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Concorde Aircraft Livery
Unlike other airliners such as in the rest of the British Airways fleet back in 2003, Concordes have their whole fuselage painted white. The is with the exception of the French Concorde which had the Blue Pepsi livery but had speed limits placed on it as a result, and there was also another French Concorde which was painted for a special occasion during 1989 (More about these airframes further down the page).
Also unlike with other airlines the issue of temperature was very important to Concorde, darker colours tend to build up and retain and hold heat longer than lighter ones. As part of the operating envelope of Concorde, if the external temperature exceeds a certain point, (generated by airflow friction) then the aircraft must be returned to subsonic flight and therefore reduce the skin temperature of the of the aircraft. For this reason, the Pepsi Concorde did not go supersonic. This section takes a look at all the various liveries from the development fleet, through to the production fleets
Development fleet livery
The British and French Prototype livery
Airframes 001 – F-WTSS & 002 – G-BSST
The British and French Pre-production livery
The British pre-production livery – Airframe 01 -G-AXDN
The French pre-production livery – Airframe 02 F-WTSA
British Airways 1976 -2003
BA Concorde livery 1976 – 1984
The British Airways Negus Livery (Three versions)
Airframes – G-BOAA, G -BOAB, G-BOAC, G-BOAD, G-BOAE, G-BOAF, G-BOAG
British Airways was formed in 1974 through the merger of BOAC and British European Airways. However, BOAC and BEA had already started phasing in the new identity by then. So when Concorde was first delievered, it was painted in the Negus livery, and not BOAC livery, which was shown to the public when the orders were placed by BA.
The logo, identity and livery was created by Negus & Negus and presented in 1973. Also part of the identity was a part of the Union jack that could be found on the tailfin of the aircraft. As a result of pressure from BOAC employees, the speedbird that was part of BOAC’s identity was retained and put at the front of the planes.
Development Concorde G-BBDG was also painted in this livery, & one side only of Pre-production airframe F- WTSA
The British Airways temporaryNegus livery 1979/1980
Airframe – 214 G-BFKW (Later G-BOAG)
Airframe – 214 G-BFKW appeared in a temporary Negus livery from 1979 /1980. This saw the aircraft missing its blue cheat-line. Concorde G-BOAG had a less than glamorous start to its life as G-BFKW. After manufacture and with no buyer, it was loaned via a sale or return agreement to British Airways, to cover a 6 month period, while G-BOAC was being repaired at Filton.
Concorde 214 G-BOAG, was built as a standard 191 model, and was never fully converted to variant 102 specifications as was the standard for the BA fleet. (It retained its nickel-cadmium batteries, and charge controllers to prevent overcharge run-away).
The joint British Airways Negus & the Singapore Airlines livery 1979 – 1980
Airframe G-BOAD /G-N94AD
During the time that British Airways operated with the Negus livery, something rather different occurred, one of their Concordes operated with two liveries. In December 1977 British Airways extended their original Bahrain service to Singapore. The service only completed 3 flights before it was suspended owing to the Malaysian government withdrawing permission to overfly the Straits of Malacca.
The service re-started resumed in January 1979, at which time Concorde G-BOAD which recently had re-entered service with BA following modification proudly displayed the Singapore Airlines livery, but only on one side of the fuselage, the other side having the British Airways Negus livery. But the Singapore Airlines livery gave them great free advert, and the route was always a combined BA /Singapore airlines route, with just one Concorde G-BOAD.
The Flight deck crews were always British Airways with the cabin crew alternated by sector between British Airways and Singapore Airways. The London Heathrow-Singapore service was 3 times per week, and ran from January 1979 to November 1980
BA Concorde livery 1985 – 1997
The British Airways Landor Livery
Airframes – G-BOAA, G -BOAB, G-BOAC, G-BOAD, G-BOAE, G-BOAF, G-BOAG
On December 4, 1984, British Airways revealed a new identity and livery, created by Landor Associates. The choice of Landor sparked some controversy in the British design community, as it was unusual at the time for British companies to contract foreign agencies for design work. Perhaps in an effort to stem criticism, British Airways’ press release made sure to mention that other aspects of the rebrand would be handled by British companies, naming suppliers of paints, signs and stationery before mentioning Landor.
The new livery featured three colours, which were called pearl grey, midnight blue and brilliant red. Many aspects of the Negus livery were kept. Although the shades were different, with the exception of the Concorde fleet, the lower part of the fuselage remained blue, and the upper part had a slight colour change from white to “pearl grey”. The part of the Union Jack that was on the lower part of the tailfin was also retained, while the upper part of the tailfin was changed to blue and emblazoned with British Airways’ coat of arms. The font of the name was also changed.
The most distinctive change was the addition of the red “Speedwing” which runs along the entire fuselage. The Speedwing could also be seen in the airline’s new logo.
