After about 570 days in storage, it has been announced that the famous G-EUPJ will return to flight operations.
The iconic British Airways A319 G-EUPJ is back in UK. The aircraft left storage in Madrid yesterday Wednesday, June 12 2024.
According to ch-aviation, G-EUPJ is just over 24 years old, having been delivered to BA in May 2000. The aircraft has flown exclusively for BA throughout its entire flying career, although it was officially declared as ‘stored’ in late 2023.
The aircraft was rolled out in its special BEA centenary livery on March 4, 2019, alongside two Boeing 747s also painted in commemorative color schemes (one in the early 1980s era ‘Negus’ scheme, the other in the Landor-designed livery). BEA operated from 1946 through until 1974, when it merged with British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC) to form modern-day British Airways. The livery worn by the BA ‘retrojet’ G-EUPJ was primarily seen on domestic and European routes between 1959 and 1968. The version unveiled on the BA plane varies slightly from the original. The aircraft features grey upper wing surfaces, rather than the traditional red as worn by aircraft in BEA days, to meet current wing paint reflectivity requirements.
The aircraft left Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport to London Heathrow where it landed at 14:15 BST.
Later in the day, the plane performed flight #BA1498 to Glasgow, first commercial flight since “retirement”.
G-EUPJ is scheduled to perform flights to Lisbon, Cologne and Nice in the 2 coming days.
Will you be keeping an eye out for it? Let us know in the comments below!
My wife and I flew in it from Heathrow to Basel on 5 October 2024
Thanks for sharing with us! How was your trip – hope it was good 🙂
Hi again Luke. Our trip was great. As we were disembarking, the pilot was standing by the cockpit door, so we asked him about the BEA signs and he said that they were retro. We enjoyed our holiday in Germany, France and Switzerland (we were where their borders all meet).
Thank you,
Vandon.