London Heathrow to Johannesburg✈️: 1998 and 2000

How #NextGen B747 transformed flying in just two years✈️: 1998-2000

#SameDay #SameOrigin #LHR #SameTerminal #SameRoute #SameDestination #JNB #SameCarrier #BA #B747 G-BNLZ & G-CIVI #SameFeeling except boarding at different gates at T4*🛫

With the delivery of BA’s 59th and final B747-436 and retirement of its first Jumbo B747-136 in 1998, so much had changed in 2000 - from corporate ethnic tail livery disapproved by most Brits, to the original Landor livery retained by G-CIVI - from old to new seats in World Traveller/Economy offering more legroom and personal back-of-the-seat LCD screen, and next generation IFE (in-flight entertainment) experience of over 1200 different channels that come with the world’s first fully flat bed in Club World/Business Class, a far cry from the ‘Big Screen’ at the front of ‘Economy’ cabin, impossible to see depending from where you sat, that could only play one movie, and your choice was whether to watch or not*🙈🙈

1. London Heathrow/LHR🇬🇧 to Johannesburg/JNB🇿🇦✈: 8.8.1998
Return to Putney by rail from the seaside resort of Hove on the English Channel, adjoining Brighton/East Sussex, take Bus #414 over Putney Bridge to Fulham High Street, check out at Burlington Place 4NL SW6 and head to Heathrow Terminal 4*

#Speedbird #BA57 B747-436 (G-BNLZ) boarding @ Gate 19 T4*
No frills IFE system showing 'Titanic' on the ‘Big Screen’ hung above the aisle. No wi-fi, USB or power ports, otherwise, service excellent, efficient and friendly as always*💕

Touch down on Rwy 3R and witness the power of x4 Rolls Royce RB 211-524G engines on the tarmac on arrival at FAJS/JNB*✈

#QueenOfTheSkies G-BNLZ sporting Botswana 'Animals and Trees’ ethnic tail livery image that former PM Margaret Thatcher in 1997 famously covered with a handkerchief on a model #B747 declaring: "We fly the British flag, not these awful things" - later restored to Chatham Dockyard/Union Flag livery until she was withdrawn from service, stored and scrapped at Cotswold boneyard, Kemble in 2011, where she lies broken up and desolate*😭😭

2. London Heathrow/LHR🇬🇧 to Johannesburg/JNB🇿🇦✈: 8.8.2000
Check out at Burlington Place, Fulham 4NL SW6, early traffic build-up on busy #M4 to Heathrow🚕

#Speedbird #BA57 B747-436 (G-CIVI) previously named “City of Gloucester” boarding @ Gate 6 Terminal 4*

#QueenOfTheSkies sporting 'Waves and Cranes’ Japan ethnic tail livery. Good to see Concorde✈️ #BA003 taxing past, bound for New York/JFK👌
Push-back, engine start, taxi to Rwy 27R for take-off and soon over steady traffic on the M25*🚗

Club World in UpperDeck - awesome service as always courtesy of an amazing BA cabin crew*💕
Goosebumps feeling touching down on home soil Rwy 3R in time for National Women's Day🇿🇦 celebrations*💕🙏

G-CIVI 'Victor India' delivered to British Airways in 1990, withdrawn from service and stored at LHR 6 Apr - 9 Sep 2020. Farewell flight in Oneworld Chatham Dockyard/Union Flag livery to St Athan/Wales on 8.9.2020 for scrapping*😭😭