Japan Air Lines (JAL) has officially unveiled their new crane livery on a Boeing 767-300ER (JA654J) in Tokyo. The plane was flown, unpainted, from Paine Field to JAL’s maintenance center in Tokyo where it was painted in the new livery. The resurrection of the crane is to match the airline’s, “new philosophy and corporate policy which underscore the company’s re-commitment to provide the highest levels of service to customers and to raise its corporate value in order to contribute to the advancement of society.”

The new aircraft will start flying between Haneda and Beijing on March 2, 2011. Before then, it will be flown on a domestic flight between Haneda and Kushiro where Japanese red crowned cranes hang out during the winter.

When I first got a glimpse of the computer generated livery I thought it looked much too plain. In photos I think it looks much better, clean and classy, which I think they are going for. In a time where airline liveries are getting more and more complicated, the simplicity of JALs new crane livery is a nice change. However, I think it is missing something. A swooping cheat-line would really make this livery look complete. What do you think?

Updated: Now sharing six photos, all from JAL.

Here are some other photos:
* Photo of the plane being towed on Airliners.net
* A mock up of the livery on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner