Since retiring its iconic Boeing 747 fleet, flag carrier British Airways has painted one of its older Boeing 777s with the oneworld alliance livery for the first time. The aircraft was temporarily taken out of service since December 4th when it was flown to Shannon Airport in Ireland, before emerging on December 19th with a fresh look to face some negative responses.

An old aircraft with a new look

The aircraft in question is a Boeing 777-200ER registered G-YMMR, having been with British Airways' since rolling off the production line and with an estimated age of 13.8 years. Configured for 275 passengers, the aircraft boasts a tri-class cabin layout with Club World, World Traveler Plus, and World Traveler. Before being painted with the oneworld alliance livery, G-YMMR primarily operated flight services from London Heathrow Airport to Delhi, Dubai, Doha, and New York.

But when G-YMMR emerged with its new look, social media went into quite an unexpected frenzy, noting that the special livery looked slightly out of scale. Compared with similar oneworld alliance liveries on other airlines' Boeing 777s, such as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Qatar Airways, the wording on G-YMMR seemed too small and had an awkward placement.

And given the small wording, the livery clashed with the British Airways logo, which baffled social media. Unlike the Star Alliance and SkyTeam alliances, oneworld airlines get to retain their standard tailfin design even when bearing the alliance livery, so the placement and overall need for the British Airways logo on G-YMMR seemed almost redundant.

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A flight down memory lane

Strangely, British Airways did quite an out-of-scale job for the oneworld alliance livery on G-YMMR. Perhaps what is even more strange is how it's not the first time the flag carrier has painted its aircraft special liveries, such as the four retro liveries revealed in 2019, the Negus livery on the Boeing 757-200 back in late 2010, and the 'Great Festival of Creativity' livery that is still worn on another Boeing 777-200ER registered G-YMML.

As for the oneworld alliance livery itself, British Airways has showcased its ability to get the scales right on much bigger aircraft, such as the Boeing 747. And it wasn't just one Boeing jumbo jet that wore the special livery, but nine aircraft. The Boeing 747-400s were registered G-BNLI, G-CIVC, G-CIVD, C-CIVI, G-CIVK, G-CIVL, G-CIVM, G-CIVP, and G-CIVZ. Unfortunately, most of these iconic aircraft have since been scrapped since they were retired from the flag carrier.

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Perhaps the airline was trying to take a flight down memory lane and has plans for more Boeing 777s to bear the oneworld alliance livery. But then again, it seems the Airbus A350 is more towards becoming the flagship since the Boeing 747, so if any aircraft were to bear the special livery, the Airbus widebody would make more sense. And given the slight out-of-scale look on G-YMMR, the livery would be more of a fit on the slimmer Airbus A350, so perhaps British Airways was testing the waters for now.

What do you think of the oneworld alliance livery on G-YMMR? Let us know in the comments below.

• 

  British Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  BA/BAW

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport

  Year Founded:

  1974

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  Airline Group:

  IAG

  CEO:

  Sean Doyle

  Country:

  United Kingdom

• 

  oneworld

  Business Type:

  Airline Alliance

  Date Founded:

  1999-02-01

  CEO:

  Rob Gurney

  Headquarters Location:

  New York, USA

  Airlines:

  Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, SriLankan Airlines