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London (CNN) – Among the usual traffic jams that took off Tuesday morning at London's Heathrow Airport, there was a blast from the past: a retro-styled British Airways Boeing 747.
The Boeing 747 – adorned with a livery used between 1964 and 1974 – left for JFK Airport in New York as part of the airline's centennial celebrations.
The plane was stripped of its modern architecture at Dublin Airport earlier this month, before being painted in the vintage style of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), a predecessor of British Airways.
Large crowds gathered Monday in Heathrow to host the plane, dressed in a livery not as before for four decades.
The plane will continue to fly in its BOAC retro design until 2023, British Airways said in a statement.
The Tuesday flight retraces the first route taken by the Boeing 747 in the colors of the BOAC.
Large crowds gathered at Heathrow to see the freshly painted aircraft.
British Airways
Enthusiasts can continue to follow the routes of the plane around the world using the flight tracking radar, which will feature a special livery icon.
"The tremendous interest we have for this project demonstrates the attachment of many to the history of British Airways," said airline CEO Alex Cruz in a statement.
"In this centennial year, it's a pleasure to celebrate our past while looking towards the future," he added.
As part of the celebrations, last year, British Airways reviewed its collection of 1,200 eye-catching eye-catching posters.
Many posters in the book are from predecessors of British Airways – such as Imperial Airlines, BOAC and BEA.
British Airways, the company we know today, began operations in the 1970s, when BOAC and BEA merged.
And BA is not the only airline to celebrate in 2019.
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij – better known as KLM – and the Spanish company Avancia have both been active since 1919 and will reach their 100th birthday this year, while Australian company Qantas was founded in 1920.
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