liveries

Airline liveries come and go

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Icelandair is retiring two lovely liveries

Icelandair is retiring its Boeing 757 aircraft and refreshing and expanding its fleet with Airbus A321LRs.

That means two aircraft with much-loved liveries will no longer fly.

Vatnajokull (2017), the carrier’s ode to the largest glacier in Europe, was introduced in 2018 and retired last week.

We had the good fortune of flying on the plane in May 2017, before it went into full service, on a one-hour flight between Keflavik Airport near Reykjavik and Egilsstaðir Airport, with a route that went right over the glacier the plane is named after.

Now that the plane and that livery have been retired.

Here is Icelandair’s video about the creation of the livery.

Icelandair’s aurora borealis livery is going bye-bye too

Hekla Aurora, Icelandair’s northern lights plane, debuted in 2015, with interior aurora borealis mood lighting and an aurora borealis livery.

The plane’s last flight is scheduled for Sunday, October 12, and the airline has scheduled a special 1 and a half hour farewell flight from Keflavík Airport. Details here.

Looking forward to Lufthansa’s 100th anniversary livery

While Icelandair is retiring two cool liveries, Lufthansa is getting ready to unveil a new livery in honor of its 100th anniversary in 2026.

Starting in December, a new Boeing 787-9 will go into service with a special livery featuring a blue fuselage, the carrier’s trademark white crane hovering above it, and the bird’s wings merging into the wings of the aircraft.

In addition to the crane, the numerals “100” will be visible on the left side of the fuselage and the lettering “1926 / 2026” on the right side.

There will also be a 100” logo painted on the underside of the aircraft.

JetBlue’s donut plane

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JetBlue’s new “Brewing Altitude” livery


JetBlue has been serving Dunkin’s Original Blend coffee to passengers since 2006.

Now the Boston-based carrier is celebrating the perky partnership with a Dunkin’-themed livery.

One of JetBlue’s Airbus A320 aircraft now sports the Brewing Altitude paint job in Dunkin’s iconic pink and orange branding, with a donut and coffee motif.

Fly JetBlue’s donut plane, get rewards

To celebrate the new donut livery, JetBlue and Dunkin’ are offering a bonus perks to TrueBlue and Dunkin’ Rewards members who fly on Mondays, from May 19 through September 1, 2025.

TrueBlue members who fly on eligible routes on the aircraft will receive Mosaic 1 status and Dunkin’ Rewards members will earn Boosted status for three months.

Current Mosaic members will receive 20 bonus tiles, applied to their 2025 tile tracker. Existing Boosted Status members will earn two times the number of points on top of the base points earned for all qualifying purchases for three months.

Terms and conditions apply, of course, but you can see the routes that Brewing Altitude will fly each Monday of the promotion, here.

(JetBlue images courtesy JetBlue)

Brussels Airlines “Atomium” livery

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(Courtesy Visit Brussels)

Brussels Airlines’ newest icon plane honors the Atomium

Designed and built for the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 and created to honor the metals industry and the atomic era, the futuristic-looking Atomium monument is still around.

The structure wasn’t supposed to last beyond the fair’s run, but today it is a tourist destination, event venue, museum and the iconic symbol of Brussels and Belgium.

Now it’s also the inspiration for the newest livery in Brussels Airlines’ Belgian Icons series.

This livery design, by Belgian architect Thomas Faes, of Faes Architecture, was the winner in a Brussels Airlines contest that drew more than 900 designs seeking to capture the ‘essence’ of Belgium.

To transform the design into an airplane paint job required over 400 liters of paint and took about 2,400 hours to complete.

And while the outside of this Airbus A320 is pretty swanky, take a look at the inside of the aircraft. It tells the story of the Atomium structure with images of original sketches, historical photos and present-day imagery.

The other Belgian Icons airplanes

The Brussels Airlines Icons liveries have paid tribute to a wide variety of icons in Belgian culture, including the Smurfs characters and artists Magritte and Bruegel. Several of the special liveries have been retired, but liveries honoring Tintin, the Red Devils and Red Flames men’s and women’s soccer teams, and the Tomorrowland festival are still in motion.

Emirates has a new NBA livery

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Emirates is the official airline global airline partner of the NBA – the National Basketball Association – and is the inaugural partner of the Emirates NBA Cup.

To celebrate the 2024-25 NBA season, the carrier has painted one of its A-380s with an NBA-themed livery featuring a blue fuselage with an NBA logo.

The Emirates lettering, which is usually gold, is red on this aircraft and there’s a basketball bouncing between the NBA logo and the Emirates logo.

Want to see the plan in action?

The Emirates NBA logo plane will be flying from November 1 through December 17 to 14 destinations in the US and Canada, coinciding with the schedule of the NBA Cup. In addition to the logo on the outside, there will be NBA-inspired touches inside the plane, including co-branded headrests, drinks served on specially designed coasters and courtside-themed menus.

Basketball fans will also be able to watch select Emirates NBA Cup games live on Sport24 on ice, Emirates’ inflight entertainment system.

If you’ve got access to an Emirates lounge, you’ll also be able to enjoy an NBA-themed menu in the lounge in Dubai, New York JFK, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston.

Basketball fans can also get a limited edition replica aircraft model sporting the newly rolled-out livery at the Emirates Official Store.

The 2024 Emirates NBA Cup tips off on Tuesday, November 12. You can check the schedule of games here.

Eva Air brings another Hello Kitty plane to the U.S.

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People of all ages love Hello Kitty and her friends.

Put them on – and in – and aircraft and fans will be delighted.

That’s why the carrier partners with Sanrio, the Hello Kitty marketing company to put Hello Kitty characters on a series of themed airplanes.

The newest is the Hello Kitty Besties Jet, which set out on its inaugural flight on August 29, 2024, from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Taiwan Taoyuan Intl (TPE).

The aircraft will depart from Chicago every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday during the summer schedule, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in winter. 

In addition to the lively Hello Kitty and friends livery on the outside of the plane, plenty of Hello Kitty elements are inside the cabin.

Fans will spot Hello Kitty, My Melody, and the popular character Kuromi as well as specially designed headrests and meal service place settings.

Fun, right?

EVA Air now has four routes that feature Hello Kitty Jets.

Hello Kitty Besties Jet will be flying the Chicago route, while BAD BADTZ-MARU Travel Fun is flying the Philipines route, and Celebration Flight and Joyful Dream are alternating on EVA Air’s Bali and Cebu routes (Indonesia & Philippines).

As a nice touch, EVA Air still offers all the Hello Kitty-themed in-cabin amenities on days when the specially liveried planes aren’t flying on these routes.

Fun!