Welcome to Aviationtag, “Victor Echo”!

Apr 11, 2021

The latest milestone in the Aviationtag fleet is “Victor Echo”. The Boeing 747-400 with the registration G-CIVE and manufacturer serial number MSN 27350 was built by the successful US company The Boeing Company, taking to the skies for the first time on 9 December 1994. Barely two weeks later, on 20 December 1994, it was delivered to the British airline British Airways. Initially, the aircraft flew for their slightly lesser known and short-lived subsidiary British Asia Airways and also sported its livery. On 30 October 1999, the British Airways B747-400 G-CIVE was unveiled in Union Jack livery.

G-CIVE up in the air

The Boeing 747-400 was a real frequent flyer – over its 25 years of service, “Victor Echo” flew 111,086 hours on 13,356 flights, racking up 55 million miles. Its most frequent flights were from its home base at London Heathrow to Miami, Cape Town, Las Vegas and Vancouver, the destination of its last commercial flight.

“Victor Echo” flew in its original configuration throughout – 14 seats in First Class, 52 in Club, 36 in World Traveller Plus and 235 in World Traveller.

On 25 March 2020, the Boeing 747-400 was retired and parked at London Heathrow until 16 September 2020, when it was transferred to St Athan at 14:46 BST, where it awaited its next mission as an Aviationtag with us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLKasF1pBiw

On its retirement it still sported the 14F / 52J / 36W / 235Y configuration and Union Jack livery. We chose to cut the British Airways letters to get you as many blue and bi-colored tags as possible. Though the work was much more complicated, the result paid off: