liveries

Alaska Airlines’ new Star Wars-themed airplane

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 Alaska Airlines made good use of May the Fourth – Star Wars Day – to unveil a new Star Wars-themed aircraft.

The plane has the iconic Millennium Falcon emblazoned on the tail chased by TIE fighters and is a tie-in with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the newest land of adventure at Disneyland park.

The plane, with a tail number of N538AS, has the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Disneyland Resort logos in the center of the fuselage. And you’ll see porgs, the cute avian creatures that lived on Luke Skywalker’s remote island, on both winglets. Another porg is at the boarding door.

Here’s a cool video showing the plane being painted.

To make this happen, it took 228 gallons of paint applied during 540 work hours over 27 days.

(All photos and video courtesy Alaska Airlines)

Brussels Airlines honors Flemish artist Bruegel with livery

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Brussels Airlines has a tradition of honoring Belgian icons on its airplanes.

So far, they’ve painted planes to honor Tintin, Magritte, the Red Devils, Tomorrowland and the Smurfs.

Now, Brussels Airlines has a 6th plane honoring a Belgian icon. This one is inspired by Flemish painter Bruegel the Elder.

Each side of the airplane has a different design and there are images both inside and out.

The Bruegel plane is part of a larger project to promote the Flemish Masters in 2019 and 2020.

To do that, Brussels Airlines and VISITFLANDERS are offering the Hi Belgium Pass: The Flemish Masters Experience. The pass gives visitors the opportunity to fly to Brussels from 48 European cities, take unlimited train rides to Belgian cities and visit a long list of cultural attractions for free, including Flemish Masters exhibitions and collections across Flanders and Brussels.

One bonus attraction: at Brussels Airport there’s an animated art installation at gate A40 that highlights the figures in Bruegel’s art.

United Airlines’ new livery

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United Airlines is having a reveal event in Chicago today to show the world the carrier’s new livery.

But, thanks to the magic of Twitter, we’re all getting a pretty good look at the design right here.

More images will start appearing online later today, but take a look at the short videos and images United has shared already.

As United says, a key difference is that the new design ditches the gold, in favor of United blue.

What do you think of the new design?

Vote for a United plane design

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There’s one more day to cast a vote in United Airlines’ Her Art Here contest, which is giving two women artists a chance to have their work featured on a Boeing 757 aircraft.

Judges narrowed down submitted artwork to six finalists – three for a design to represent New York/New Jersey and three for a California-themed design.

Now the public is being asked to vote for one finalist from each region. Voting ends April 19.

Here are few of more designs that made the cut:

Look here to see the designs for all six finalists and to cast your vote.

Two winners, one representing each region, will be given a chance to work alongside renowned artist Shantell Martin to finalize a design for their respective region’s plane.

The finalists and the winners will also get open gallery shows and have their art work on display inside United Airlines terminals through 2019.

Winners also get 100,000 MileagePlus award miles and the two winning artists will also each get $10,000.

The final designs will be on planes this fall.

Cool new/old liveries in the air

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Courtesy British Airways

Last week at Heathrow Airport, British Airways debuted a retro -liveried Boeing 747 (registration: G-BYGC) painted in the iconic design of its predecessor British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).]

BA 100 will remain on this Boeing 747 until the plane is retired in 2023. And by then, British Airways, like most commercial carriers, will have retired the majority of its 747 fleet. To find out where you might spot the plane in person, check Flight Radar.

BOAC 747 Taken: 18th February 2019 Photo: Stuart Bailey

There’s another retro livery to look for this week.

Courtesy Austrian Airlines


An Austrian Airlines A320 aircraft (registration OE-LBO) is flying with a livery from the 1980s, when Austrian Airlines re-entered the intercontinental flight business, “after a very long break,” the carrier notes.

Courtesy Austrian Airlines

The design has an angular logo arrow, grey aircraft belly and the traditional red-white-red flag on the tailfin of the aircraft.

“Considering the colorful era of the 1980s, it was, all in all, a restrained branding on the part of Austrian Airlines”, said Isabella Reichl, Head of Marketing for the countrey’s national carrier.

The carrier says the the retro look is a homage to the destinations of Tokyo and New York. Th plane’s first appearance is in Vienna today.