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Editorial Disclosure
Cathay Pacific just unveiled its hotly anticipated retro Boeing 747 “lettuce leaf sandwich” livery, and it looks even better in person than in the renderings.
The Hong Kong–based carrier revealed the special paint job on Wednesday at an event I attended as a guest of the airline.
The limited-edition design celebrates Cathay’s 80th anniversary and brings back one of the most iconic liveries in the airline’s history.
Cathay Pacific lettuce leaf livery
Cathay has painted two jets in the nostalgic green-and-white scheme: an Airbus A350 (registered B-LRJ) and a Boeing 747-8 freighter (registered B-LJE). A third, yet-to-be-announced special livery is expected to debut in the coming weeks.
Even though Cathay no longer operates passenger versions of the 747, the airline chose to paint one of its double-decker freighters in the retro design as a nod to the era when its passenger 747s proudly wore the same look.
The 747 spent nearly two months in Xiamen, China, undergoing maintenance and receiving its new paint job. It’ll soon head back out on cargo missions around the world — now in arguably one of the most eye-catching liveries flying today.
The contrast between the deep green and crisp white looks fantastic on the 747’s jumbo fuselage. I especially appreciate how the sweeping lines extend onto the engines, mirroring the geometric pattern along the aircraft’s body.
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The oversized “80” on the fuselage makes it clear that this is a commemorative design, not necessarily a permanent fleetwide change.
Cathay Pacific livery history
Cathay Pacific was founded in 1946 with a converted Douglas DC-3 featuring a simple bare-metal finish and red “Cathay Pacific Airways” titles. When the airline entered the jet age with the Convair 880, it introduced the first iteration of the now-famous green-and-white “lettuce” livery. (Pilots jokingly referred to it as the “cucumber sandwich.”)
The Boeing 747 later became synonymous with Cathay’s long-haul expansion, helping the airline grow across the Pacific and into North America.
For decades, the jumbo jet wore variations of the lettuce design before the airline retired it in favor of the first-generation brushwing logo — the look that still flies today.
I was just a toddler when Cathay retired the lettuce leaf livery, so I never got to see it in its heyday. But seeing it on a 747 feels like a full-circle moment for this aviation enthusiast.
And hey, if Cathay decided to bring it back across the entire fleet, I doubt many avgeeks would complain.
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