Out with the old, and in with the new so they say. Most of the time passengers look forward to the whole flying experience – food, the attendants or the pilot with a great sense of humor while going over the announcements.
Brussels Airlines
When we think of an airplane, we automatically think – commercial, right? But there are tons of different planes out there for different purposes. And each of these planes have character, quite in the literal sense. You see, sometimes, companies get creative and they end up paying a handful of artists to decorate and liven up the plane’s exterior paint. See for yourself as you read on!
ANA HAWAii Airbus A380
ANA has purchased three new A380s. Why? Because they now offered direct flights from Narita to Honolulu. But the new venture doesn’t end there. In order to pay homage to the destination, the company decided they would get a little more creative.
ANA
And before anybody asks, no, the plane does not have live entertainment in-flight. But here’s to secretly wishing that were the case. Instead, they hired for a team of artists at Airbus to draw and paint all three planes blue, green and orange turtles. This project by ANA is by far the most elaborate paint job the team at Airbus has done.
Make-A-Wish Dream Chaser 5
This aircraft may be a private jet but it’s not what you think. It doesn’t transport A-list celebrities, but more like this jet has a purpose way beyond just bringing people to and from locations.
Aviation Week
This rainbow Make-A-Wish Lear Jet model 35 aircraft is named as Dream Chaser 5 which transports terminally ill children from point to point making sure to take them on a once in a lifetime chance to fly over their favorite places. So if you see a rainbow jet flying over your house, you best believe there’s a happy kid swooning over the view.
Gulfstream V SEXYjet
The Gulfstream V is a major upgrade from the previous aircraft. In the aviation community, this plane is actually considered as one of the world’s first ultra-long-range business aircrafts and is able to fly up to 7480 statute miles.
SEXYjet
Because celebrities don’t hesitate to pay thousands of dollars on luxuries such as this, Mark Bonfigli – the owner of SEXYjet, decided it was time to fly the skies but with a twist. Out goes the boring white and cream palette. He decided to have the exterior livery painted two-tone with a color-changing base coat color called “Perfect Jade.”
ANA Boeing 777 Star Wars Project
The All Nippon Airways seems to always be the first in the creativity department among all commercial aircraft carriers. One day, they sport the standard blue on white paint, the next thing you know, the plane lands on the tarmac and boom, new decals on the livery.
ANA
Although, just very recently, out of the three planes they custom painted, the plane with the BB-8 droid from the cult movie hit had its last flight last on the last day of March just this year. All in all, you can hear the movie fans inwardly squealing in delight.
N3546 Gulfstream G550 Nike
If you have not noticed by now, when it comes to exclusivity and privacy of flying, some celebrities just opt to charter jets when they travel, no matter if it’s short or long distance. And most of the time for companies that operate these types of jets, they always have a favorite.
Flickr
Gulfstreams are very popular in the aviation industry because it is the physical definition of luxury. Quite literally. This type of jet screams money from all angles. Couple this with custom paint jobs and you have yourself wealth at your fingertips. Like this Gulfstream G550 for Nike.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Tinkerbell
Who said Disney fans are just limited to a population of little girls and boys? Some do not outgrow their love for childhood films and this plane is a testament to that. Alaska Airlines paired up with Walt Disney Studios to celebrate its 50th Anniversary.
Flickr
And what better way to showcase an adult’s forever adoration for cult Disney films than with none other than Tinkerbell herself. Being able to pay tribute to the endless number of films that made up our childhood was one great move by Alaska Airlines.
Alaska Airlines ‘Spirit of Alaska Statehood’ Boeing 737
Back in 2009, when Alaska celebrated its 50th year of statehood, Alaska Airlines stepped up to the plate and offered to commemorate this very special occasion by custom painting one of its planes. But it wasn’t just a random design they put on the livery.
Flickr
To make the homage more meaningful, in August of 2008, Alaska Airlines launched a statewide “Paint the Plane” contest where children from from Ketchikan to Barrow were asked to submit their design entries for the plane’s new paint job. A few weeks later, all past and present Alaskan officials were able to choose a 16-year old’s drawing from Sitka High School.
China Eastern Airlines Airbus A330 Toy Story
It is no denying that companies often go to great lengths to celebrate something that they’re known for. This Buzz Lightyear livery on the China Eastern Airlines, for example, also commemorates a very important occasion.
