The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner for Royal Air Maroc is out on Boeing's Paine Field flight line, in Everett, on Friday April 23, 2010. (Joshua Trujillo, Seattlepi.com)
It is a Boeing 787 blog-day today!
On Friday, the 17th Boeing 787 Dreamliner made it’s way out of the paint hangar. Due to not having my camera and short on time, I wasn’t able to get up to Paine Field myself to take a look, but luckily the Seattle PI did get a photographer out there.
There are also two all-white Boeing 787’s (photo from @ImperfectSense) sitting out on the line for LAN. Some think they might be willing to paint them in a special livery, but will have to wait to find that out.
Southwest Airlines is known for having special state livery airplanes. Yesterday, they showed off their newest one: Florida One. The plane will be taking a trip around Florida, showing off the new livery. The newest livery is one of 13 other special liveries already in the Southwest fleet: Arizona One, California One, Illinois One, Lone Star One (Texas), Nevada One, New Mexico One, Maryland One, three Shamu aircraft (SeaWorld), Silver One (celebrating Southwest’s 25th anniversary), Triple Crown One (recognizing Southwest’s top rankings for ontime performance, baggage handling, and Customer satisfaction), and Slam Dunk One (tribute to our NBA partnership).
Florida One required 32 people at the Boeing Company working three shifts over the course of eight days to paint. Over 46 gallons of paint and 16 different colors were used.
I have had a few competitions before about airline liveries, but this time I am pulling out all the stops. I am making a contest, one I probably couldn’t even win. I am going to show you six 105 x 105 pictures of old airline liveries no longer used. It is your job to guess which airlines they belonged to AND what kind of planes they are (just the basic model ie “Boeing 747” not “Boeing 747-300”).
I think I made this so difficult, I am willing to actually give prizes this time. I am not exactly sure what the prizes will be, but I will mail you something if you get all six right. I am determined to give away at least one prize. So even if you do not know all six, take a few guesses and the one with the most will win.
You can send them via Twitter, comments, FaceBook or email me at da***@ai*************.com. You have until 5pm PST Friday the 16th. Use any resources you wish.
Bring it on!
UPDATE: Future of Flight has stepped up and said they will help me with prizes of anyone who wins this. So far, no takers!
UPDATE2: I have 6 people who have all the liveries right. SUPER impressed. Still have until 5pm today the 16th to get your answers in!
PS: if you can tell me what airline and what kind of plane this livery is from…you win a super bonus prize (which, again, I have no idea what that will be)!
Middle East Airlines is the national carrier of Lebanon. It was founded way back in 1945 and flies to just over 25 destinations. They currently have a fleet of 13 aircraft consisting of Airbus A320, Airbus A321 and four Airbus A330. Their livery is quite simple with a tree on the tail (which is their trade mark symbol — check out this old Boeing 707) with MEA on the front.
They are known for their good safety record and high customer service. Their flight attendants are required to speak three languages: Arabic, English and French.
The tree on the tail is a Cedar of Lebanon which is a native species in the Mediterranean Mountains in Lebanon.
Surinam Airways was founded in 1955 and is the national airline of Surname. It is fully owned by the Suriname’s government and operates to only nine destinations. The airline currently only has a fleet of three aircraft, one Airbus A340-300 and two Boeing 737-300’s. In November 2009, Surinam Airways purchased the Airbus to replace the Boeing 747-300 in the photo.
Can you notice the slight changes of livery on the newer Airbus 340 versus the older Boeing 747-300.
