British Airways completes retro livery collection with Boeing 747 Negus design

The designs are part of the airline's centenary celebrations

The Negus livery has been unveiled by British Airways. Courtesy BA

British Airways has unveiled the final design in its series of retro liveries as part of its centenary celebrations.

This time, it's a Boeing 747 painted with the Negus livery, which adorned the BA fleet from 1974-1980 directly after the merger of BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and BEA (British European Airways).

On its initial flights, it was the first time an aircraft had carried "British Airways" since 1939, when the original British Airways Limited merged with Imperial Airways to form BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation).

The Boeing 747-400, with the registration code G-CIVB, has entered the Dublin Airport paint bay and will return to London Heathrow later this month to enter service.

The design will remain on the aircraft until it retires in 2022.

"It’s particularly significant for us because it’s the first design worn by the British Airways that we all know today, with the distinctive lower case ‘a’ and the Union Flag on the tailfin," said Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and chief executive.

The Negus will join three other aircraft complete with special liveries.

The first was the BOAC livery used from 1964 to 1974, which was painted on to a Boeing 747 and entered service last month.

Next came the repainting of an Airbus A319 in the British European Airways livery, which was originally used between 1959 and 1968.

This was then followed by the Landor design on a Boeing 747 to mark the period between 1984-1997. The plane has also been re-named "City of Swansea", as the Landor livery aircraft was originally called.

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