Chiu Ho-yang
As seen on the exterior of the plane, it features two of Pixar’s most notable characters – Woody and Buzz Lightyear. The plane flew the Beijing to Shanghai route and was chosen to mark the opening of the new Toy Story Land at the Shanghai Disney Resort.
Duncan Aviation Cessna 525 Jet
Probably one of the coolest liveries you will ever see in your life is this charter jet owned by Duncan Aviation. It is one of the very few business jets that went crazy-and-I-know-it on their exterior livery design, and I’m totally here for it!
Pexels
Despite the paint job looking like a toddler’s mischief making, it actually is a people’s favorite and has turned a lot of heads during its time in the sky. Can’t say the company has ever regretted their decision to include this one to their fleet. I mean, just look at that!
Rossiya Airlines Boeing 747 Amur Tiger
Some people may not know this, but sometimes, commercial aircraft carriers not only paint the exterior livery of their planes because they want to celebrate anniversaries of companies they go into partnerships with.
Wikimedia
Sometimes, it takes more than celebrations to get a specific design painted on the exterior of the plane. Russian carrier, Rossiya Airlines partnered with the IAC to paint the Amur Tiger on the nose of their Boeing 747 to raise awareness on the conservation of the endangered Siberian tiger. Talk about a great way to capture people’s attention!
Canadian WestJet Boeing 737 Frozen
According to WestJet Executive Vice-President Bob Cummings in a press release, “This aircraft takes the relationship between WestJet and Disney to a completely new level of cool.” And that’s what it was, both figuratively and quite literally.
RGD
The custom livery was painted in Fort Worth, Texas and took 21 days of 12-hour rotations involving a constant crew of six painters working 24/7 using up over 643.5 liters of paint consisting of 23 colours. Sparkles were even added to the paint in sections to add shimmer and shine as the aircraft moves across the sky.
Embraer E190-E2 Profit Hunter
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is stealing glances and awakening one’s inner fear of sharks through this custom painted exterior livery. Although, the plane wasn’t really flown commercially, it was first revealed in November of 2018.
Embraer
They displayed this design at the Airshow China 2018 in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province of China. According to Embraer, the E190-E2 is “the world’s quietest, cleanest and most efficient new generation single-aisle aircraft” which is in competition with the Airbus A220.
Duncan Aviation Citation 560XLS Floral
Once again, Duncan Aviation does not disappoint. The company is always two steps ahead of everybody else when it comes to creativity in and on the plane. The special design was done by Columbian-American contemporary artist, Nancy Friedemann Sánchez.
Jet Sales
“You want to please the client, so you really listen to their desires and preferences. This piece began as colonial flowers on black. Teri Nekuda helped tremendously with the application of the artwork to the aircraft. (With the required reflectant value on Citation aircraft), black couldn’t happen. And because the canvas was an aircraft, we couldn’t have a direct mirrorization of my work,” she said during an interview with The Market Herald.
Airbus BelugaXL
This aircraft in question does not have a need for elaborate livery designs because it is unique in and of itself. Why, you may ask? Well, as you can see for yourself, the aircraft very much resembles that of a beluga whale. Funny as that may sound.
Airbus
Dubbed as the Super Transporter, the Airbus A300-based aircraft really lives up to its name. No, it does not transport people, but rather, this wide-body plane was made especially to carry aircraft parts and outsize cargo.
Icelandair Boeing 757 ‘Hekla Aurora’
We’ve all heard it at some point in our lives that the northern lights are a sight to behold. It’s a natural occurrence in Iceland that many people should get to see – kind of like a you-only-live-once type of motto.
Flickr
Icelandair created this exquisite livery in hopes that people and passengers take some time to enjoy an Icelandair Stopover. And what better way to advertise on tourism, than to paint the one thing that’s in almost every person’s bucket list.
Swiss Air Avro RJ100 Zurich Airport Shopping
Swiss International Airlines has finally caught up with the trend and decided that they would also promote their own by putting up a custom painted Zuring Airport Shopping livery on the Avro RJ100 plane’s façade.
Flickr
It is not only a unique way to promote the country’s tourism, but it also tells of the day to day busy hallways of the Zurich Airport. Many people, including those only in transit, can be seen bustling through the wide array of shops.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Orca
Technology is ever evolving, and these days, it would seem like nothing is ever impossible. What was once a passing thought, has now been brought to life and Boeing never fails to challenge the limits of technology.
