British Airways (BA) will celebrate the achievements of Britain’s gold and silver Olympic medallists when they fly home from China.  The Olympic medallists will get an upgrade on their BA flight back and there will be a special surprise for them too.  BA plans to paint the nose of the BA plane gold to celebrate the team’s Olympic achievements.

Team GB is scheduled to land back on English soil on Bank Holiday Monday, the 25th August.

According to the BBC, both gold and silver medallists will be flying back club class and the multi-gold medallists, Chris How, Rebecca Adlington and Badley Wiggins will have a special treat and will receive a return journey in first class.

To recognise their ‘startling success’, the nose of the BA plane that flies them back from Beijing will be painted gold.  British Airways Willie Walsh said:

“Team GB has led the opposition home in event after event at these golden Olympics. It is right that a gold nose cone should adorn the aircraft that brings the team home to the UK. We salute our Olympians.”

To paint the plane’s nose gold is not an easy task and was a challenge for BA’s engineering team because paint cannot, for safety reasons, be metallic.  However, British Airways has found a silicone-based gold paint that will meet safety standards.