Let’s face it, we definitely need colour in our lives or else it will just be plain boring.
Indeed, there are a lot of very plain-looking airplanes around the world. That’s why we jump with joy whenever we see or spot an aircraft that has been painted with cool art.
Airlines love surprising us with stunning makeovers with colourful liveries.
The complexity associated with painting around critical flight components and the added weight requires careful planning from designers.
The average airliner can cost upwards of $200,000 to repaint, creating a separate aircraft repainting industry as a result, according to AirlineGeeks.com.
When done right, an airline’s livery can be one of its most effective marketing tools. A memorable paint scheme can help galvanise wider brand recognition, will further reinforce it in the public’s mind and fuel a carrier’s growth. Here is list of some of the most colourful aircraft.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) – Flying Turtles
ANA’s A380 FLYING HONU (Flying Turtles) planes painted with Hawaiian inspired sea turtles in the vibrant colours of blue, green and orange, returned in July 2022 to fly daily between Tokyo Narita Airport and Honolulu.
The theme resonates with ANA’s message of preserving Hawaii’s great nature. Sea turtles, known as “Honu” in the Hawaiian language, symbolise good luck and prosperity. The blue “Honu” livery represents Hawaii’s blue skies, the green for the crystal-clear water of the Pacific Ocean and the orange refers to the beautiful island sunsets.
ANA Flying Honu test flight at Toulouse Blagnac video:
Alaska Airlines – Salmon People
Alaska Airlines first took flight in 1932 by connecting small towns across Alaska including a route between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, home of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run. So it is no surprise that Alaska Airlines has the first livery in a domestic airline fleet to have the name of a plane in an Alaska Native language.
The aircraft is called “X̱áat Ḵwáani”, which means “Salmon People” in the Alaskan Tlingit language and refers to the spiritual link between the people who interact with the beloved salmon and the role they play in our environment.
Alaska Airlines Salmon People Aircraft video:
Iceland Air – Hekla Aurora
Dressed in the beautiful colours of an Icelandic winter landscape, Iceland Air’s Hekla Aurora has flown the northern lights across the Atlantic daily since 2017 .
‘Hekla’ is a traditional Icelandic girl’s name and also the name of ‘Aurora’ is a reference to the northern lights. The Boeing 757’s interior is also illuminated with beautiful mood lighting recreating the fabulous display of the aurora borealis.
Artists Paint an Entire 757 into Northern Lights video:
Olympic-themed aircraft
Following the 2024 Paris Olympic Games closing ceremony, Delta Air Lines carried the Olympic Flag from Paris to Los Angeles on its official custom ‘LA28’ Olympic Flag Flight on its A350-900 sporting the new ‘LA28’ livery.
The flight officially signifies the Olympic Games’ return to the US in 2028.
The aircraft displays three palm trees, emblematic of the years that LA has hosted the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games: 1932, 1984 and now 2028.
For the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics, ANA’s airplane depicting famous landmarks of Japan such as the Tokyo Tower and Mt Fuji as well as images of athletes in action were painted on a Boeing 777 aircraft.
Japan Airlines painted one of its aircraft in Olympic livery, reading “TOKYO 2020,” featuring Tokyo 2020 mascots, Miraitowa and Someity.
Many other national airlines like Air Canada, Air China, British Airways, Qantas etc also supported their national Olympics teams by painting their aircraft with Olympic-themed art.
Azul Brazilian Airlines – Sparrow
Azul revealed one of its new E195-E2s in a striking tropical livery that features native bird, Spix’s macaws, on each side of the fuselage.
The aircraft is christened “Ararinha Azul.” The native sparrow species was considered extinct for more than 20 years, but several were recently discovered in captivity.
Condor – Candy Stripes
German airline Condor stepped up its livery game with candy-colored bold stripes, inspired by “parasols, bath towels and beach chairs”.
There are five color options: Condor says the blue stripes represent the sea, the yellow stripes recall sunshine, red represents “passion”, green represents “island” and a beige-gold stripe should make travelers think of a sandy beach.
Condor has over 50 aircraft in its fleet, and promises the majority will be painted by 2024.
Special Events or Anniversaries
Some airlines just stick a number on their aircraft’s livery to commemorate certain milestones, so hats off to the airlines who take the time and effort to plan special anniversary liveries.
As part of the celebration of its 90th anniversary, Aeroméxico painted an aircraft in a special new livery on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that has yet to be unveiled.
The design features folklore of the Mexican culture, including flowers, birds and endemic species, as well as Kukulcán, god of the Mayan culture.
Emirates painted some of their aircraft to promote the Dubai Expo 2020. Once the Expo ended, all the aircraft were gradually returned to the standard Emirates livery.
In 2021, Emirates rolled out a special Airbus A380 livery to celebrate 50 years of the United Arab Emirates as part of a collection of aircraft from both the A380 and 777 families featuring the livery.
A colourful start-up
New Croatian start-up, Pragusa.One, is looking to serve the United States, China, Japan, and more from bases in Dubrovnik and Prague from 2025.
The airline will initially start operations with wet-leased A330s and A350s so let’s see how colourful their aircraft will turn out to be. An initial artist impression of an aircraft already looks very colourful.
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