Jetstar’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner (VH-VKA) sits at Paine Field earlier today. Photo by Bernie Leighton.
Last weekend, the first of 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners for the Qantas Group rolled out of the paint hangar at Paine Field. This aircraft will be heading to Jetstar Airways, a Qantas-offshoot low cost carrier (LCC). The delivery will be significant, since as of now Jetstar operates an all-Airbus fleet.
Jetstar currently operates the A320-family on short-haul routes around Australia, the South Pacific, and Asia, while running larger A330-200s on long-haul routes from Australia to Asia & Hawaii. The A330s are a mix of new aircraft and ex-Qantas birds. As the airline receives new 787s, they plan to transition their newer A330s into the legacy Qantas fleet.
Despite this being the first for Jetstar, Boeing has delivered over 100 aircraft to the Qantas Group, ranging from the original 707 up to the 747-400ER (of which they are the only operator of the passenger variant).
An AeroGal Boeing 767-300ER. Photo courtesy of Joe McBride, Kansas City Aviation Department.
I’ll be the first to admit it, I absolutely despise Eurowhite liveries. Unfamiliar with Eurowhite? The term refers to an all/mostly white plane with a bit of decoration here and there.
A Eurowhite livery is cheap, boring, uninspired and a huge loss from a branding and brand recognition perspective. Be that as it may, it’s a trend that started in Europe and quickly spread across the world. But not all is lost, let’s examine an airline that managed to take a boring concept and spruce it up a bit. Never thought I’d say it, but this is a Eurowhite livery that I’m a fan of.
The first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner rolls out of the paint hangar late last night. Photo from Boeing.
Last night Boeing completed the painting of the first 787-9 Dreamliner with the new Boeing Commercial Airplanes livery. According to Boeing, “This refreshed look for the Boeing family began with the 747-8 and evolved with the 737 MAX. The new livery retains many of the features of the original 787-8 livery, adding a prominent number on the tail to help distinguish among models within the same product family.”
Condor Airlines Boeing 767 (D-ABUE) in special livery. Photo from Condor.
German based Condor recently showed off a Boeing 767-300ER (D-ABUE) in a special livery. I am not so familiar with the children book series, but the design is based off the characters from writer Janosch’s books. Even though this will be the only aircraft to see the full livery, all other aircraft will be given Janosch characters on their tail.
The airline and Janosch are supporting the German relief agency ’œBILD hilft e.V. ’“ A Heart for Children.” The support is not only through the livery, but also through Condor donating a percentage of its ticket sales and revenue from other special campaigns.
Madrid-based Pullmantur Air recently changed up its livery and it is quite the drastic change from the old livery if do say so myself. The fuselage of their aircraft is still predominantly of a white paint scheme, but the tail, forward section and winglets are now proudly sporting aqua & navy blue paint.
This charter airline, founded in 2003, currently operates a fleet of four 747-400s out of Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD).
