Anniversary liveries: how airlines put birthdays and milestones on their aircraft

A big “100” on the fuselage, a slogan under the windows or a whole aircraft in a color nobody else in the fleet wears: anniversary liveries are the birthday cakes of aviation. Airlines use them to celebrate round company anniversaries, fleet milestones or commemorative years of their country – and for spotters this creates one-offs that are often on the road for only a limited time. This guide explains which forms of anniversary designs exist, presents well-known examples from Lufthansa, KLM, Qantas, United and other airlines and shows you how to get the jets in front of your lens on purpose.

What is an anniversary livery?

An anniversary livery is a special paint scheme that celebrates a specific occasion. Usually it is a round birthday of the airline: 25, 50, 75 or 100 years. It can also be a fleet milestone, such as the hundredth aircraft of a type, or an anniversary outside the company – a national anniversary, a city’s birthday or the big day of a famous person.

What matters is the difference from a retro livery. A retro livery brings back an old design. An anniversary livery, on the other hand, tells of a date – and may look modern doing so. The two categories often overlap: many retro jets are created for exactly a round birthday, like the four historic designs British Airways had painted in 2019 for the 100th anniversary of its predecessors. Conversely, not every anniversary jet is retro by a long way.

A simple question helps with classification in your logbook: does the design celebrate an occasion or a look? If a number, a year or a slogan like “A Century Since Takeoff” is in the foreground, it is an anniversary livery. If the aircraft merely shows the logo from 1970, it is retro – even if the occasion was a birthday.

From decal to full paint job: the four forms

Anniversary designs vary greatly in effort. For spotters this matters, because the form tells you how conspicuous the aircraft is at the fence and how long the design is likely to stay.

Form	What it looks like	Recognizability at the fence	Typical run time
Title or logo	Number, anniversary logo or slogan on the standard livery	only up close or with a long focal length	often one anniversary year, sometimes fleet-wide
Partial design	large-area graphic on fuselage or engines, rest standard	clearly visible, but easy to miss	one to several years
Full paint job	own design for the entire aircraft	immediately striking	often several years
Historic design	anniversary as the occasion for a retro design	immediately striking	often several years

Whether a design is painted or applied as a film you often cannot tell from the outside. Films are easier to remove again, while paint lasts until the next scheduled repaint. The differences are explained in the article film or paint, and what a new paint job costs and weighs is covered in what an aircraft livery costs.

A special case is fleet-wide markings: some airlines put a small title on many aircraft in the anniversary year. That is appealing for loggers, because the designs can be collected over a whole year – photographically they are hard to show, though, because the detail quickly gets lost in a side view.

Lufthansa 2026: a whole anniversary fleet

Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on January 6, 1926. In 2026, Lufthansa therefore celebrates its hundredth – and has given not a single aircraft but a whole series of jets an anniversary design. According to fleet overviews, these include:

• the Boeing 787-9 D-ABPU “Berlin” since December 2025,
• the A320neo D-AING “Kerpen” since January 2026 and D-AIND “Unna” since February 2026,
• the A350-900 D-AIXL “Rostock” since February 2026,
• the A321neo D-AIEM “Hamm” with the design “A Century Since Takeoff” since March 2026.

The newest member is the airline’s first A350-1000: D-AIFA with the christening name “Deutschland”. Lufthansa calls it the seventh aircraft of the anniversary fleet. According to the airline, the ferry flight from Toulouse to Munich is planned for mid-November 2026 and the first scheduled flight for December 3, 2026 to Tokyo Haneda. Until it is in scheduled service, the timetable may still shift – so check current reports before you drive out.

On top of that, with the A321 D-AISZ there has been a retro-look jet since February 2026, which strictly speaking belongs in the retro category. For spotters the mix is a stroke of luck: you catch the short- and medium-haul jets at the hubs Frankfurt and Munich almost daily with a bit of patience, while you plan the long-haul aircraft around their rotations. You will find a detailed overview of all German designs under special liveries of German airlines.

The big centenarians: KLM, British Airways, Qantas, United

A hundredth birthday is still something special in aviation, because scheduled air service itself is only a good hundred years old. The celebrations were correspondingly big.

KLM (2019): The Dutch KLM was founded on October 7, 1919, and is considered the oldest airline still flying under its original name. For the hundredth, the first Boeing 787-10 PH-BKA, delivered in June 2019, received anniversary markings. Boeing 737s in the fleet also flew with a centenary design. The home of all the jets is Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

British Airways (2019): Formally BA only came into being in 1974, but its predecessors began the first scheduled flights between London and Paris in 1919. For the anniversary, British Airways brought back four historic designs: BOAC, Negus and Landor on one Boeing 747-400 each, plus the BEA colors on the A319 G-EUPJ. The three jumbos disappeared as early as 2020 with the end of the 747 fleet – a good example of how short an anniversary design can live.

Qantas (2020): The Australian Qantas was founded on November 16, 1920, in Winton, Queensland. For the hundredth, the Boeing 787-9 VH-ZNJ wore an anniversary livery. Already for its 95th birthday in November 2015, Qantas had unveiled the Boeing 737-800 “Retro Roo II”, whose paint scheme recalls the 1959 design.

