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In 1997 British Airways adopted a new Livery . One part of this was a newly stylised version of the British Airways " Speedbird " Logo (right). The major change was the introduction of a wide range of tail-fin art. Also known as the '''Utopia''' or '''world art''' tailfins, they used art and designs from international artists and other sources to represent countries on BA's route network. Each aircraft carried the name of that country on the rear of the Fuselage . The new corporate logo was created by the London-based design agency Newell And Sorrell , who also oversaw the implementation of the tailfin designs. The slightly larger number of German designs is a result of the existence of the BA subsidiary Deutsche BA , and similarly, the number of Australian designs can be attributed to the airline's alliance with Qantas and the importance of the Kangaroo Route . CRITICISM The adoption of this livery was seen as a move away from the traditional and strictly British image of the carrier. BA suggested that the previous "Landor" scheme carried an air of arrogance and detachment, and insisted that the new tailfins were very popular with international travellers. However they were never popular in the UK, despite nine of the designs being inspired by either England, Scotland or Wales (and one Irish scheme). Margaret Thatcher showed her displeasure at the designs by covering one of the new tailfins on a model 747 with a handkerchief. She declared, "We fly the British flag, not these awful things." Virgin Atlantic took advantage of the controversy by applying a Union flag scheme to the front end of its aircraft. In their own 1999 relaunch, the flag was also applied to the vertical Winglets of Virgin Atlantic's aircraft. REVIEW OF USE While the majority of the designs were applied to a variety of aircraft, one scheme (the stylised version of the Chatham Dockyard Union Flag) was reserved for use on Concorde only. By 1999, BA had repainted around 170 aircraft in its new colours but then Chief Executive, Bob Ayling , announced a review of this process. The aircraft already repainted would keep the new designs, but the remainder of the fleet (still sporting the pre-1997 union flag design) would receive a variant of Concorde's Union Flag design. The timing of the announcement was designed to divert some attention from Virgin's relaunch. Finally in May 2001 the new Chief Executive, Rod Eddington , announced the entire fleet would receive the new Union flag livery. Eddington argues that while an attempt to increase the airline's appeal was not a bad thing, the exercise hurt the image of the carrier among its core customers — those that are attracted by the British identity, which the ethnic tailfins diluted somewhat. The removal of the ethnic tailfins was a slow process across the hundreds of aircraft in BA's fleet. LIVERIES Gallery |
Image:DelftbluejpgDelftblue Daybreak On A
| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Boeing_767" class="copylinks">Boeing 767 |
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| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/ERJ_145" class="copylinks">ERJ 145 |
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