Airlines love to give respect to their heritage by painting their aircraft in former liveries, marking how the airline used to look.
Sometimes they will paint aircraft in the livery of an airline which was merged into the current carrier, or the former name of the current carrier.
These are commonly known as “retro liveries”.
Some have sadly been lost as the standard livery is repainted back on the aircraft, or when the aircraft is scrapped or sold. And each year there seem to be new ones which appear.
Recently British Airways celebrated its 100th anniversary by painting four aircraft in former liveries.
Here is the complete list of airliner retro liveries in 2020:
[Download a list of all the retro liveries here]
ABX Air Boeing 767-281(BDSF), N768AX, wearing the old Airborne Express livery.
Aer Lingus, EI-DVM, Airbus A320-214
Aeroflot, VP-BNT, Airbus A320-214
Photo (c) http://www.desdeelpatio.com.ar
Aerolineas Argentinas, LV-GOO, Boeing 737-7BD
Air Canada, C-FZUH, Airbus A319-114 “TransCanada Air Lines”
Air Malta, 9H-AEI, Airbus A320-214 – Removed from fleet April 2020
Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air), N421QX, Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400
American Airlines, N742PS, Airbus A319-112, “PSA Pacific Southwest Airlines”
American Airlines, N744P, Airbus A319-112, “Piedmont Airlines”
American Airlines, N745VJ, Airbus A319-112, “Allegheny Airlines”
American Airlines, N838AW, Airbus A319-132, “America West”
American Airlines, N578UW, Airbus A321-231, “US Airways”
American Airlines, N905NN, Boeing 737-823, “AstroJet”
American TWA Heritage livery. Photo (c) Adam Moreira
American Airlines, N915NN, Boeing 737-823, “TWA Trans World Airlines”
American Airlines, N916NN, Boeing 737-823, “Reno Air”
American Airlines, N917NN, Boeing 737-823, “AirCal”
Austrian Airlines Retro Livery (c) Austrian Airlines Emmanuel Schawaller
Austrian Airlines, OE-LBO, Airbus A320-214
Avianca, N284AV, Airbus A320-214
British Airways, G-EUPJ, Airbus A319-131, “BEA Red Square”
British Airways New Livery.
Photo Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography Copyright 2019
British Airways, G-BNLY, Boeing 747-436, “Landor” livery
BOAC 747
Taken: 18th February 2019
Picture by: Stuart Bailey
British Airways, G-BYGC, Boeing 747-436, “BOAC”
British Airways, G-CIVB, Boeing 747-436, “Negus” livery
Canadian Air Force, 15003, Airbus A310-304 (CC-150 Polaris)
Condor, D-AICH, Airbus A320-212
Condor, D-ABUM, Boeing 767-31BER
Danish Air Transport, OY-RUT, McDonnell Douglas MD-82
El Al, 4X-EDF, Boeing 787-9
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GHD, Airbus A330-343, “1969-1985”
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GFM, Boeing 737-8U3, “1950s”
Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GFN, Boeing 737-8U3, “1969-1985”
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GIK, Boeing 777-3U3ER
Gulf Air, A9C-FG, Boeing 787-9
LOT Polish Airlines, SP-LIM, Embraer 175LR
Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach
Lufthansa, D-AIDV, Airbus A321-231
Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach
Lufthansa, D-ABYT, Boeing 747-830
Malaysia Airlines, 9M-MXA, Boeing 737-8H6, “40th Anniversary”
MEA Middle East Airlines, OD-MRT, Airbus A320-232
PIA Pakistan International, AP-BLA, Airbus A320-214
PIA Pakistan International, AP-BLT, Airbus A320-214
PIA Pakistan International, AP-BMG, Boeing 777-2Q8ER
Qantas, VH-VXQ, Boeing 737-838, “Retro Roo II”
Qantas, VH-XZP, Boeing 737-838, “Retro Roo”
SAS, OY-KBO, Airbus A319-131
Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach
Southwest Airlines, N711HK, Boeing 737-7H4
TAP Air Portugal, CS-TJR, Airbus A321neo
TAROM, YR-BGG, Boeing 737-78J
Tunisair, TS-IOP, Boeing 737-6H3
Turkish Airlines, TC-JNC, Airbus A330-203
United Airlines, N475UA, Airbus A320-232
United Airlines, N75435, Boeing 737-924ER, “Continental Airlines”
Vistara, VT-ATV, Airbus A320-251N
Remember, you can download a list of all the retro liveries to tick off your own sightings here.
20 comments
Love the American Astrojet.
The Air France Retro has been scrapped
Oh no! We’ll remove that from the list. Thanks John.
jet blue also has a retro livery
Thanks Kabeeb. I didn’t know whether to include this one as it’s not an actual former livery of Jetblue (or any airline for that matter), it’s just a retro ‘feel’.
This just makes me feel old…..I remember so many liveries when they were current!
I wonder if future airlines will have today’s liveries as retro jets?
Great list. OE-LBP has been repainted into standard Austrian livery now though. Also I think OY-RUT is just a ‘retro style’ livery as DAT never previously wore those colours.
It’s a pity Air France/KLM/Alitalia/Finnair have all repainted their retro a/c as they are a nice change, although I don’t suppose the passengers are too bothered!
Thanks for the update Alan! I’ll amend Austrian Airlines.
Jetblue???
[…] Complete List of Airliner Retro Liveries […]
Great to see so many of the liveries that had become part of the memory. Thanks for sharing……
Thanks, Matt, for a brilliant trip down memory lane. Many of them remind me of when I began spotting in the late 60s / early 70s. Unfortunately I have virtually zero photographs from that era, because (a) I had no long lens and (b) film was expensive.
Cargolux
https://twitter.com/breakingavnews/status/1283073094517694464
[…] Complete List of Airliner Retro Liveries […]
[…] has joined the list of airlines with retro livery aircraft with the introduction of a Boeing 747 in its old […]
Aloha,
I’m Bill Sage in Honolulu. Hard to believe I’m 74 now. Been plane spotting since I was a kid in the 1950s, and I’m trying to find master lists of the names for American and United Airlines DC-6 and DC-7 fleets. I’ve got all the Pan American names, because several websites have listed them. But American and United have stymied me. Might you happen to know? What I’ve been doing is trying to do a master list such as this:
cn 42883 DC-6 N90716 5.1947->American “Flagship Michigan”
and
cn 44897 DC-6B N37573 3.13.1956->United 6873 “Mainliner Honolulu” 1960 at HNL
where the picture quality is good enough to read the info. Unfortunately, many of them are too grainy or pixillated to discern.
My ultimate goal is to have a master encyclopedia of all the classic prop liners with their pics and information, and form a website so others may learn.
Do you know of any links or books that might have such information?
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Bill
Honolulu
Hi Bill. I don’t know personally, but maybe someone reading this can help and get in touch/leave a comment!
Matt
We posted a review about Retro Liveries in the Middle East with some you haven’t covered like Qatar Airways
http://www.aviationweb.me/2022/02/19/retro-liveries-who-wore-it-better/
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