United (2026): United Airlines traces its history back to Varney Air Lines, which began with mail flights on April 6, 1926. For the hundredth, United has put anniversary markings on several aircraft – which registrations they wear, you are best off checking in current fleet lists. Already for its 85th birthday, United had painted an A320 (N475UA) in a retro look.

Not just centenarians: 25, 50, 60, 75, 80

Many beautiful anniversary designs come from airlines that are not (yet) a hundred years old. An overview of well-known examples, current and historic:

• SAS, 80 years (2026): The Scandinavian SAS was founded on August 1, 1946. For its 80th birthday it painted the A330-300 LN-RKR entirely in SAS blue, with an “80” on the tail and a reinterpreted Scandinavian flag as a nod to the design of the 1980s.
• Austrian, 60 years: The Boeing 777-200ER OE-LPF of Austrian Airlines wore the design “60 Years Flying” from May 2018 to February 2025. Since then it has flown with Johann Strauss designs – details in the guide to special liveries from Austria and Switzerland.
• Condor, 40 and 50 years (historic): In the 1990s, Condor had the Boeing 757-200 D-ABNF designed by the artist James Rizzi as the “Rizzi Bird” for the 40th anniversary. The Boeing 757-300 D-ABON “Willi” wore the livery for the 50th company anniversary from 2006 until its phase-out in October 2025.
• Martinair, 50 years (historic): For the 50th company anniversary in 2008, the Boeing 767 PH-MCL received a retro paint scheme at Martinair.
• LOT, 90 years (historic): For its 90th birthday, LOT sent the Embraer 175 SP-LIM out on the route in the 1945 design.
• SunExpress, 20 and 35 years: SunExpress celebrated its 20th birthday in 2010 with a special paint scheme and later its 35th anniversary on a Boeing 737 MAX 8.
• TUIfly, 50 years: At TUIfly, according to the fleet list, a 737 MAX 8 flies with the title “50 Years”.
• Hamburg International, 10 years (historic): Hamburg International, which ceased operations in 2010, celebrated its tenth birthday with the dark blue A319 D-AHIK – now a pure archive design.

The list shows a pattern: smaller airlines often celebrate double-digit anniversaries already, network carriers more the big numbers. And the older a design is, the more likely it exists only in photos – one more reason not to put off current anniversary jets until “some day”.

When a country or a personality has a birthday

Not every anniversary belongs to the airline itself. Pegasus Airlines, for example, painted the A321neo TC-RDP in September 2023 for the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye. Austrian dedicated OE-LPF in 2025 to the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss. Such designs link the company to a national or cultural occasion and end up in collections sometimes under “anniversary”, sometimes under “culture” or “ambassador”. All that matters is that you stay consistent in your logbook.

Also related are milestone markings, for example for the hundredth aircraft of a type in the fleet or for manufacturers’ delivery anniversaries. How Airbus, Boeing and Embraer paint their own aircraft is described in the article on manufacturer house liveries. Anniversary jets have little to do with advertising and partner designs – those are distinguished in the guide to advertising liveries.

How to recognize an anniversary livery

At first glance, not every special paint scheme can be recognized as an anniversary design. These features help you classify it:

• Numbers and years: “100”, “1926–2026”, “60 Years” – a number on the fuselage is the clearest signal.
• Slogans: Phrases like “A Century Since Takeoff” or “Celebrating 100 Years” are often under the windows or at the tail.
• Modified logos: Many airlines design their own logo for the anniversary year, which also shows up on boarding passes and advertising.
• Historic elements: Old titles or color bands point more to retro – often with an anniversary as the occasion.

What the individual building blocks of a livery are called, from cheatline to tail art, is explained in the article livery design explained. And which designs have made history over decades is shown by the legendary airline liveries.

How to catch an anniversary jet

The hunt follows the same principle as with all special liveries: you do not look for the type but for the registration. The process is the same everywhere.

How to track a particular aircraft by registration is shown in the guide tracking an aircraft by registration, and how to set up notifications is in setting up notifications for aircraft. You will find general strategies for all special designs in finding special liveries, and how to organize your collection is explained in collecting and documenting special liveries.

What to keep in mind

• Do not wait too long. Run times are almost never announced officially. BA’s centenary jumbos flew for only about a year and a half; other designs disappear with a repaint without warning.
• Cross-check sources. Fans’ fleet lists, press releases and your own sightings sometimes contradict each other on dates and registrations. When in doubt, what you saw yourself counts.
• Photograph both sides. Some designs differ left and right, for example through titles in different languages.
• Take details along. Small anniversary logos next to the door or on the engines get lost in a side view. An additional detail shot makes the documentation complete.
• Follow the fence rules. Even for a one-off the same applies: public paths, no restricted areas. What is allowed is covered in Is plane spotting legal?.

Conclusion

Anniversary liveries are an airline’s most personal special paint schemes: they tell how old a company is, what it is proud of and sometimes also which country or personality it wants to honor. The forms range from a subtle title to a full paint job, the run time from a few months to almost two decades. 2026 is a particularly good year: Lufthansa, United and SAS celebrate round birthdays, and in Germany the Lufthansa anniversary fleet brings several designs to the hubs at once.