Etihad’s McLaren Racing Dreamliner took its first flight on 10 November, running as EY103 from Abu Dhabi to Madrid just hours after the airline unveiled the jet at its Abu Dhabi hangar. The Boeing 787 wears McLaren’s papaya across a wide-body airframe, which Etihad says makes it the world’s first racing team livery on a wide-body aircraft.
The paint’s only the start. There’s a limited loungewear drop riding along in the premium cabins, and it runs on a clock.
Papaya on a wide-body, first stop Madrid
The unveiling in Abu Dhabi set a world record, and the airline wasted no time putting the jet to work the same day. From Madrid, the aircraft rolls out across Etihad’s global network, carrying McLaren Racing’s colours from the racetrack to runways on multiple continents as the season builds toward the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Partnership liveries usually live on narrow-bodies or cargo frames, where the canvas is smaller and the routes shorter. A 787 changes the exposure completely, because the jet works long sectors with long ground turns at major hubs, sitting in full view of terminals for hours at a stretch.
Timing’s doing quiet work here.
Abu Dhabi hosts the Formula 1 season finale at Yas Marina, and Etihad’s the title sponsor of its home race, so a papaya Dreamliner touring the network in the run-up functions as a flying billboard that also sells seats. Every arrival puts the partnership in front of spotters, passengers and departure boards at once.
McLaren’s papaya helps the cause in a way a subtler scheme wouldn’t. Few colours read as clearly across a crowded apron or a grainy phone photo, so the jet stays recognisable in exactly the amateur photography that spreads a livery furthest, from terminal windows to spotting hills.
Keepsakes in every cabin on day one
Passengers on the inaugural Madrid flight got the full treatment. Everyone aboard received commemorative Etihad and McLaren Racing cards and branded cookies, while Business guests also picked up branded caps and cards signed by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Signed cards beat a safety video.
Small, well-chosen keepsakes punch far above their cost on a launch flight, because they turn a normal sector into a story passengers retell, photograph and post before the aircraft has even pushed back. Etihad extended the celebration through the whole cabin rather than fencing it behind the premium curtain, which fits a partnership aimed at fans as much as frequent flyers.
The aircraft itself now becomes the keepsake at network scale. It’ll rotate through destinations across the schedule, so catching it becomes a small game for spotters and McLaren fans, the same dynamic that keeps special liveries photographed years after their launch window closes.
The Grand Prix timing sharpens everything. Abu Dhabi closes the Formula 1 calendar, the paddock flies in and out on the home carrier’s network, and a papaya wide-body parked at the home hub during race week puts the partnership in the background of half the sport’s photography that weekend.
Loungewear that leaves with you
To mark the jet entering service, Etihad’s released a limited-edition loungewear collection co-branded with McLaren Racing, built for guests in Business, First and The Residence on longer routes. Business travellers get a crew-neck design, while First and The Residence guests get an exclusive zip-neck version, both finished with papaya detailing and sizes running from S to XL.
Every set’s the guest’s to keep after landing.
The rollout runs in phases. The collection launches exclusively on the McLaren livery aircraft until 18 November, then expands across the long-haul fleet and keeps running until after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, roughly a month of availability in total.
Airline loungewear usually stays anonymous, a grey set you forget in the seat pocket. Papaya trim and a hard end date flip that into merchandise behaviour, the kind passengers deliberately book around. If you’re flying Etihad long-haul in the premium cabins this month, the flight home may come with the most collectable pyjamas in the sky right now.
There’s a fleet logic point too. Etihad’s 787s work the airline’s longest sectors, so a single special airframe accumulates more international exposure per month than a short-haul jet would in a year, touching Europe, Asia and beyond in a normal rotation.
Spotters track special liveries the way fans track transfer news, and Etihad knows the jet will be photographed at every station it visits this winter. Each of those frames carries both brands into feeds the airlines and the team could never buy their way into, which is precisely why launch liveries keep getting bolder.
Etihad calls the jet one of the first highly visible expressions of the McLaren Racing partnership, with the collaboration now running from the fuselage straight through to the onboard experience. Paint, pyjamas and signed cards is a tidy three-layer launch.
Watch for the papaya 787 on departure boards through December. It’ll be the easiest aircraft at any airport to spot, which is rather the idea.
