Posted : July 2013
Author : Josef
Ever since the
Wright brothers invented the plane in 1903, it has gone through many different
changes, shapes, and sizes over the modern years. Today, many airlines proudly
show off their planes with some unique art work and designs but some airlines
decide to go that extra little bit further and produce some stunning paint
jobs. Below are 25 of such planes which grace the skies with color and majesty.
The short lived
airline, Western Pacific decided to paint one of their planes with The Simpsons
in 1995 as part of the many advertisements that were painted on their planes.
Together Bart, Homer, Lisa and Marge graced the sides of the plane until the
airline went bankrupt in 1998.
24 US Airways – Arizona Cardinals
In 2006, U.S
Airways played homage to the Arizona Cardinals by painting it’s trademark red
bird logo along both sides of the plane. Looks pretty cool huh?
23 Lufthansa – Football Nose
Germany held the World Cup in 2006 and Lufthansa
decided to do their bit…by simply painting a football onto the nose of the
plane. Luftansa did this to 40 of its fleet.
22 Aeroflot – Olympics
Back in 2008,
Russian airline Aeroflot painted one of their planes silver and red to honor Russia’s
Olympic team. The plane spent weeks flying from Moscow
to Beijing and
back, shuttling Russian athletes, politicians and dignitaries to and from the
Olympics. The pattern on the plane is the same pattern designed on Team Russia’s
uniforms.
21 South West Airlines – SI One
This one is for the
lads! Back in 2009, supermodel Bar Rafaeli celebrated, landing on the cover of
Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit issue, by having herself painted onto a
South West Airlines plane……in nothing but her bikini. The plane carried the
sexy image from New York to Las Vegas until the airline repainted the
plane later on in the year.
20 Austrian Airlines – Wiener Philharmoniker
Vienna has been the starting point for some of the
most critically acclaimed composers, orchestras, ballets and artists of all
time. Their airline, Austrian Airlines, decided to show off their classical
history by painting one of their planes with violins, bassoons, cellos and
other various classical instruments as a tribute to the Vienna Philharmonic. It
was painted in 2006 but unfortunately repainted a year later so this paint job
doesn’t exist anymore!
19 Malaysia Airways – Hibiscus
In 2005, Malaysia
Airways decorated two of it’s Boeing 747′s with exotic designs based on red
Hibiscus flowers. This was done because the Hibiscus flowers are the national
flowers of Malaysia.
Unfortunately the planes were repainted back to their old schemes in 2008
meaning that this awesome design doesn’t exist anymore.
18 Virgin Atlantic
– Dita Von Teese
Virgin Atlantic is
famous for its trademark flying ladies that include Lady Penelope, Lady Luck,
Tinker Belle, Barbarella, Diana, Cosmic Girl and Scarlet Lady. Back in 2010
however, to celebrated 10 years of services from Las Vegas
to London,
Virgin decided to paint Dita Von Teese onto the plane! So if you ever wondered
why you ever saw Dita von Teese on a plane, now you know why!
17 Singapore Airlines – Tropical
Megatop
Singapore Airlines
painted two Boeing 747′s in the late 1990′s in a paint job called the “Tropical
Megatop” which was done to promote the airlines new first class and business
class service. Unfortunately, one of these planes, Singapore Airlines flight
006, crashed in Taiwan on
it’s way to Las Vegas,
killing 83 people on-board. The other plane was immediately repainted
afterwards and thus this paint job doesn’t exist anymore.
16 Air New Zealand – All Blacks
To celebrate its
sponsorship for the New Zealand All Blacks, Air New Zealand
turned one of it’s planes quite literally all black, with the trademark silver
fern logo painted at the end of the plane. Since 2011 they have six planes
painted black which are still in service today.
15 Air France – Pepsi
Yes we know, it’s
not a plane, it’s a Concorde! Often seen as a huge feat in modern aviation, the
Concorde hasn’t been short of amazing paint jobs. In 1996 Pepsi went through a
re-brand and teamed up with Air France
to promote themselves. The entire Concorde was painted blue and proudly showed
off the new Pepsi logo until it was changed in 2003.
14 Qantas – Wunala Dream
Qantas decided to
show off its countries aboriginal culture and heritage by painting its planes
in traditional Aboriginal art. The first plane was painted in 1994 and 3 more
have been painted since. A team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists helped
to create its extremely colorful designs.
