I think they rolled out the new livery a couple of months ago Robert, just a bit of a revamp rather than a really new design...
The red stripe is the red part of the French flag with the actual word(s) Air France being the blue on a white background - so they're trying to be a bit clever but I'm not particularly convinced that it works

And I'm sure if the suggestion they are taking over BA was aired over here, there would be lots and lots of coverage in the papers !!!