Paint scheme has everything to do with marketing! Airlines spend millions of dollars on the color schemes of their aircraft.
A good example is the original Braniff..They had a campaign called the “end of the plain plane” where they colored their aircraft in several different pastels.
Hughes AirWest had a marketing campaign as the “Top Banana.” All of its planes were painted yellow (banana - yellow - get it?).
Bad color schemes can bring about bad publicity. British found this out with their “World Images” aircraft tails.
Some of the paint schemes also have to do with fuel. US Airways and United both went to the light-colored livery because it saves fuel. Same reason AA uses the silver-polished look.
I gotta agree here. Although I was just trying to be funny, airlines spend millions on their corporate image. I’ve seen many times at many airlines the tossing of paper items and print material because of an updated scheme etc. Delta has updated their livery what, 3 times in the past 10 years and maybe coming up here again who knows, but you can’t say it was to get their kicks. That ain’t cheap.
Some of the paint schemes also have to do with fuel. US Airways and United both went to the light-colored livery because it saves fuel. Same reason AA uses the silver-polished look.
Beat me to the punch…yeah AA took my beloved TW paint job away but they do have extra weight to play with and fuel savings. I have to admit the polished aluminum looks good when it’s been freshly polished.
Paint scheme has everything to do with marketing! Airlines spend millions of dollars on the color schemes of their aircraft.
I was referring to the this particular merger. They wern’t going to pick US or America West paint scheme because it looks better. It came down to the fact that more people knew the name of US and its image versus the America West image. Even if they thought the America West paint scheme was better, that won’t mean that US would keep that scheme or name.
Not that a paint scheme doesn’t matter in marketing. It means a lot…but not so much that a lesser known company gets to keep its name and/or paint scheme.
Beat me to the punch…yeah AA took my beloved TW paint job away but they do have extra weight to play with and fuel savings. I have to admit the polished aluminum looks good when it’s been freshly polished
I have always thought TWA had such a bland scheme.
I don’t disagree, in this case USAirways is a more recognizable brand, and in fact paint meant so much that they painted all the ex HP and HP Express aircraft. I was being sorta tongue in cheek about the whole thing, I always thought HP had a nice paint job though (the orange and teal not the orig).
TW…yes the red and white Tylonol paint, hideous, the Blue Gold and Red, most beautiful airline scheme of all time. (I’ll save that topic and rant for another post)
Well, at least someone is having some color scheme fun with this merger. Remember all the other airlines that were merged into USAir? Recently, I’ve seen a newer A319 with the original HP colors, another one with the old Piedmont job, and I guess there’s yet another with the PSA “catch our smile” scheme. I haven’t seen that one yet, but I’d love to see it doing a regular west coast route, just like the old PSA…
Good call, forgot about that…I love the Piedmont and PSA, they also have the Allegheny one. And true they have one in the HP colors (1 old and one new right?)
As far as them getting rid of the 500 min, that minimum has been in effect since the days of much higher fares and low fuel prices. I can see why they are doing it. I’m not one who flies commercially much anymore so I guess I can look at it a little differently than those who fly every week and use those miles for vacations etc.