13 Delta Airlines – Pink Plane
Delta Airlines
showed its support for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation by painting its
planes pink. The first plane was painted in 2005 and the ribbon logo is located
near the front of the plane. Their support doesn’t just stop their, employees
also wear pink uniforms and sell pink products including pink lemonade and pink
headsets on-board.
12 British Airways – Golden Dove
To promote the
London 2012 Olympics, British Airways held a contest to design one of its
planes for the special event. Out of the many entries submitted, this was the
winning design. It took 39 days to paint the Olympic dove. Golden feathers are
decorated around the plane and even the jet engines are decorated gold. The
logo, which is traditionally red and blue, is also painted gold.
11 Eva Air – Hello Kitty
In a bid to help
the declining tourism industry in Taiwan, Eva Air teamed up with
Hello Kitty to promote air travel. Many of the cute felines decorate not just
the outsides of the plane but even plane seats, boarding cards, check in desks,
uniforms and food. Yes that’s right, this plane even serves food designed and
cut out to look like Hello Kitty characters.
10 Etihad Airways – Formula 1
Etihad Airways were
the official sponsors for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix back in 2009. To
do their part in the sponsorship, Etihad decided to decorate one of its planes
in the traditional colors of Formula 1 which are red, black and white with the
tail painted to look like a chequered flag.
9 Japan Airlines – Disney Jet
Japan Airlines has
been the official partner of Disneyland Tokyo and Tokyo DisneySea Waterpark
ever since they opened. Characters such as Micky Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy
grace many of the planes the airline has decorated. Japan Airlines announced
that they plan to paint six more planes in the future for Disney.
8 Air New Zealand – The Hobbit
Air New Zealand
makes another appearance on this list. To celebrate the release of The Hobbit
and to promote the country’s film and tourism industry, the airline painted one
of its planes with the characters from the film. Even a specially made safety
video was filmed using the Hobbit characters for this plane.
7 All Nippon
Airways – Fly Panda
In 2007, to
celebrate 20 years of flying to China
from Japan, All Nippon
Airlines painted one of it’s planes as a Panda, one of China’s
national symbols. It’s still in service today and is appropriately called the
“Fly Panda”.
6 Thai Airways – Royal Barge
To celebrate and
honor the king of Thailand,
Thai Airways painted three of its planes with the image of the two traditional
royal barges, on either side. These traditional barges stretch from both sides
of the plane and even have small people painted on them to add attention to
detail as well as traditional Thai temples.
5 Swiss Air – San Francisco
Swiss Air unveiled
a San Francisco themed plane job to celebrate
the launch of its non-stop flight from Zurich to
San Francisco.
The flower power design includes peace symbols, music notes, love hearts and
words painted in hippy like fonts and colors. It took eight people, three days
to paint the aircraft.
4 Nok Air – Bird
Nok Air is an
airline from Thailand.
Nok is the Thai word for bird so in English the name can literally be
translated into “Bird Air”. To play homage to it’s name, all of it’s aircraft
are painted to look like colorful birds. The beak is painted on the nose of the
plane and the rest of the plane is painted in many different designs and colors
to make up the feathers.
3 Alaska
Air – Salmon-Thirty-Salmon
Alaska Air brought
out a plane called the “Salmon-Thirty-Salmon” in 2005 (that’s a play on words
for 737 which is the type of plane the airline decorated, a Boeing 737). It was
done to celebrate the airlines unique relationship with the people and
communities of Alaska
and to also promote the state’s seafood industry. The plane was unfortunately
repainted in 2011 to the dismay of many and after a year long outcry, the
airline brought back the paint job in 2012.
2 Kulula Airlines – Flying 101
South African
airline, Kulula Airlines was more than creative with this paint job. The plane
is decorated with labels that describe the various parts of the plane and gives
a brief description for what they’re used for. The airline did this to raise
awareness of some of the unknowns of aviation and to also raise awareness of
air safety.
1 All Nippon
Airways – Pokemon Jets
Japanese airline,
All Nippon Airways, has been decorating it’s planes with the characters from
Pokemon ever since 1998 to promote Japanese culture. Nicknamed the Pokemon
Jets, the airline has six of them which are still in use today. It’s not just
the outside that is decorated though, even cabin, headrests, uniforms, food
containers and souvenir bags are decorated in Pokemon designs to make the
experience a little bit more special.
~Blog Admin~
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