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, however, 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 to represent countries on BA's route network. While almost all are clearly related to a country, each aircraft also carried the name of that country on the rear of the fuselage.

The large number of German designs are a result of the existence of the BA subsidiary Deutsche BA, and the numerous 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 voiced 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.

Misidentification

Reports began to surface after the introduction of the new tailfin designs that the removal of the standard BA livery had led to aircraft being identified wrongly as belonging to another airline. BA had leased several of their 747-400s to Qantas; one of which retained the BA "Wings" scheme and white/blue livery, with just "Qantas" titles to identify its operator. Confusion as to who was operating the aircraft lead to the removal of almost all of the tailfin design.

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-1987 union flag design) would receive 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 is a slow process for the hundreds of aircraft in BA's fleet; some aircraft continue to wear the world tailfins.

Chatham Dockyard Union Flag on a Boeing 747	Rendezvous on a 747-436	Chelsea Rose on a Boeing 767-300	(From foreground) Whale rider, Chelsea Rose and Colum on Boeing 747s at Heathrow
Pathania on a BA Citiexpress ERJ 145	Benyhone on a Boeing 747	Delftblue Daybreak on a Boeing 767	Waves of the City on a Boeing 747
Wings on a Boeing 747 leased to Qantas	Ndebele on a Boeing 737-400	Water Dreaming on an ERJ145	Many Union Flag tailfins and one SAA 747

External links

• British Airways ethnic liveries gallery
• BBC: BA turns tail on colours (Real Video)