liveries

Hobbit fan? Air New Zealand has a contest for you.

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Hobbit fan?

Air New Zealand, which calls itself “the official airline of Middle-earth,” is holding a contest to send three Hobbit fans (and their friends) to the red carpet premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Hollywood on December 2 and to send one big winner (and a guest) to New Zealand (aka Middle-earth).

Sound like fun? Here are the details:

1. Watch the fun video above.
2. Then go here to enter.
3. Entries must be in by Tuesday, November 26, 2013

AIR NEW ZEALAND HOBBIT

On December 2, Air New Zealand will also be unveiling a Boeing 777-300 aircraft with a special Hobbit film-inspired livery. The plane will start out in Auckland and arrive in Los Angeles in time for the premier of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Perhaps they’ll reprise this Middle Earth briefing video – or offer up something new.

Alaska Airline’s new Disney-themed airplane

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ALASKA AIRLINES Disney plane

Alaska Airlines introduced its fifth Disney-themed airplane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday and this one is decorated with Disney-Pixar’s animated Cars characters Mater, Lightning McQueen, Guido and Luigi.

Here are some factoids about the airplane:

•A 34-member crew worked around the clock for 29 days at Associated Painters
Inc. to paint the plane.

•Painters airbrushed the aircraft with 70 colors and applied more than 10,000 square feet of vinyl graphics to create the characters.

•More than 72,000 linear feet of masking tape was used during the painting of
the airplane.

Fun!

Win a plane with the new Air New Zealand livery

Contests, liveries, ,

Take a look at the new Air New Zealand livery bearing the New Zealand fern:

ANZ New Livery

Pretty, right?

The new livery is being rolled out across most all of Air New Zealand’s domestic and international aircraft and there’s even a chance to win your own – scale model – version of an Airbus A320 with the design. Download a paper plane version of the plane and follow the instructions for sharing a photo of what you create on Instagram or Twitter.

ScreenHunter_52 Sep. 26 21.27

Hello Kitty plane arrives in U.S.

Fun Stuff, liveries,

Hello kitty 3

Hello Kitty fans and fans of non-stuffy airplane liveries will be delighted to learn that EVA Air now has a Hello Kitty-themed plane flying to the U.S.

EVA Chairman and airline Captain K.W. Chang flew the first long-range edition of a newly painted Boeing 777-300ER plane from Taipei, Taiwan to Los Angeles on Wednesday (Sept. 18, 2013) and the Hello Kitty Hand-in-Hand Jet will now be used on three of EVA’s 17 regular weekly flights between LA and Taiwan.

Hello Kitty 1

The Hello Kitty Jet “experience” goes way beyond just the livery painted on the plane. There are Hello Kitty boarding passes and baggage stickers and, onboard, the cabin crew wears pink aprons that have Hello Kitty designs. During the flights, passengers use more than 100 in-flight service items, including Hello Kitty headrest covers, pillows, tissue, hand cream, hand-washing liquid, napkins, paper cups, utensils, snacks and meals.

EVA Air operates five shorter-range versions of the aircraft on regional flights from Taiwan to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Guam, each with its own theme: Hello Kitty Magic, Apple, Global, Happy Music and Speed Puff.

Here’s the Hand-in-Hand Jet, which has 19 different Sanrio characters and, according to EVA Air, is designed “to bridge cultural barriers and invite new friendships from around the world.”

hello kitty 2

Hello Kitty plane coming to U.S.

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EVA Hello Kitty Happy Music Jet h

Good news for Hello Kitty fans!

Eva Air is bringing its first long-range Hello Kitty-themed jet to Los Angeles International Airport next week and, like the other Hello Kitty-themed planes the airline flies in Asia, this Boeing 777-300 ER plane will be painted with its own Hello Kitty design.

Inside the plane there will be oodles of Hello Kitty service items, some of which will certainly look like this:

EVA Hello Kitty child's meal_small

EVA Hello Kitty Seatback Covers small

This new Hello Kitty Jet will make three trips a week between Los Angeles and Taipei.

Eva Air already has five shorter-range aircraft that it operates within Asia, each with a different livery design and each with more than 100 Hello Kitty-themed passenger-service items.

New uniforms for new/rebranded Fiji Airways

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Last week, Fiji’s national airline officially retired its Air Pacific brand and returned to using its original name: Fiji Airways.

Fiji Airways new plane

In addition to new livery, there are loads of other changes, including a new website, new routes, new airplanes (A330-200s; two of which have already been delivered), and new service classes: Pacific Voyager (economy) and Tabua Class (business) are out; Fiji Airways’ Economy and Fiji Airways’ Business Class are in.

The in-flight crew also has new uniforms.

FIJI Airways new uniforms

According to Fiji Aiwarys, the outfits are styled in accordance with the Fijian attire of Sulu Jaba and Bula wear and have aqua colors that contrast well with the earthy brown colors featured in the cabin. The uniforms feature three different masi motifs created by Fijian masi artist Makereta Matemosi: the Qalitoka symbolizes the unity of people to complete a task, Tama symbolizes friendly service and Droe, which means clear blue skies and cool breeze on beaches.

Fiji Airways uniform

Student’s design lands on Alaska Airlines airplane

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ALASKA HAWAII PLANE

It must be quite a thrill to see your artwork on an airplane.

A design created by a 17-year-old high school student from Honolulu won Alaska Airlines’ latest “Paint-the-Plane” contest and on Monday a Boeing 737-800 with Aaron Nee’s “Spirit of the Islands” paint theme touched down at Honolulu International Airport.

Students across the Hawaiian Islands turned in more than 2,700 submissions for the contest and, after a team of judges narrowed down the winners to three finalists, Hawaii residents got to vote for the winner.

In addition to getting his design on the airplane, Nee won a trip for four to any Alaska Airlines destination and a $5,000 scholarship. 12 finalists and honorable mention winners also received prizes and scholarships.

The 2nd place winner, 12th grader Izabela Hamilton, created a design with a male and female hula dancer against a backdrop of ocean waves and mountain cliffs. The design made by the 3rd place winner, 6th grader Sophia Cleek, includes a canoe sailing around the Islands.

Alaska 2nd place plane design

Alaska 3rd place plane design

You can see more of the top designs here.

Fiji Airways rebrand ready to take off in US

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Fiji Airways cupcakes

(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 new plane

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

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.

Fiji Airways Brandmark Symbol

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.

Fiji Airways engine

Fiji Airways wing

Finnair “forest dwellers” livery by Marimekko

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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.

finnair poppy

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.”

Finnair, Marimmeko

The Marimekko influence continues inside the airplane as well:

finnair marimekko dinnerware

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.

Finnair Marimekko pillow

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.

Lively airline liveries

liveries

EVA Hello Kitty Happy Music Jet h

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 Salmon-Thirty-Salmon h

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.

Hbbit Aircraft

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

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_Polly Parrot H

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.