world when they’ve spotted the aircraft and as some 50,000 people have now flown on them since they arrived back in the fleet we wanted to capture a special photo to share with them.”

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said. 

WATCH THE FOUR  BA HERITAGE AIRCRAFT COME TOGETHER 

Line up! Line up! Watch our heritage aircraft get into formation for their first ever photoshoot together. #BA100 #FlyBA #Centenary pic.twitter.com/Sm93rGZdgo

— British Airways (@British_Airways) April 16, 2019

To capture the photo, the four heritage aircraft, which were in scheduled downtime and parked at the airline’s engineering base, were lined up alongside an aircraft with the current Chatham Dockyard design, according to BA.  The airline stated that the “painstaking process”  of arranging them for the photo took over two (careful) hours.

British Airways BEA, BOAC, Negus, Chatam Dockyard and Landor liveried aircraft at Engineering, London heathrow on 09 April 2019
(Picture by Nick Morrish/British Airways)

BA employee poses in front of  British Airways BEA, BOAC, Negus, Chatam Dockyard and Landor liveried aircraft at Engineering, London heathrow on 09 April 2019  (Picture by Nick Morrish/British Airways)

In this, its centenary year, British Airways is hosting a range of activities and events. As well as looking back, the airline is also hosting BA 2119 – a programme, which will lead the debate on the future of flying and explore the future of sustainable aviation fuels, the aviation careers of the future and the customer experience of the future.

A Boeing 747 long-range wide-body four engined commercial jet airliner for the BOAC – British Overseas Airways Corporation flying above the United Kingdom on 7 April 1971. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

List Of The Four Retro BA Aircraft: 

• The Boeing 747 in BOAC livery (G-BYGC) arrived in to LHR on February 18, 2019
• The Airbus A319 in BEA livery (G-EUPJ) arrived in to LHR on March 3, 2019
• The Boeing 747 in Landor livery (G-BNLY) arrived in to LHR on March 9, 2019
• The Boeing 747 in Negus livery (G-CIVB) arrived in to LHR on March 21, 2019

 “The enormous interest we’ve had in this project demonstrates the attachment many people have to British Airways’ history. It’s something we are incredibly proud of, so in our centenary year it’s a pleasure to be celebrating our past while also looking to the future. We look forward to many more exciting moments like this as our other aircraft with heritage designs enter service.”

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO.