British Airways Get a Make-Over for 2012 Olympics

British Airways planes will get a new look just in time for the London 2012 Games. Designed by a celebrated artist from Brighton, the aircraft will be repainted with a special dove design. Pascal Anson, 38, beats hundreds of competitors for his design to be chosen for programme of BA Great Britons. Under the guidance of Royal Academician Tracey Emin, Anson is in the process of adding the finishing touches to the design.

Anson’s design will be painted on 12 members of the British Airways fleet. A mixture of long and short haul airplanes, which includes a Boeing A319, would be the canvas for his design.

The design concept started on Anson’s visit to London. He was watching an airplane lands and wonders if it is a bird or a plane. He thought a dove will be perfect because it is a symbol of peace and unity. Moreover, dove had been used in previous Olympics as well as the last games held in London in 1948.

Tracy Emin praised Anson’s design, “It would have been easy to put a motif or a pattern on the side of an aircraft – but Pascal’s design takes it to another level. He uses the entire livery of the aircraft to redefine the way you look at it. The dove is a stunning piece of work and will bring real excitement to anyone who flies on one of the repainted planes.”

British Airways is a proud sponsor of London Games 2012. It operates one of the largest and sophisticated airlines in the world. Its fleet includes Boeing 777-300, Boeing 757-200 and Boeing 747-400 and many more sleek and modern aircraft models.

The newly-designed airplanes will be unveiled on April 2012.

Source: stanfordmercury.co.uk

100th Airbus aircraft delivered to British Airways

British Airways has taken delivery of an A320 aircraft, making it a member of a prestigious airline club that can boast 100 or more aircraft deliveries from every member of Airbus’ Single Aisle aircraft Family. The airline has already taken delivery of two A318s, 33 A319s, 48 A320s and 16 A321s.

The 100th aircraft (an A320 powered by IAE engines) is also the 205th Airbus single aisle delivered to International Airlines Group, which was formed in January 2011 following the merger of British Airways and Iberia.

“This milestone underlines British Airways’ commitment to continue to invest in new aircraft for the benefit of our customers,” said British Airways CEO Keith Williams.

“We are very proud that a world class airline like British Airways operates every member of our single aisle family aircraft, and even prouder to deliver to BA their 100th Airbus A320 family aircraft. We look forward to broadening and deepening our partnership with BA,” said Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO.

 

Source: Airbus

Airbus: Demand for A380s will rise in Latin America

According to Rafael Alonso, senior vice president for Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin America has a potential demand for up to 20 aircraft the size of the A380.

Speaking during a press conference at the 2010 ALTA leadership forum, Alonso says that with European carriers Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways introducing the superjumbo to their fleets there is “a strong likelihood that the A380 will be seen in the region soon”.

They are expecting to lead the region’s market share within the next two to three years. “We already have around 42% of the total market and would expect to have 52% in the next three years. If you look at the past five years we have consistently had more than 60% of the orders compared to Boeing.”

Airbus sees a total demand for almost 1,700 aircraft in the region over the next 20 years with a value of $163 billion.

These include 1,340 single aisle aircraft, 323 wide-bodies and 20 of the large cabins such as the A380.

- flightglobal

British Airways Repaints Boeing 757

As one of British Airways’s (BA) remaining Boeing 757-200s is about to retire at the end of October after being in service for 27 years, BA decided to repaint the said aircraft in its original color scheme.

BA shared the honors with Eastern Airlines as the twinjet’s launch customer back in 1983. The type made its BA debut on February 9, 1983 operating a Shuttle service between London Heathrow and Belfast and the fleet eventually grew to 54 aircraft.

Just three 757s remain with BA, all of which entered service in 1997, and to mark its retirement one of the 170-seaters (G-CPET) has been repainted in the “Negus & Negus” livery that was introduced with the creation of British Airways in 1973. The “retrojet” began its final month with the airline on October 5 with a flight from Heathrow to Madrid.

BA originally named more than 40 of its 757s after famous castles around the UK, so the last aircraft has been titled “Stokesay Castle” near Ludlow in Shropshire for its final month of service.

Capt. Stephen Riley, director of flight operations said “Almost everyone in the operational side of the business has either piloted, repaired, dispatched or looked after customers flying on this aircraft over the past 27 years.”

BA’s last scheduled 757 flights will operate on Saturday, October 30, during which the aircraft will operate on Shuttle services around the UK to mark its original role with the airline 27 years ago. A farewell charter flight will be operated on 6 November from Heathrow.

-aviationweek.com