American Airlines Boeing 737-800 with its retro Astrojet livery. Photo from Boeing.
I am currently in Tampa, FL and while driving around I spotted a silver plane with a red logo on the tail. I could tell it was most likely a retro livery, but couldn’t place it. Luckily a few fine Twitter folk (@vivekmayasandra and @Shokikuchi) suggested it might be American Airlines Astrojet livery and sure enough it was!
This special livery comemerated American Airline’s 50th next generation Boeing 737. The airplane was delived to American at the end of 2000. The Astrojet livery was seen on American’s first Boeing 727s in 1964.
A while back I did an Ultimate Livery Challenge and thought no one would get them. HA! Eight people ended up knowing the answers and I gave out eight prizes (Future of Flight hats). Well, I realized I had to make it harder…and I think I have. Here is the challenge:
GUESS WHAT AIRLINE EACH LIVERY BELONGS TO AND THE AIRCRAFT TYPE IN THE PHOTO.
Small print: I have not photoshopped any of these photos except to blur out reg numbers or flip the image to make it look pretty. You don’t need to know the exact model, just the family. (ie just need “Boeing 747” not “Boeing 747-300”). All these liveries are either new/old and used on planes doing passenger operations (ie not just cargo). All photo credits will be given with the answers.
Not too sure about all of them? That is ok. I do not expect anyone to get these all right. A prize (and link to your website…if you have one) will be given out to the closest person…so don’t hesitate to guess.
I also had a request to allow more time that wasn’t a weekday. I have listened. You have until TUESDAY JUNE 22nd at 5pm PST (update: I was sick yesterday evening and not able to get the answers written, so extended it) to submit your guess. Use the comments if you have questions (or want to complain about the difficulty), but do not put your answers there since I don’t others stealing your knowledge (or hard work). Please email them to me to da***@ai*************.com, send them via Twitter or my Facebook.
Mandala Airlines is a low cost carrier based at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakart, Indonesia. It has a fleet of only Airbus A320’s and A319’s. The airline was founded in 1969 at a time that Indonesia was re-building a devastated economy.
In 2006 the airline sold 49% stake to Indigo Partners [they also have stakes in Spirit Airlines (USA), Wizz (Europe), Tiger (Singapore), and Abnanova Airlines (Russia)]. With the change, the airline replaced its aging fleet with new Airbus aircraft. The airline currently have 30 additional aircraft on order and hope to grow at a rate of 25% per year.
The airline’s logo is a golden eight-pointed mandala showing the eight characters of humanity and the eight elements of Javanese tradition. The five-petaled lotus in the center represents Indonesia’s state ideology, Pancasila.
Thank you @racingwinds for this livery idea! If you have a mostly unknown, current airline livery you like, let me know and I might use it (da***@ai*************.com).
Can you take a guess where Air Madagascar is based? If you guessed Madagascar, pat yourself on the back. If you knew its headquarters is located in Antananarivo, Madagascar, give yourself a double pat. The airline’s official name is Socit Nationale Malgache des Transports Ariens, but goes by “Air Madagascar” for short (good thinking).
The airline was founded in 1947 using two DC-3’s and six de Havilland DH89’s. Currently it has a fleet of three ATR 42’s, two ATR 72’s, four Twin Otters, three Boeing 737’s and two Boeing 767’s. Back in 1979, the airline purchased a Boeing 747-200B, which was phased out in 1999 by the Boeing 767-300.
Air Madagascar mostly flies to destinations in Africa, but also to China, Thailand and France.
AirTran has been fighting hard to get into Milwaukee and they have strong competition. AirTran has quite a few other special liveries already, but this one is special, it is the first baseball livery for AirTran. Catch this Boeing 717 on AirTran’s network and go Brewers!
