The British Airways Queen of the Skies 747 in pictures

I am an AvGeek to the absolute core, and as a Brit, nothing pulls my AvGeek heart strings quite like a British Airways Boeing 747.

I was therefore rather sad to hear the news that British Airways is retiring all 31 of its Boeing 747s in the coming months, according to an internal companywide email viewed by TPG.

I have been lucky enough to get up close and personal with plenty of BA's "jumbo jets" whilst wielding my camera, and so here are some of my favorite photos I've taken of (and on) the Queen of the Skies:

On the ground at the Queens' palace: London Heathrow

Taking to the skies

The reveal of the Landor livery

In March 2019, British Airways unveiled its second Jumbo Jet in so-called “retro colors,” this one painted in the airline’s official livery from 1984 to 1997. Known as Landor, from the name of the design studio that produced it, the livery flew with BA before the introduction of the current scheme, known as Chatham Dockyard.

The reveal of the BOAC livery

A month earlier, in February 2020, British Airways had revealed the first of its retro-liveries. This Boeing 747-400 was outfitted in the livery of the airline’s predecessor, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).

A peek inside

The BA 747-400 was lauded for its private jet feel on the upper deck, which was home to a second, smaller Club World business class cabin. There was also nothing quite like sitting in first class in the nose of the plane. Seated in 1A or 1K, it was even possible to look forwards out the front windows due to the curvature of the plane's nose.

All photos by the author