Shutterstock
Boeing reached out to Alaska Airlines to suggest and conquer a great feat – 3D printing the livery. Of course, if you’d have told me this was possible 20 years ago, I’d have laughed and shook my head at the idea. But Alaska Airlines was willing to try, so together with Teague, they engineered the whole fiasco and orca livery finally was revealed only last December 2021.
Emirates Airbus A380 Wildlife
While Noah may have built the ark under the command of God, Emirates have also followed suit. But no, the plane does not carry animals though. The wildlife livery you see on two of their A380s are in support of United for Wildlife, a global collaboration that unites the efforts of the world’s biggest wildlife charities in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.
Emirates
The design featured on both planes have been very eye-opening, to say the least. At the end of the day, what the company wants to accomplish is to basically raise awareness of the illegal wildlife trade and provide urgency to take action and make this change happen soon before it’s too late.
ANA Pokémon Jets
Over the last three decades, All Nippon Airways have been diligent in bringing our inner child to life by designing planes in their fleet at least a character from a famous manga or TV series. Now, we present the Pokémon Jets.
Wikipedia
From 1998 up until 2016, a variety of Boeing planes have been customized to show the general public’s love for the cult anime series, Pokémon. During flights on ANA Pokémon Jets in the year 2000, a pin with Pikachu and Pichu on print was given to each passenger aboard the plane.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 The Incredibles
To celebrate the second movie installment of the Incredibles 2 last May 2018, Alaska Airlines decided to pay homage to the family favorite by unveiling to the public its new Disney-Pixar themed aircraft and it was so worth it!
Flickr
“These characters are among the most celebrated characters in the Pixar family,” said Incredibles 2 producers Nicole Grindle and John Walker. “After waiting 14 years to see them on the big screen again, fans will love seeing them on their Alaska Airlines plane, too.”
Air New Zealand Boeing 747 Lord of the Rings
Originally released to the public as ‘City of Christchurch’ in 1998 because this was where the iconic Lord of the Rings saga was filmed, this plane was such a crowd-favorite everywhere it went. Air New Zealand really knew how to bring people in without even explaining what the design was for.
Flickr
She was decommissioned from service on October 2014 and was actually the very last of the 747 fleet to leave and retire. During her in-service lifetime, this particular plane operated about 67,552 flight hours – that’s almost eight years in the sky! – and touched down 7,284 times. No wonder Kiwis became very emotional when the time came for this lady to fly her last.
Nok Air Boeing 737 Bird
Nok Air is one of Thailand’s most popular domestic budget airlines. Its exterior livery design is quite literally the translation of the name of the carrier. “Nok” in Thai is “bird,” and so that is exactly what they designed the paint job of the plane to be.
Flight Global
Although a lot of people would argue that the livery design was inspired by the popular game in the early 2000s called Angry Birds. The saddest part about all this is that unfortunately, Nok Air filed for bankruptcy in 2020 citing huge damages and loss because of the pandemic. So the 22-plane fleet of the company had to resort to extreme measures before they finally gave up.
Azores Airlines Airbus A330 Sperm Whale
Rebranded back in 2015, Azores Airlines made a lot of changes to its exterior design. What was once the standard white fuselage with dark blue tail, was upgraded to green tones and the previous açor symbol was changed to that of a whale’s tail exposed above waters.
Flickr
However, this didn’t last though. Just two years after its rebranding, the airline introduced revisions to its branding and livery upon the delivery of its first Airbus A321neo aircraft. They reverted the color tones back to blue and gave the livery design a fresh look.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Salmon Thirty Salmon II
Alaska Airlines tend to be as competitive as ANA in the creativity department when it comes to livery designs on their planes. While we have to admit that it’s fun seeing cartoon and movie characters painted on the plane’s fuselage, this one hits different.
Alaska Airlines
Have you ever seen a salmon fly? Well, let this be your first. The first ever salmon design on the carrier’s livery was back in 2005. Now that they’ve upgraded their aircraft, the company thought it best to honor the salmon yet again – which is native to the country, by painting their 737 with an almost realistic 129-foot representation of the wild Alaska King Salmon.