Historic BOAC-Liveried British Airways Boeing 747 Retired and Scrapped

A British Airways Boeing 747-400 bearing the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) retro livery has been scrapped at its storage facility in the United Kingdom (UK).

British Airways sent the Boeing 747-400, registered as G-BYGC, to St Athan Airport (DGX), Wales, the UK, in December 2020. It has been at DGX, also home to a Royal Air Force (RAF) base as the Ministry of Defence (MOD) St Athan, ever since.

However, pictures published on X on August 17, 2023, show the retro-liveried aircraft being scrapped, presumably by eCube, a company that has an aircraft dismantling station at DGX. One of the services the company provides is the dismantling of aircraft. According to its website, British Airways is one of its strategic partners, in addition to other airlines and lessors.

British Airways retired all 31 of its Boeing 747-400s in July 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the British carrier’s then-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alex Cruz said that the retirement was “not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of 747 aircraft”.

“As painful as it is, this is the most logical thing for us to propose. The retirement of the jumbo jet will be felt by many people across Britain, as well as by all of us at British Airways,” Cruz added.

Their retirement came just a year after British Airways celebrated its centenary, with the airline repainting three Queen of the Skies aircraft in retro liveries, including the Negus and Landor paint schemes.

British Airways unveiled the BOAC-liveried Boeing 747-400 in February 2019, when it arrived straight from the paint shop at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Shortly after, the aircraft entered commercial service to fly between LHR and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). It continued to do so until April 2020 when the airline moved it into storage at LHR, according to planespotters.net.

Before its final landing at DGX, the jet was stored at Cardiff Airport (CWL), Wales, the UK, between June 2020 and December 2020.

“We can assure everybody that this aircraft will take pride of place at Bro Tathan and continue to be enjoyed for many, many years to come,” Peter Dunsford, the Managing Director at eCube, said at the time.

“As we are no longer the owner of this aircraft, you’ll need to contact eCube for further information,” a British Airways representative said in a statement to AeroTime.