Rebranding | 1988

(TOP)
Airline - Royal Airways
Aircraft - Boeing 737-400 | G-UBGE
Delivered to Royal Airways, 1988
Sold to Air Miwuka, 2004
Stored at Naga Airport, 2008
Scrapped at Naga Airport, 2008
Livery - Standard 1988
Country - Great Britain

(BOTTOM)
Airline - Royal Airways
Aircraft - Boeing 767-300ER | G-TSHW
Delivered to Royal Airways, 1988
Stored at Cardiff Airport, 2019
Stored at Bruntingthorpe, 2019
Scrapped at Bruntingthorpe, 2019
Livery - Standard 1988
Country - Great Britain

In 1988, Royal Airways underwent a rebranding process, moving to what management considered darker and more dignified shades of red and blue, as well as a somewhat shiny gray fuselage paint which changed shades significantly depending on lighting. The logo originally inherited from British Atlantic Airways - the Poseidon wearing the Imperial State Crown and holding a trident - was enlarged and used more prominently on the tail, rather than as a small detail like on the previous livery.

This image shows two regional aircraft delivered to Royal Airways in 1988 - G-UBGE, the airline's first 737-400, and G-TSHW, its third 767-300ER. They were among the first aircraft to wear the new livery, in fact it was first presented to the press and public on the newly painted and delivered G-TSHW. The 737-400s were ordered to supplement the 737-200 and -300 fleet, providing slightly more capacity than a -300, and (together with the BAe 146es being delivered around the same time) helped phase out the BAC 1-11s still left in the fleet. As discussed previously, Royal Airways ordered its 767-300s to replace its A300s and all variants of the L1011 it operated at the time, and just over a third of 767s were delivered in a regional config, designed to replace the ex-British International L1011-1s and ex-British Atlantic Airways A300s that Royal Airways operated on high-demand domestic and European routes. G-TSHW was the first of these regional 767s to be delivered, featuring fifty Statesman Class seats (which were basically the same as those installed in Empire Class on the long-haul-configured 767s, but with less seat pitch and shorter recline), and 233 Tourist Class seats, for a total capacity of 283 (see seatmap below). In April of 1988, shortly after transatlantic 767 service began, European 767 flights were inaugurated, with the first destinations being Manchester, Zurich, Vienna, and Athens.