Eastern going back to a silver fleet. Click for larger.
When I did my post about not being a fan of American Airline’s livery, some of you disagreed. Although I am not a fan of American’s livery now, I used to be about 20 years ago when it felt more modern. After seeing the post, a reader sent me this magazine ad from Eastern Air Lines when they went back to the silver bodied livery. They used to have a bare livery, but then went to a white body livery.
It is interesting to see how they are selling the environmental aspect of having little paint on their aircraft. The writing on the advertisement is a little difficult to read. So you don’t have to hurt your eyes, here is what it says:
“Things look better at Eastern. Including the way we look. There’s a new look at Easter Airlines. Our service looks better. Our business looks better. And now, even our look looks better. For one thing, we’re changing our flying colors from blue and white to blue and silver. Every time a plane is due to be painted, we’ll take off our white paint and buff the metal to a bright silver. But we’re not changing just to look better. We’re changing to help conserve energy.
You see, airplane paint weights several hundred pounds. Without it, we’ll fly more efficiently. And save over 250,000 gallons of fuel a year. There’s another new look you’ll see right away. Our new uniforms. Because of wear and tear, we were due to change uniforms anyway. So we’re replacing them with some smart new styles and colors. But, at Eastern, we believe that just looking good isn’t enough. We know that prompt, courteous service is what’s really important to you.
After all, good service is what won us two million more passengers last year than the year before. So we can’t stop now. If we want you to fly Eastern all the time, and we do, then we’ve got to earn our wings every day.
Eastern
The Wings of Man”
Very good stuff and a special thanks to David C for sharing.
Where in the world do you want to go on Cathay Pacific?
When first hearing about this contest, I had to read the details a few times to make sure I fully understood. I have promoted a few contests from airlines before on the blog, but this one takes the cake. Where some contests might give you a free flight or two, this one from Cathay Pacific will let you fly around the world for 80-days.
That’s right. You get unlimited economy class tickets from Hong Kong to any Cathay Pacific or Drangonair destination for 80-days. You also get 4-days and 3-nights hotel accommodation for every location you travel to and about $350.00 spending money per day.
Of course you will have to put in a little work to win a prize like this. You need to submit either a 30-60 second video, photos or a story that shares, “where in the world would you go in 80-days?” The contest ends on March 6th and on April 12th, 8 finalists will be flown to Hong Kong to compete in a one-day challenge to see who will win the grand prize.
This is probably the biggest and best prize I have seen from a contest hosted by an airline. Surely it is a worth a short video for a chance to travel around the world for 80-days. Game on and good luck!
LEARN MORE AND ENTER VIA CATHAY PACIFIC’S FACEBOOK
Image: Andrew Sieber
Edelweiss Air Airbus A330-200 (HB-IQZ) with flower livery.
At first glance I was not sure if it was a flower or some odd nuclear atom on their plane. Either way, I kind of liked it. When taking a closer look at the Edelweiss Air, it became quite clear this was a flower.
The airline is named after the unofficial state flower — the Edelweiss. The airline was founded in 1995 with a single MD-83. In the late 90’s they introduced Airbus A320’s and Airbus A330’s for longhaul flights. The airline flies from Switzerland to destinations in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean and the Maldives. They also fly to locations in Africa, the US, Asia and Europe.
In 2008 the airline was bought out by Swiss International Airlines, which was bought by Lufthansa in 2005. Even though Edelweiss is owned by Lufthansa, it is still independently operated. They currently have no aircraft on order, but did just take delivery of their first Airbus A330-300 on January 16, 2011.
Image: YR-DIESEL
The TU-204SM during her first flight. Photo by Tupolev via FlightGlobal
Flight Global has been doing a great job following the developments of Tupelov’s newest aircraft, the Tupelov TU-204SM. Okay, so it is not brand new, but it is the newest version of the aircraft and will make sure the TU-204 will be flying the (mostly Russian) skies for quite some time.
The Tupolev TU-204 first flew in January 1989 and was delivered in December 1994. It was built to replace the aging TU-154 and is seen by many to very similar in looks and performance to the Boeing 757. The TU-204SM is a twin-engine, single-aisle, medium-range aircraft that is able to hold around 210 passengers. Red Wing Airlines, based in Moscow, runs the largest fleet with eight aircraft and 45 more on order (44 of which are the SM). It was the first airline to purchase the TU-204SM, but it will not be the first to take delivery. Moscow Airlines (aka Atlant-Soyuz Airlines) will be the first to take delivery hopefully in 2011.
The TU-204SM took her first flight on December 29, 2010. The new 204 uses the Russian-built Aviadvigatel PS-90A2 turbofan. Around 70% of the aircraft has improved equipment vs the base TU-204, meaning although it looks similar to the original TU-204, Tupolev says this latest version is essentially a new aircraft. With the addition of new equipment, one of the biggest changes for the aircraft is going from a three person to a two person cockpit. United Aircraft, which is a joint stock company that Tupolev is a part of, stated, “The test programme established for the first flight was successful. The aircraft landed at precisely the appointed time.”
At the time of the first flight, it wasn’t sure if the new model would make it to production. But after a strong commitment, made by Red Wings Airlines, the Russian government has given authorization for the TU-204SM to be produced. Tupolev hopes to use the new TU-204SM to learn about technologies that could be used on the United Aircraft MC-21, set to start production in 2016. “It will become a transitional project,” says the ministry’s aviation department chief Yuri Slyusar. “It should help preserve competencies in building mainline aircraft and provide for testing technologies to be applied on the MS-21.”
TU-204SM EYE CANDY:
* Photos of the TU-204SM during her maiden flight via Flight Global
* Video of the TU-204SMs first flight via Flight Global
* More video on the TU-204SM from Tupolev’s website
You think you have the livery skills to tell what airlines are in these photos?
It has been a while since I have had an Ultimate Airline Livery Challenge, so let’s do another one.
The first challenge only had seven liveries and eight people got them correct. Then I held a second contest with eight tails and tried to make them a bit more tricky, but still, somehow, six of you still got all the answers. I figured I might have made it too difficult with the third contest, choosing ten obscure liveries and BAM, only two got them all right.
For the fourth installment of Ultimate Airline Livery Challenge, I am changing things up a bit. I am not adding any more, but doing more than just tails. As you can see, there are some different parts of aircraft than we have seen before and hopefully this will spice things up a bit. What is not changing is the basic challenge:
HOW MANY AIRLINE LIVERIES AND AIRCRAFT TYPES OF THE TEN CAN YOU GET RIGHT?
I will keep the contest open until Monday, January 31st, 5pm. If you have any questions, feel free to leave comments, but please email (da***@ai*************.com) your answers, since I don’t want others seeing them.
People who get them all correct will be given a prize. If you can’t get them all correct, don’t worry, send your answers on over anyhow, if you get enough I will give you a shout out on the blog. You can then print off the blog and put it on your fridge :).
This is not a hardcore contest, so have fun with it and tell me which ones you are having the most difficulty with.
