British Airways Boeing 747 "Negus" Is Now A Winter Wonderland

The former jumbo jet is now providing joy and smiles to children in the Cotswolds.

What do you do with an enormous jumbo jet when it's reached the end of its useful service life? For some, it's a long rest in the desert; for others, it's a future of repurposing into keyrings and trinkets. But some airliners are a bit too special to be either abandoned to rust or to chop up into pieces. Such is the case with the four retro-liveried British Airways Boeing 747s, which were withdrawn from service at the onset of the pandemic.

While BA flew a sizeable fleet of 747, most of which have ended up parked or in pieces, these four heritage-liveried jumbos held a special place in the heart of the avgeek community. Not only is the 747 an iconic piece of British Airways' history, but these four jets tell the story of the BA livery evolution too, bringing back memories for many a passenger. Thankfully, all four aircraft ended up finding permanent homes, with a promise to be preserved for many years to come.

One of the four is housed at Cotswold Airport, and has been converted into an event space suitable for corporate engagements, parties and even weddings. Registered G-CIVB and sporting the iconic Negus livery, this Boeing 747 was one of the final two to depart from London Heathrow in October 2020, but is being well loved and cared for in the green countryside of the Cotswolds. While the Negus 747 has seen some fun times so far, nothing quite tops what she's doing right now.

Saving Christmas with Santa

We can confirm that Negus is looking good, and getting all the attention she deserves; quite rightly so, given that she has apparently just saved Christmas. The story goes that, as the elves were loading up Santa's sleigh, the runners broke, leaving the reindeer with nothing to transport their precious Christmas cargo in.

But one entrepreneurial elf, who goes by the name of Peppermint, had a plan. Calling Cotswold Airport for help, Peppermint secured the use of Negus to deliver the presents. But there was a problem with this plan - Negus has been drained of all her fuel (perfectly normal for an airplane in deep storage), so how were they going to move her? After consultation with Santa, they decided it would be alright because the reindeer could manage to pull even this big jumbo jet. 

So the British Airways 747 will be saving Christmas this year, but before it does, children of all ages are being invited to see the operations for themselves and to meet Santa himself onboard Negus. With a back story like that, who could refuse?!

Getting a Boeing 747 ready for Christmas

The festive atmosphere is set as soon as people arrive at the airport, with the 747 surrounded with Christmas decorations. To check in for your flight, you must enter a tented security area, where your passport and boarding card will be checked by some of the most lively elves you've ever met.

Before you can step on the plane, you must pass through a naughty or nice detector. If you're not nice enough, you'll need to sing a Christmas song or two to boost the cheer factor.

Alongside the check-in area is a giant snow globe. If you look carefully, you can even spot Negus soaring over the snowy village.

The elf and safety briefing

As soon as you board the Boeing 747, it's time for the safety briefing. This takes place in the forward cabin of the main deck, in some rather comfortable World Traveler Plus seats. Forward of this small cabin would be first class, but we were not permitted to see inside that area - apparently, secret elf things were going on in there.

Having had the elf and safety briefing, we were permitted to pass through the first galley and into the main Club World cabin. This took us past the staircase to the upper deck, also a Club World cabin, but that was out of bounds too (I'm pretty sure they're keeping the reindeer up there).

Into Club World and there are presents everywhere. Also, one of the elves seems to have had a nasty encounter with the overhead bins. But Christmas has arrived in spades - just look at the ceiling!

It's tricky to even make out the old BA seats here, there's so much Christmas paraphernalia everywhere, but under it all, it's definitely still an airplane cabin. The same cannot be said for the economy cabins in the rear of the aircraft.

Barely recognizable

The two main economy (or World Traveler) sections at the back end of the plane are barely recognizable as airplane cabins anymore. The seats and furnishings are all removed entirely, turning this into a huge event space suitable for dancing, dining or meeting. Right now, however, the first cabin is where the elves take care of all their Christmas trees, and where the Northern Lights shine all day long.

The cabin walls have cleverly been covered by mirrors, so the whole space feels an awful lot bigger than it actually is (and it's actually really quite big already!).

Separating the two cabins, where the galley for the economy section used to live, this area is now a bar-cum-DJ booth. It wasn't being used for anything much by the elves, but you can almost imagine a world-class DJ spinning his stuff there and people dancing in the spacious cabin adjacent.

Through to the final cabin, the very rear economy cabin of the Boeing 747, and this is where it gets really special. A special elf knock on the red door gets everyone access to the front room of Santa himself. There are no passenger seats in this area either; in fact, you have to keep reminding yourself you're on an airplane at all. Children's letters to Santa hang from the ceiling, and presents are piled high in the corners. It's a very special ending to a very special visit.

Having finished on the plane, there are several other things to do, including stuffing your own teddy in the toy workshop and decorating gingerbread with Meredith (Merry) Christmas. But for us, it was all about Negus and the fabulous afterlife she's secured herself. We only wish more retired airframes could be used in such an innovative, inclusive and fun way.