The Complete List of Airliner Retro Liveries in 2020

by Matt Falcus
49K views

Airlines love to give respect to their heritage by painting their aircraft in former liveries, marking how the airline used to look.

Sometimes they will paint aircraft in the livery of an airline which was merged into the current carrier, or the former name of the current carrier.

These are commonly known as “retro liveries”.

Some have sadly been lost as the standard livery is repainted back on the aircraft, or when the aircraft is scrapped or sold. And each year there seem to be new ones which appear.

Recently British Airways celebrated its 100th anniversary by painting four aircraft in former liveries.

 

Here is the complete list of airliner retro liveries in 2020:

[Download a list of all the retro liveries here]

 

N768AXABX Air Boeing 767-281(BDSF), N768AX, wearing the old Airborne Express livery.

 

Aer Lingus, EI-DVM, Airbus A320-214

 

VP-BNT

Aeroflot, VP-BNT, Airbus A320-214

 

Photo (c) http://www.desdeelpatio.com.ar

Photo (c) http://www.desdeelpatio.com.ar

Aerolineas Argentinas, LV-GOO, Boeing 737-7BD

 

Air Canada C-FZUH

Air Canada, C-FZUH, Airbus A319-114 “TransCanada Air Lines”

 

Air Malta, 9H-AEI, Airbus A320-214 – Removed from fleet April 2020

 

Bombardier Dash 8-Q402, Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air), N421QX

Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air), N421QX, Bombardier DHC-8-402 Q400

 

N742PS

American Airlines, N742PS, Airbus A319-112, “PSA Pacific Southwest Airlines”

 

N744P
American Airlines, N744P, Airbus A319-112, “Piedmont Airlines”

 

N745VJ American Airlines Airbus 319-112
American Airlines, N745VJ, Airbus A319-112, “Allegheny Airlines”

 

N838AW

American Airlines, N838AW, Airbus A319-132, “America West”

 

N578UW

American Airlines, N578UW, Airbus A321-231, “US Airways”

 

N905NN

American Airlines, N905NN, Boeing 737-823, “AstroJet”

 

American TWA Heritage livery. Photo (c) Adam Moreira

American Airlines, N915NN, Boeing 737-823, “TWA Trans World Airlines”

 

N916NN
American Airlines, N916NN, Boeing 737-823, “Reno Air”

 

N917NN

American Airlines, N917NN, Boeing 737-823, “AirCal”

 

Austrian Airlines Retro Livery (c) Austrian Airlines Emmanuel Schawaller

Austrian Airlines, OE-LBO, Airbus A320-214

 

 

N284AV
Avianca, N284AV, Airbus A320-214

 

British_A319_G-EUPJ_20190814_HAM-2
British Airways, G-EUPJ, Airbus A319-131, “BEA Red Square”

 

British Airways New Livery.
Photo Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography Copyright 2019

British Airways, G-BNLY, Boeing 747-436, “Landor” livery

 

BOAC 747
Taken: 18th February 2019
Picture by: Stuart Bailey

British Airways, G-BYGC, Boeing 747-436, “BOAC”

 


British Airways, G-CIVB, Boeing 747-436, “Negus” livery

 

LIL - Airbus A310-304 CC-150 Polaris (15003) Canadian Armed Forces
Canadian Air Force, 15003, Airbus A310-304 (CC-150 Polaris)

 

D-AICH
Condor, D-AICH, Airbus A320-212

 


Condor, D-ABUM, Boeing 767-31BER

 

DAT_MD-82_OY-RUT_20191212_BLL-2
Danish Air Transport, OY-RUT, McDonnell Douglas MD-82

 

El Al, 4X-EDF, Boeing 787-9

 

Garuda Indonesia (Retrojet) Airbus A330-343 PK-GHD
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GHD, Airbus A330-343, “1969-1985”

 

PK-GFM
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GFM, Boeing 737-8U3, “1950s”

 

Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach

Garuda Indonesia, PK-GFN, Boeing 737-8U3, “1969-1985”

 

Garuda Indonesia | Boeing 777-300ER | PK-GIK
Garuda Indonesia, PK-GIK, Boeing 777-3U3ER

 

Gulf Air, A9C-FG, Boeing 787-9

 

SP-LIM
LOT Polish Airlines, SP-LIM, Embraer 175LR

 

Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach

Lufthansa, D-AIDV, Airbus A321-231

 

Lufthansa Retro 747-830

Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach

Lufthansa, D-ABYT, Boeing 747-830

 

Malaysia Airlines B737-8H6 (9M-MXA)
Malaysia Airlines, 9M-MXA, Boeing 737-8H6, “40th Anniversary”

 

MEA Middle East Airlines, OD-MRT, Airbus A320-232

 

PIA AP-BLA Retro Colors
PIA Pakistan International, AP-BLA, Airbus A320-214

 

