I remember reading an article about how British Airways was planning to phase out the World Tails paint schemes on their fleet and go back to the "Union" tails. That was back in the spring and I haven't heard anything since. Does anyone know anything about that?? Thanks!John-PaulToronto

Yes, apparently the shareholders (myself included) did not like the idea of BA giving away their national identity with the multicultural tails. It was a good idea but it just didn't (forgive the pun) 'take off'. Besides the chattem dock livery (the union tails) is much nicer and gives the airline more of a singular identity.Cya ;-)

Do you know what the time-line is for the phase-out?J.

no. But with the current financial state of the airline, quite a while I would imagine.

IIRC, one of the last things Bob Ayling did before he left the airline was to announce that all new aircraft would be delivered with Union Flag tails, and that 50% of the fleet would carry them. I guess that means that when a/c go through overhauls, when they would normally be repainted, they will lose their World Tails. It's already evident with the BA franchise operator, Maersk Air UK. If you search Airliners.net for G-MSK, you'll see how their 737-500s lost their very nice World Tails, and got that very samey, rather boring Union Flag. Sorry, I'm British, but we only represent 40% of BA's customers, so it's right the other 60% should be from other nations. And didn't it brighten up airports? Knocked our European and American competitors into a cocked hat, didn't they?Rob