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.
China Eastern Airlines Airbus A340-600 B-6055 with Expo 2010 livery.
The Airbus A340-600 is one long plane. With a length of over 246 feet, it is the second longest airliner produced behind the new Boeing 747-8. This gives a lot of room for airlines to show off special liveries and that is just want China Eastern Airlines did for their special Expo 2010 livery.
Sure, the Expo 2010 happened in Shanghai China from May 1st to the end of October 2010, but that does not mean the airline has to remove the icon off their website, or replace the livery. (Even though it is possible they have, the most recent photo I could find is from July 2011).
So does this livery work? In my opinion it is a bit ugly. Maybe if the airline did not try to keep their normal livery and the new design, it would have worked a lot better, but this just seems to be trying too hard with too many colors going all over the place. Although, from the front, is it not too bad.
China Eastern Airlines is based in Shanghai and has been in operation since 1988. It currently flies to over 100 international and domestic destinations and is a member of the SkyTeam alliance. The airline operates a mixed fleet of more than 265 aircraft from the smaller Bombardier CRJ200 to the A340-600, which is the largest aircraft in their fleet.
Image: Globespotter
Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ER with newest livery.
It is rare to find an airline that rocks the cheatline well anymore. For those that do not know, the chealine is a line in an airline’s livery that goes down the side of the fuselage. Airlines like Pan Am, Air France and many more used to proudly display their cheatlines. American Airlines still does it, but I wouldn’t quite say they “rock it.”
Jet Airway’s livery is clean, modern and it is easy to recognize the company. When they started operations in 1993 they had an older livery, that didn’t look as modern, but still had a strong cheatline.
Today, Jet Airways operates a fleet of almost 100 aircraft, including Airbus A330-200s, ATR 72-500s (which is odd because they are not jets), Boeing 777-300ERs, 737-700s, 737-800s, and 737-900s. They are also a customer for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 10 on order.
Jet Airways is based at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM) in Mubai, India and has 76 destinations, including 52 located in India.
Image: Zeldenrust
A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737 as spotted in Istanbul recently.
Pegasus Airlines is a low cost airlines based in Istanbul Turkey. It was founded in 1990 between a partnership of investors and Aer Lingus. The airline flies to over 100 destinations in 17 countries. The airline is an all economy Boeing 737 fleet with 28 737-800s, 2 737-400s and two 737-500s (that is what I am going with, since their own website contradicts the actual number of aircraft they operate). The airline is owned by ESAS investments, which also has shareholding in Air Berlin and iZar.
I had the chance to see this livery for the first time while at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (a smaller airport in Turkey mostly operating low-cost carriers) and I have to say I was underwhelmed. I love the name and really loved how they announced “Pegasus Flight #XX has now arrived” with a Turkish accent in the airport, but the livery itself is a bit plain. I feel there is a lot of potential with having the name of Pegasus, since the visual of a flying horse is pretty slick.
Although a flying horse is found on the winglets, they decided to go with plain red writing of their name on a yellow tail. I understand the desire to promote their website with large letters on the side showing “flypgs.com,” but it doesn’t have to be done in such a boring fashion. Pegasus Airlines actually used to fly with a horse on the tail, but removed it when placing their website on the side of the fuselage.
Jazeera Airways Airbus A320.
Jazeera Airways is a low cost airline based in Kuwait. It was founded in 2004 and currently has a fleet of six Airbus A320 aircraft. At one time, the airline had 30 A320s on order, but in 2010 aircraft were parked and five had their leases stopped. Jazeera Airways cancelled most of their orders and now only has four A320s on order with Airbus.
The airline was started when the Kuwait government allowed Jazeera Airways to operate, ending Kuwait Airway’s monopoly in the country.
The livery has a lot of white and I almost wish they would have made part of the bottom or have a stripe that was teal. One fun part, you don’t see on many liveries, is the blue behind the tail surrounding the APU. It is pretty difficult to read the airline’s name on the front, on the engines and on the tail due to the font chosen.
Image by: Globespotter
