A plane in vintage British European Airways livery will land at Leeds Bradford Airport today

A British Airways flight to Leeds Bradford will be operated by a special plane decorated in 1960s livery today.
By Grace Newton
Published 15th Mar 2019, 15:17 GMT
Updated 15th Mar 2019, 16:53 GMT
The Airbus in British European Airways livery is operating domestic BA flights this yearThe Airbus in British European Airways livery is operating domestic BA flights this year
The Airbus in British European Airways livery is operating domestic BA flights this year

BA is celebrating its centenary year be repainting aircraft in the colours of some of the predecessor airlines which were eventually absorbed into the present-day national carrier.

There's now a live webcam stream from Leeds Bradford Airport

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A Boeing 747 has been given the 1960s British Overseas Airways Corporation colour scheme and will fly long-haul routes for British Airways, while an Airbus A319 has been painted in the livery of the British European Airways line from the same decade.

The BEA-themed Airbus will fly the London Heathrow to Leeds Bradford route today, and is due to land at LBA just after 5pm. However, the roster is subject to change at short notice for operational reasons, meaning another aircraft could be moved to cover the flight.

It has already visited other British airports including Manchester and Edinburgh and has been operating short-haul European and domestic routes. Registered G-EUPJ, it will be retired next year.

The BEA livery was used between 1959 and 1968. However, the current aircraft has a grey upper wing, rather than the traditional red, to meet current wing paint reflectivity requirements.

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A jumbo jet in BA's Landor livery - named after designers Landor Associates - will follow, then a final design, which will be revealed later this month.

British Airways originated with the launch of Aircraft Transport and Travel, who ran the world's first daily international scheduled flights between London and Paris as British European Airways on 25 August 1919. It merged in 1924 with three other airlines to form Imperial Airways. Other air transport companies merged in 1935 to form British Airways, which became Imperial Airways' main UK competitor on European routes. Imperial Airways and British Airways were nationalised in 1939 to form BOAC, while BEA operated from 1946. The Landor. They were merged to form BA in 1974, and privatised in 1987.

Photographer Andrew Easby will be live streaming the plane's arrival at Leeds Bradford later - watch his webcam feed here.