One of Vim Airline's Boeing 757-200s.
One has to respect an airline that can support a pink livery with pride. Especially one that comes from a country with a history boring and gray airline liveries. It is almost like Russian airlines are making with loud liveries like the one found on S7 airlines and the one highlighted today, VIM Airlines.
VIM was founded in October 2002 and is based out of Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport (DME). The name comes from the initial’s of the founder, Victor Ivanovich Merkulov and currently has a fleet of 11 Boeing 757-200 aircraft. According to their website, in 2010 the airline signed, “a memorandum of Boeing 747 aircraft purchase”, and I am guessing those are used aircraft and not the new 747-8I. Interestingly, they also have the exact same statement listed under 2009, so I am not quite sure what to think about the possibility of them taking on a 747.
VIM has also stated that they plane to purchase Boeing 737-900ER aircraft and convert their 757s into cargo planes. And if their future fleet plans were not confusing enough, at one time, they hoped to leave Boeing 717s, which fell through and have announced a signed preliminary agreement for 10 Tupelov Tu-204SM with an option of 44 others.
Image by Osdu
Cebu Pacific Airbus A320
Cebu Pacific Air is based at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines. It is a low cost carrier that started operations in 1996, originally as “Cebu Air.” The airline flies to 34 domestic and 16 international destinations.
Cebu currently operates a fleet of 10 Airbus A319s, 18 A320s and eight ATR 72-500s. They also have an additional 56 Airbus A320-family aircraft on order, including the A321neo.
Even with the new fleet and many changes in safety, the airline, along with every other Philippines airline, is banned from flying to the European Union. Too bad having a slick livery doesn’t help an airline become unbanned.
The original livery, seen on a DC-9, was a bit more plain, but still had the “bird head.” The newer one keeps the bird, but also incorporates yellow and orange, with the website down the fuselage. The colors go very well together and the shape in the front makes it look like the aircraft is smiling, which reminds me of the good ‘ol PSA livery.
Thanks Allen for the suggestion.
Image: propfreak
- Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-200 (PK-CJN)
Sriwijaya Air was founded in 2003 and already has 30 aircraft in operation with another 60 on order. Sriwijaya is based out of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
They currently have a fleet of older Boeing 737-200s, -300s and -400s, but have many new aircraft, like the 737-800, Embraer 175, Embraer 190 and the Emraer 195 on order.
The livery is a simple white, red and blue with an interesting logo on the tail. According to their website, each of the three colors have special meanings:
White: Clean hearthed employees
Red: The courage and wisdom in solving problems and making decisions of the team
Blue: Passion for traveling to all corners of our beloved archipelago.
Image: Savvas Garozis
On the right is ZA003 in the old livery and to the left is ZA003 in the new. But why? Both photos from Boeing.
This is the same Boeing 787 Dreamliner (ZA003 / N787BX), but in two different paint schemes. Previously, there was only one aircraft with the “Dreamliner livery’ — ZA001. All the rest were painted either in a “light” or ANA livery. Then a few days ago, Boeing unveiled ZA003 in and updated “Dreamliner livery,” but why? I am not exactly sure and Boeing is not currently saying.
ZA003, in its new livery, landing at Boeing Field (BFI). Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
It is possible that Boeing will use ZA003 to promote the 787 around the world. I thought maybe they were using ZA003 at the Seoul Air Show, but ZA001 arrived instead. According to Boeing’s Flickr page: “ZA003, the third 787 Dreamliner built by Boeing, just got a new paint job. We’ve got big plans for this airplane. It’s too early to provide details, but stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks.” That does not really give any clues.
ZA003 at Boeing Field (BFI). Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
So what do you think? Why did Boeing spend the money to paint over a perfectly good paint scheme? I am sure they must have a plan.
Thanks to Jeremy for sharing his photos.
Computer mock up of what Arik Air's first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental will look like. Photo from Boeing. Click for much larger.
Let’s all welcome Arik Air to the exclusive “We Have a Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental on Order” club. The Nigerian-based airline announced earlier in the week that they have placed orders for two of the new 747-8I aircraft.
“Air travel within the region continues to grow at a rapid pace and we must prepare our fleet to accommodate that growth,” said Sir JIA Arumemi-Johnson, owner and chairman of Arik Air. “Boeing’s new 747-8 fits perfectly into our long-term planning… As we look into the future, the 747-8 Intercontinental is a must have for Arik Air.”
The airline was founded in 2002, but did not start operations until October 2006. At first, the airline only had two new Bombardier CRJ-900s, but today they have a fleet of 23 aircraft including the A340-500, Boeing 737 (-700 and -800), CRJ-900, Q400 and Hawker 800. The airline currently operates 22 domestic, six regional and three long-haul international flights.
Arik is using their larger A340-500s on routes to London and New York. It is likely that the airline is looking to increase capacity to the US and Europe and possibly enter into China.
Sometimes a livery will look good on a smaller aircraft, but when scaled up, it loses its beauty. Luckily for Arik, they have a livery that works on the smaller CRJ-900 to the much larger 747-8I. Once they take delivery of their first 747-8I, I pretty sure this will be the largest aircraft in the world that will sport the color pink (not fully sure, can you prove me wrong?).
There are currently four airlines that have announced orders for the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental: Lufthansa, Korean Air, Air China and Arik Air. There are an additional nine private Boeing Business Jet 747-8I’s on order as well.
