Ta Dah! New Paint Job

EyeInTheSky

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Dec 2, 2003
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Pittsburgh
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Love the Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic//...st-newplane.jpg

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles...t-newplane.html

Airline shows true colors
As merger nears, AmWest, US Airways unveil planes' new look

Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 23, 2005 12:00 AM

Call it Extreme Makeover: the Red, White and Blue version.

Employees of America West and US Airways today will get an up-close look at the patriotic new look the airlines will adopt after their upcoming merger.

The paint scheme change will be most dramatic for America West employees, as the new look is similar to US Airways' current look, but with the color scheme reversed. advertisement




Frequent fliers discussing the new paint job on Internet message boards Monday generally gave it good marks. On the streets in the Valley, here's what people were saying:

"It looks real presidential," said Jayne Buckner of Phoenix, who said she likes the design.

Ed Lopez of Litchfield Park wasn't quite as complimentary, saying the plane looked "decent. But I like America West's (planes) better. It's weird, because they were our airline."

Some people flat out didn't like the makeover. "It's too plain," said Teddy Blackwell of Phoenix. "It looks like everybody else's. They should make it a fancier design."

America West CEO Doug Parker and US Airways CEO Bruce Lakefield are doing the aviation version of a whistle-stop tour, shuttling the newly painted Airbus A320 to workers in hubs around the country. In one day.

They start this morning at US Airways' Philadelphia hub and hit Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Las Vegas before landing in Phoenix, with a water cannon salute, tonight.

Travis Christ, America West's vice president of marketing, said the goal of today's plane tour is to get employees fired up about the merger, which was announced in May. The new plane is the first significant public step the two airlines have taken together.

The combined airline, to be called US Airways, will be based in Tempe and run by Parker.

"They've had a lot of change over the years, at US Airways in particular," Christ said. "This is to get them excited and say, hey, this is really happening."

Instead of US Airways' dark navy fuselage, the new planes will be predominantly white, with a blue belly and a red and blue stripe. The blue is not as dark as US Airways' current planes. There were concerns that US Airways' old blue would be too dark for the summer heat in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

US Airways' traditional flags are still there, with some added gray squigglies meant to represent a flag waving. The logo is the same US Airways logo.

America West's planes are pearl-white with turquoise and red accents. The soon-to-be merged company decided on a variation of the US Airways paint scheme, or livery, because it is keeping that airline's name.

In a nod to America West's history, as well as the legacies of three airlines that make up what is now US Airways, four logos will be arranged in a small circle to the right of the cabin door. The airline is calling it a Heritage Logo.

"The problem with some airline mergers is they try to pretend that none of that (past) existed," Christ said. "We can all be very proud of the places we worked."

It will take years to repaint the combined fleet of 360 planes. The makeover on America West's fleet is schedule to begin in 2006.



Staff writer Hal Mattern contributed to this article.
 
It's lousy looking. Uninspired, and a definite rip off of other airlines liveries. And the symbol is pure idiocy. What cretin did they hire to make this one? Southwest has a cheerful, colorful look to them with the canyon blue. This new livery is just a play on Jetblue, United, and USA3000 among others. And that damn flag is still on the tail to boot.

Next time hire a kindergarten class to design a livery. They could have done a better job than this.

Need proof that it is a rip job? Compare it to this: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/245306/L/ :angry:
 
I kind of like it; I think it will take time to get used to for most people though.

It didn't mention in the press release, but according to AWA compass, there will be 4 "retro" planes as well:

AWA.jpg
PSA.jpg
Piedmont.jpg
Allegheny.jpg
 
:up: Not bad.....I like the recognition of all of the airlines that have come together to form the "new" US Airways.
 
I rated it a 3. Nothing really new or different from most other airlines. It looks OK. Actually, I think the current paint job looks better than this new paint job. It would have really been cool if the airline had of held a contest and let the employees create a paint job. Some of the ideas that were shown on this forum during the last 3-4 months looked better than this.
 
rjh said:
I kind of like it; I think it will take time to get used to for most people though.

It didn't mention in the press release, but according to AWA compass, there will be 4 "retro" planes as well:

[post="291195"][/post]​

The PSA and later Piedmont ones are very cool looking. Certainly better than the one they chose.
 
Man, gotta love that Piedmont Speedbird! As for the flag "icon", I just see Steve Wolfe when I see that and it turns my stomach. :angry:
 
dash8wrench said:
Man, gotta love that Piedmont Speedbird! As for the flag "icon", I just see Steve Wolfe when I see that and it turns my stomach. :angry:
[post="291207"][/post]​

Hear hear! The speedbird had character like the PSA smile. What is the "blank flag"? A dead gray parody of the U.S. flag that is more of an insult than a tribute.

They had the chance to set US Airways apart from the rest of the herd. They failed in that aim with this paintjob. Lifeless white and gray plus the "Darth Vader" blue underside makes for a glum looking plane. I am sad to see this. :rant:
 
Looks OK to me. I don't care if they paint the aircraft pink, as long as someone has a good busness plan and brings a little sanity to the operation.

SH