Yeah, Baby! How The Unique Austin Powers 747 Influenced Aviation
Many enthusiasts include various iconic cars in movies in their ‘all-time favorite cars’ lists. When it comes to aircraft, however, not many planes in movies come to mind, except for the Austin Powers 747 jumbo jet. Rather than other spies who preferred the speed and elusiveness that come with private jets, Powers flew with style, boldness, and flamboyancy.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Austin Powers 747 and its impact on culture today.
About the Austin Powers 747
The Austin Powers 747 was a fictitious plane with a color scheme of yellow, green, orange, and pink streaks. An ‘AP’ logo is also located on the tail of the aircraft.
The Boeing 747 inspired the Powers jet. While the first Austin Powers movie was set in 1967, the actual 747 didn’t enter service until 1970. Though this fact can be forgiven due to the humorous and time-bending nature of the Austin Powers universe.
Truth be told, the psychedelic jet never had a physical form. Each of the three Austin powers movies had budgets of $63 million and below, which didn’t allow for pricey planes. Instead, artists computer-generated the plane to establish when Powers and his colleagues were in the air or arriving at destinations.
However, New Line Cinema didn’t design the interior quite like a real commercial jet with seats. Riddled with flashy 60s patterns and decor, the interior featured at least a bar, dining area, and private quarters. The Mike Myers character had his own personal staff to serve drinks to Powers and his guests.
The ‘Austin Powered’ Jet Beyond the Movies
To coincide with the 1999 release of The Spy Who Shagged Me sequel, Virgin Atlantic teamed up with New Line Cinema for a special ‘Austin Powered’ livery. Previously, the airline had a ‘Spice One’ livery featuring fellow British music group the Spice Girls. These liveries, however, only featured a simple design on the jet’s nose rather than an overhaul like Powers’ own jet.
In 2020, then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave orders to overhaul the Royal Air Force (RAF) Voyager aircraft from an all-gray design into a white plane with strong red and blue accents.
The Union Jack is also present on the tail. The new livery reportedly cost around $1,250,000 (£1 million). Many considered the design ‘sounding like something from Austin Powers‘ before Johnson revealed it to the public.
Around the same time as the Austin Powers movie releases, Qantas had been growing a collection of artistic livery aircraft for its ‘Flying Art Series.’ Qantas released the first three aircraft in this collection from 1994 to 2002.
While the Austin Powers 747 was made for comedic effect, aircraft like ‘Wunala Dreaming’ and ‘Yananyi Dreaming’ were painted to highlight Australia’s old-world artistic culture. Both movements in the late 90s and early 2000s, however, helped make bold, colorful liveries on commercial aircraft more publicly acceptable. While airlines still feature clean designs, certain companies like Southwest have adopted a far bolder livery design to make their aircraft stand out proudly over others at airports.
