If BA's 787s wore the ethnic tails.

Posted by Realistic-Bid9464@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 29 comments

I remember seeing a post here showing what the VC-10, Trident and 707, which only wore the Negus livery, would look in British Airways' Landor livery. Older aircraft in what were then future colors. So here’s the reverse, a 787 imagined with the ethnic tails. A newer aircraft in an earlier paint scheme.

I don't know who made this, but if you do then let me know so I can credit them.

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maverick4002@reddit

Ethnic? Is that what they called it?

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747ER@reddit

It was called “BA World Tails”, but they did also use the word ‘ethnic’ interchangeably.

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maverick4002@reddit

I hate the word 'ethnic' ugh

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RipCurl69Reddit@reddit

...why?? Nothing wrong with it unless you're seeing something wrong with it, and that says more about you than it does anyone else

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maverick4002@reddit

Yeah sure, okay

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RipCurl69Reddit@reddit

Come on...tell us what's wrong with it

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midatlantik@reddit

It’s typically used to describe non western physical characteristics and culture. In the UK especially, it is used in a pejorative manner so I can see why people tend not to like it.

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bisccat@reddit

Looks pretty good

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JoulSauron@reddit

If it's British Airways, they should make ethnic tails after Cardiff, Inverness, Derry and Slough.

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vaska00762@reddit

BA doesn't even fly to City of Derry Airport.

However... as part of the Project Utopia liveries, Benyhone (Mountain of the Birds) was a Scottish tartan design (Loganair currently has a tartan livery), Chelsea Rose was an English rose, Colour Down the Side was an abstract Cornish design, Colum (Dove) was an Irish pattern evoking St. Columba, Grand Union is a British canal boat motif, Pause to remember was a poppy for the Royal British Legion, and British Olympic Team (Teaming up for Britain) was for the 2000 Olympic Games.

Chatham Dockyard, the livery that was reserved only for Concorde was also a Project Utopia livery, but eventually replaced all the other liveries.

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JoulSauron@reddit

I was joking for Slough.

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vaska00762@reddit

It doesn't have an airport, I'm aware.

But Derry, Inverness and Cardiff all do.

Cardiff, as I've realised, has no mainline British Airways routes, but does have a Codeshare with Aer Lingus to Belfast City Airport. Inverness does have a mainline BA flight to London Heathrow, and will have a Codeshare with Aer Lingus to Dublin.

Oddly, apart from City of Derry, both Inverness and Cardiff have direct KLM flights to Amsterdam.

I know for a fact, also, that KLM flies to a good bit more UK airports than British Airways does. It's lead to KLM executives teasing BA that they should become the new UK flag carrier.

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JoulSauron@reddit

It's not about the airports, it's about ethnic libraries and Slough. It's simpler than that.

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YTGamerLH@reddit

💀

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Realistic-Bid9464@reddit (OP)

I think that the Ethnic/World Tails should have been kept to an extent. It shouldn't be the primary livery of British Airways because of standardization and recognition but I feel like having a special tail for one of every aircraft in their fleet would be a great way to showcase BA's destinations and reach.

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Realistic-Bid9464@reddit (OP)

I literally said the same thing the guy above me said, what's with the downvotes?

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fromcjoe123@reddit

Royal Navy brining back the Tribal-class?!

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avgaskoolaid@reddit

I'll never know why they couldn't have just split the difference on the World Tails. Keep the stylized union jack livery (that all BA planes now wear) as the standard, and apply a different World Tail to 1-2 airframes for each aircraft type in the fleet. Boom- you've maintained the 'Britishness' of the airline and the sense of place that World Tail critics wanted, and lean in to the internationalism and show off eye-catching art that the World Tail supporters wanted.

Moot point now- these will never come back- but that would've been the way back in the late 90s.

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ImissTBBT@reddit

I always liked the World Tails. They brought a splash of colour to a landscape rapidly changing to euro-white liveries. And would still do the same today.

I don't think there is anything wrong with celebrating the artists of many cultures.

Bennyhone was always my favourite. For some reason, that Tartan looked really smart on the tail of the aircraft that were painted in it.

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