PIA AP-BLT a320 taxing to the gate in Dubai. 27.1.16
PIA Pakistan International, AP-BLT, Airbus A320-214

 


PIA Pakistan International, AP-BMG, Boeing 777-2Q8ER

 


Qantas, VH-VXQ, Boeing 737-838, “Retro Roo II”

 

VH-XZP QF B738 34L YSSY-2210
Qantas, VH-XZP, Boeing 737-838, “Retro Roo”

 

SAS_A319_OY-KBO_20180601_HAM-1

SAS, OY-KBO, Airbus A319-131

 

Photo (c) Erik Ritterbach

Southwest Airlines, N711HK, Boeing 737-7H4

 

TAP Air Portugal, CS-TJR, Airbus A321neo

 

Tarom_B737_YR-BGG_20170310_HAM-2
TAROM, YR-BGG, Boeing 737-78J

 

TunisAir_B736_TS-IOP_20190423_HAM-2
Tunisair, TS-IOP, Boeing 737-6H3

 

TC-JNC
Turkish Airlines, TC-JNC, Airbus A330-203

 

N475UA
United Airlines, N475UA, Airbus A320-232

 

N75435
United Airlines, N75435, Boeing 737-924ER, “Continental Airlines”

 

Vistara Airbus A320-251N cn 8326 F-WWIN // VT-ATV
Vistara, VT-ATV, Airbus A320-251N

 

Remember, you can download a list of all the retro liveries to tick off your own sightings here.

 

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20 comments

Dylan Roberts April 22, 2020 - 2:09 pm

Love the American Astrojet.

Reply
John Millar April 22, 2020 - 2:19 pm

The Air France Retro has been scrapped

Reply
Matt Falcus April 22, 2020 - 2:58 pm

Oh no! We’ll remove that from the list. Thanks John.

Reply
kabeeb April 22, 2020 - 5:56 pm

jet blue also has a retro livery

Reply
Matt Falcus April 23, 2020 - 9:28 am

Thanks Kabeeb. I didn’t know whether to include this one as it’s not an actual former livery of Jetblue (or any airline for that matter), it’s just a retro ‘feel’.

Reply
Martyn Cartledge April 23, 2020 - 9:01 am

This just makes me feel old…..I remember so many liveries when they were current!

Reply
Matt Falcus April 23, 2020 - 9:28 am

I wonder if future airlines will have today’s liveries as retro jets?

Reply
ALAN Edwards April 24, 2020 - 2:08 pm

Great list. OE-LBP has been repainted into standard Austrian livery now though. Also I think OY-RUT is just a ‘retro style’ livery as DAT never previously wore those colours.
It’s a pity Air France/KLM/Alitalia/Finnair have all repainted their retro a/c as they are a nice change, although I don’t suppose the passengers are too bothered!

Reply
Matt Falcus April 24, 2020 - 2:16 pm

Thanks for the update Alan! I’ll amend Austrian Airlines.

Reply
robert starling April 25, 2020 - 5:19 am

Jetblue???

Reply
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A Karim May 15, 2020 - 11:02 am

Great to see so many of the liveries that had become part of the memory. Thanks for sharing……

Reply
Mike Cottrell July 7, 2020 - 3:02 pm

Thanks, Matt, for a brilliant trip down memory lane. Many of them remind me of when I began spotting in the late 60s / early 70s. Unfortunately I have virtually zero photographs from that era, because (a) I had no long lens and (b) film was expensive.

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Bill Sage January 14, 2021 - 7:36 pm

Aloha,
I’m Bill Sage in Honolulu. Hard to believe I’m 74 now. Been plane spotting since I was a kid in the 1950s, and I’m trying to find master lists of the names for American and United Airlines DC-6 and DC-7 fleets. I’ve got all the Pan American names, because several websites have listed them. But American and United have stymied me. Might you happen to know? What I’ve been doing is trying to do a master list such as this:
cn 42883 DC-6 N90716 5.1947->American “Flagship Michigan”
and
cn 44897 DC-6B N37573 3.13.1956->United 6873 “Mainliner Honolulu” 1960 at HNL
where the picture quality is good enough to read the info. Unfortunately, many of them are too grainy or pixillated to discern.
My ultimate goal is to have a master encyclopedia of all the classic prop liners with their pics and information, and form a website so others may learn.
Do you know of any links or books that might have such information?
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Bill
Honolulu

Reply
Matt Falcus January 14, 2021 - 8:25 pm

Hi Bill. I don’t know personally, but maybe someone reading this can help and get in touch/leave a comment!
Matt

Reply
Aviationweb.me February 22, 2022 - 6:12 am

We posted a review about Retro Liveries in the Middle East with some you haven’t covered like Qatar Airways
http://www.aviationweb.me/2022/02/19/retro-liveries-who-wore-it-better/

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