Posts in the category "liveries":

(Very decadent) cupcakes show off the new Fiji Airways livery

Air Pacific’s makeover continues with the next step of its rebranding as Fiji Airways, the name the airline originally had back in 1951.

Fiji Airways had a reception at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday to welcome its newest airplane – an Airbus A330 named – Namuka-I-Lau –which is not only the name of one of Fiji’s 333 islands, but the island where Makereta Matemosi lives. She’s the Fijian artist commissioned to create the design for the airline’s new livery, which originates from traditional Fijian art form known as Masi.

Fijian artist Makereta Matemosi demonstrating how she makes her Masi designs.

At the event, Matemosi explained the different meanings behind the various motifs in her Masi design for the new Fiji Airways brandmark, which has as its centerpiece the Teteva.

The big circle has four crosses at its ‘corners,’ which are meant to signify interconnection and the way the airline connects people to the Fiji Islands. The inner circle reflects the spiritual values of the Fijian people, and the middle, which has sixteen petal shapes, is meant to reflect people working together.

Matemosi said the innermost part of the design – the diamond – represents love.

This new Airbus A330 airplane, one of three the airline is adding to its fleet, will begin flying from Los Angeles to Fiji on July 1, 2013.

Categories: Airplanes, liveries, Uncategorized
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Finnish airline Finnair and Marimekko, the Finnish design and fashion house known for bright colors and patterns, make a lovely couple.

Last October, the two companies got together to paint a plane in Marimekko’s Unikko (poppy) print.

Next week another Marimekko-themed plane will take to the sky with this Finnish Airbus 300 adorned with a livery based on Marimekko’s “forest dwellers” (Metsänväki) pattern, in shades of green, brown and blue designed “to tell the story of Finnish nature and the views seen when looking down from an aircraft window.”

The Marimekko influence continues inside the airplane as well:

Beginning next week, Business Class passengers will be eating their meals from new Marimekko tableware.
And this summer, Marimekko napkins, blankets, pillows and head rest covers will be introduced as well.
And, back in Economy Class, the same prints will show up on paper cups, headrest covers, fleece blankets and pillows.

Like what you see? You’ll be able to buy some of the items on-line and on the planes.

Here’s a lovely video that includes details about the design of the patterns.

Categories: liveries
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What’s that up in the sky? Usually it’s an airplane painted with an airline’s standard design, or livery, which serves as an important part of a company’s brand. But these lively, often one-off airline liveries use cartoon characters, animals and other imagery to perk up the skies.

Here are some of the fun airline liveries I found for a slide show on MSN Travel.

Alaska Airlines Salmon-Thrity-Salmon (Courtesy of Alaska Airlines)

Alaska Airlines’ theme planes honor Disneyland and colleges, universities and sports teams in the Northwest. Most popular, though, is the Salmon-Thirty-Salmon II livery, unveiled last October, which transforms a Boeing 737-800 into a 129-foot-long flying fish, complete with scales on the wings and salmon-pink lettering across the fuselage. A previous version of the flying salmon was painted onto a 737-400 in 2005 and repainted with the carrier’s traditional Eskimo livery in 2011.

Air New Zealand – ‘Hobbit’ plane

As part of a two-movie partnership with the producers of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” Air New Zealand last year produced a “Hobbit”-themed in-flight safety video and unveiled the first of two “Hobbit”-themed liveries. The first, applied to a Boeing 777-300, is flying now between the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, which stood in for Middle Earth in the movies. Another flying billboard, applied to a 777-200, will take flight when the second movie arrives in theaters.

Qantas – boxing kangaroo

A drawing of a kangaroo has been part of the Qantas Airlines livery for many years, and during the 2012 Summer Olympics, it donned a pair of boxing gloves to become a flying mascot for Australia’s Olympic teams. “The kangaroo is seen as a sporting image in Australia,” said Clark of TheDesignair.net, “and adding the boxing gloves sits well with the international image that Australia portrays of being a humorous society.”

Frontier Airlines – ‘spokesanimals’

Last April, Frontier Airlines announced that a wise-cracking parrot named — what else? — Polly beat out Chloe the chipmunk, Enrique the tree frog and 15 other cute contenders to win a new and coveted spot as a “spokesanimal” on the tail of a plane. Polly is in good company: 60 other animals, including Larry the lynx and Jack the rabbit, also have their pictures on Frontier Airlines planes.

Categories: liveries
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I’ve been gathering up images and information about fun airline liveries for a story to be delivered next week and finally made contact with a representative at Eva Air, the Taiwan-based airline that has five Hello Kitty-themed jets: Magic, Apple, Global, Happy Music and Speed Puff.

The Hello Kitty theme isn’t just painted onto the jets, it extends inside, where there are more than 100 in-flight service items, including some the fun and very cute items below.

And – my favorite – the kid’s meal.

Categories: Kids, Kids travel, liveries, Souvenir Sunday
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ANA (All Nippon Airlines) was founded in 1952 and to celebrate its 60^th anniversary the Japanese airline held a contest to design a special anniversary aircraft livery.

Passengers and airline employees were invited to vote for one of nine short-listed entries chosen from a whopping 7,042 entries and the design shown on the model below was chosen as the winner.

The design has been painted onto one of ANA’s 767-300 aircraft operating on domestic routes and is being unveiled in Japan on Saturday.

Categories: liveries
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