British Airways ethnic liveries was used on Concorde only. By 1999, BA had repainted around 170 aircraft in its new colours but then Chief Executive, Bob Ayling, announced a review of this process. The aircraft already repainted would keep the new designs, but the remainder of the fleet (still showing the pre-1997 union flag design) would receive a variant of Concorde's Union Flag design. The announcement was timed to divert some attention from Virgin's relaunch. A single 747-400 leased from British Airways to Qantas in 2000, registered as VH-NLH whilst operating in Australia, wore a hybrid livery complete with the Denmark "Wings" tail design.
Regional airline often formed to serve the area in which they formed. That is, there was no strong distinction between a regional airline and any other airline. This changed with the introduction of long-range aircraft, which led to the development of the flag carrier airlines, such as British Overseas Airways Corporation and Trans-Canada Airlines. As the flag carriers grew in importance with increasing long-range passenger traffic, the smaller airlines found a niche flying passengers over short routes to the flag carrier's airport. This arrangement was eventually formalized, forming the regional airlines. Through the 1960s and 1970s, war surplus designs, notably the DC-3,