London: It's a bird, it's a plane — it's a plane that looks a bit like a bird.
British Airways has unveiled the first in a flock of Olympic-themed jets that will fly during this summer's London Games.
The Airbus A319, which has been painted to resemble a giant gold dove, went into service yesterday, the first of nine similarly decorated Olympic planes.
Artist Tracey Emin mentored designer Pascal Anson, who created the look of the plane. Emin said she loved the design, which "brings back the excitement of travel."
Honouring talent
The planes are one of several Olympic-themed projects for British Airways designed to celebrate British creative talent. Chef Heston Blumenthal is helping colleague Simon Hulstone develop in-flight meals inspired by traditional British cookery and the 1948 London Olympics, and actor Richard E. Grant has helped writer Prasanna Puwanarajah script a short film to be shown on flights.
All three projects — though not an actual Airbus — will be on display at an aviation-themed pop-up restaurant, gallery and cinema in London from today until April 17.
Meanwhile, British Airways parent IAG won European Union antitrust approval to purchase Deutsche Lufthansa AG's BMI unit in a deal that will boost its position at London's capacity-constrained Heathrow airport.
Ceding slots
IAG, which agreed in December to buy BMI for £172.5 million (Dh1.01 billion), will cede 14 takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow to rivals out of the 56 controlled by BMI and connect passengers to competing long-haul flights there in order to maintain competition, the European Commission said yesterday.
"It's a price worth paying and, if anything, makes integrating BMI somewhat easier in the short term as there's less pressure to find a profitable use for all of its slots," Douglas McNeill, a transport analyst at Charles Stanley in London, said.