BA Concorde livery 1998 – 2003
The British Airways Union Flag Livery
Airframes – G-BOAA, G -BOAB, G-BOAC, G-BOAD, G-BOAE, G-BOAF, G-BOAG
British Airways unveiled a new identity on June 10, 1997. This was an attempt rid themselves of a stuffy overly British image and become a truly worldwide airline. The new identity was developed with Newell & Sorrell.
A new ribbon symbol was developed, which would sit prominently at the front of the fuselage. It was called the “Speedmarque”, hinting it link back to the old BOAC speedbird symbol. The typeface for the name became slightly “softer”, but still retained similarities with its predecessor. The amount of blue on the fuselage was reduced in favor of more white. The shades of white and blue became brighter.
The most significant part of the multicultural identity was that the airline allowed artists from all over the world to repaint the entire tail, with the exception of the Concorde fleet, with motifs the from the airline’s different destinations. When the “World Images” liveries were launched there were fifteen different tails designs. The original plans were to have up 50 different designs. But this was eventually changed has the tails designs proved too controversial, and after a few years the airline switched to a design with the Union Jack for all planes, which adorned the Concordes.
Air France 1976 – 2003
The Air France Concorde livery up until the late 1970s
The Air France Retro livery
Airframes – F-BTSC, F-BVFA, F-BVFB, F-BVFC, F-BVFD, F-BTSD, F-BVFF
One side only of Pre-production airframe F- WTSA was also painted in this livery
This livery features the seahorse, a symbol to which all Air France staff are strongly attached. The emblem of Air Orient, it combines the head of Pegasus, the horse of Greek mythology, and the tail of the dragon Annam to form the symbol of the relationship between Europe and the Far East. This story is told at www.airfrancelasaga.com through picture archives on the history of the Company since its inception.
Air France aircraft, with the exception of their Concorde fleet, had a bare-metal underside, extending up to a blue cheat-line that ran across the cabin windows. Above the cheat-line the fuselage was again white, with Air France titles and a French flag. The tail was white with two thick blue lines, which tapered from the rear of the tail and met at point towards the front bottom. This basic livery, with minor variations, would appear on all post-war Air France aircraft until the late 1970s.
The Air France Concorde livery from the late 1970s – 2003
The Air France Eurowhite livery
Airframes – F-BTSC, F-BVFA, F-BVFB, F-BVFC, F-BVFD, F-BTSD, F-BVFF
Air France’s present livery is a “Eurowhite” scheme, comprising a white fuselage with the blue Air France title and design. The tail is white with a series of parallel red and blue lines across it at an angle, and a small European flag at the top. This livery has been in use since the late 1970s
The Air France Special liveries
The Pepsi livery Concorde 1996
Airframe – F-BTSD
With its market shares eroding in the soft drinks market, the US Company Pepsi Cola needed to undertake a major re-branding of its products, therefore it spent $500 million US, on this project. Pepsi therefore started to look around for a spectacular and efficient manner to advertise its new brand style and in the process enhance its sales. It was eventually decided to have an advertisement operation involving the Concorde.
Pepsi started requesting proposals from both Air France British Airways, the only two operators of Concorde; Air France was awarded the contract from Pepsi. This mean that as the new identity of Pepsi was based on the colour blue, the aircraft would need to be painted blue. The issue of temperature is very important to Concorde, and the darker colours tend to build, retain and hold heat longer than lighter ones. It was necessary then for Air France maintenance staff to contact Aerospatiale, the French joint manufactures of Concorde, as the aircraft is only certified with a white colour scheme. They received approval to paint the fuselage in blue, but were advised to keep the wings in white due to the fuel temperature concerns.
Air France was advised to remain at M2.02 for no more than 20 minutes at the most, but no restrictions were placed on them below M1.70. This was not a concern for Air France as the aircraft was not due to operate any scheduled flight to New York or any other such long sectors.
A part of the preparation included the constitution of a maintenance package, necessary handling tools and ground equipment, etc., as for any unscheduled Concorde operation. Concorde F-BTSD was selected for maintenance availability reasons. The paint work started during March 1996 at the Air France maintenance facility of Paris, Orly. It required 200 liters of paint and 2,000 hours of work to complete the tasks.
The 20th anniversary event held at Toulouse, 1989
Airframe – F-WTSB
ABOVE: Concorde airframe 201 F-WTSB at the special Concorde 20th anniversary event held at Toulouse in 1989, displaying a very different livery.
Movie star livery- The Concorde “Airport 79″
Airframe – F-BTSC
The Concorde … Airport ‘79 was a1979 American disaster film (in the UK, it was released a year later as Airport ‘80: The Concorde). The film was the fourth and final installment of the Airport series. Panned by critics, the film also flopped at the box office. Produced on a then high budget of $14 million, it earned a little over $13 million thus ending the enormous financial success of the Airport franchise.
BELOW! Air France Concorde F-BTSC was used in a Movie, called “Airport 79, The Concorde”, and hence was given a new livery for the role
