Pokemon characters certainly don’t seem scared of flying, after all, there have been multiple themed aircraft from the franchise over the years. The latest – and first to grace Taiwan – can be found on China Airlines aptly named “Pikachu Jet CI”. The design is fairly complex, and took no less than 21 days to…
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Alaska Airlines isn’t shy of special liveries. In fact, its first ‘Salmon Thirty Salmon’ livery – which celebrated the airline’s involvement with the shipment of the precious and tasty cargo –was so popular it returned in 2012. While the airline isn’t the only US carrier to adorn their aircraft with marine life, with Southwest also…
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Emirates, the Premier Partner and Official Airline of Expo 2020 Dubai, has just revealed yet another bold head-turning A380 livery. This time, dedicated to further carrying the delayed global event’s messages worldwide. However, it’s not the first livery to support the Expo. Eagle eyes may have noticed a circular pattern on many of their fleet.…
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Last week, Airbus opened its paint hangar doors in Mirabel and let us peek inside where the latest aircraft is being painted for Air Canada. Instead of the usual black and white ‘Raccoon mask’ livery that Air Canada is now sporting across its fleet, the airline has opted to nod to its history, revealing its…
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Whether it’s for sadness, or for joy, we’re pretty sure there were a few tears this month in Delta’s finance department as they agreed to part with $2.6billion dollars across two initiatives in as many weeks. The first, starting in March sees Delta Air Lines commit a grand sum of $1 billion over the next…
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The chances are by now if you travel around Europe, you’ve probably seen one of Brussels Airlines ‘Icon’ aircraft at some point over the past few years. After honouring Tintin in 2015, followed by Magritte, the Red Devils, Tomorrowland and the Smurfs, Brussels Airlines has just unveiled another Belgian Icon, a unique aircraft inspired by…
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The process might have taken 7 months but after 1,415 submitted ideas were whittled down to one, a single A320 took 14 days out of its schedule to be painted up as the winning livery of the ‘Belgian Icon’ contest. Named ‘Aerosmurf’, this unique design by Italian Marta Mascellani, was chosen by the public from…
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Yesterday Qantas revealed a striking new special livery for a brand new 787-9 Dreamliner being delivered to the airline. Comprised of approximately 5,000 dots (get counting!), the new design is striking both from near and afar. The new livery features the work of the late Northern Territory artist and senior Anmatyerre woman, Emily Kame Kngwarreye.…
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Emirates has unveiled the first of three new aircraft liveries in its fleet dedicated to Expo 2020 Dubai, of which Emirates is the Official Airline Partner. The decal was installed on A6-EPK, an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, at the Emirates Engineering hangar. The Expo decal applied on the Boeing 777 covers over 40% of the…
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Belgium seems to be the spawning ground of creativity, that is if Brussels Airlines has anything to do with it. The airline has announced the selection of their fifth special livery aircraft, this time from members of the public who were invited to design their latest aircraft livery. The winning design by Italian student Marta Mascellani…
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Finnair have continued their long-standing relationship with Finnish design and textile company Marimekko with the introduction of their 11th A350, joining the fleet in late September. Titled ‘Kivet’, the aircraft isn’t the first aircraft to sport a special Marimekko design, however it is the first for the next generation Airbus aircraft. While the inside of…
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Icelandair have introduced a pretty ‘cool’ aircraft to celebrate their 80th year flying. The 757-200, which took 2500 man-hours to paint, is named after the largest glacier in the whole of Europe. Titled “Vatnajökull” (easy for us to say) the new livery will bring one of Iceland’s most famous landmarks across the carrier’s ever expanding…
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Hawaiian Airlines and Disney yesterday unveiled the first of three custom Airbus A330 aircraft being adorned with imagery from the animated comedy adventure “Moana” coming to the screens in November. The first of the three decal designs features four Disney characters from the movie on Hawaiian’s fuselage as they take off on a ‘way finding journey’, including the demigod Maui,…
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ANA announced today that it will reveal another new Star Wars themed aircraft to its fleet, adding to its three existing planes that have Star Wars characters as livery. The latest droid to grow wings is C-3PO, one of the only characters to be featured in every single Star Wars film so far. As part of the…
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Brussels Airlines has had a pretty eventful few weeks excluding the incidents at Brussels Airport. A new Magritte special livery, the launch of a new route to Toronto, and now a shiny red aircraft called ‘Trident’ to celebrate the Belgian national football team ‘The Red Devils.’ The aircraft features a collage of the national team…
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Today saw the unveiling of Brussels Airlines second special livery from a Belgian artistic icon. This time it was René Magritte whose likeness was brought to life on an A320 for the Belgian carrier. Following in the footsteps of Rackham, the Tintin aircraft that the Belgian airline unveiled last year, “Magritte” will grace the skies for an…
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There is nothing quite like spotting new special liveries taking to the skies. Today marks two Emirates A380 jets taking to the skies this week, wearing special liveries in support of United for Wildlife, a global collaboration that unites the efforts of the world’s leading wildlife charities in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.…
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Japanese carrier ANA have been having some fun with their 787 recently, both playing Star Wars with some avid sci-fi aficionados and also launching their new Brussels flight with a 787 service. On October 17, 2015, the R2-D2 ANA JET Fan Appreciation Flight event was held at Haneda Airport. A total of 91 passengers were selected—42 chosen from…
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Written for TheDesignAir by Adam Ralston | Perhaps taking note of EVA Air’s popular and recently expanded Hello Kitty-themed aircraft and service, or from ANA’s recent Star Wars-themed 787-9 announcement, Japan Air Lines have tossed their hat in the fantasy livery ring once again with their domestic Duffy the Disney Bear 737-800 livery. Playing a relatively minor role in…
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You won’t miss this in a rush! Singapore Airlines have just brought one of two aircraft out of the paint shop to celebrate Singapore’s 50th year of independence. Today marked SIA’s special A380 Charity Flight, on which some 300 beneficiaries of Community Chest experienced a three-hour flight on the jet. Beneficiaries included children with special needs,…
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With the world cup soon approaching, national airlines around the world are getting into the spirit and supporting their local teams. Here’s a recap of some of the special liveries over the past few weeks – how many have you seen? Let us know! Brussels Airlines ‘Red Devils’ Brussels Airlines went to town with their…
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