Airports, Airlines, Aviation

Aircraft Paint Jobs – Top 5 Best Liveries


For this week’s blog, we’ve decided to roll-up the commercial aviation industry’s best aircraft paint jobs. More and more airlines are using their planes’ exteriors as yet another means of marketing and brand expression. Some are serious and iconic, like American Airlines’ new livery, and some are more playful, like Air New Zealand’s “The Hobbit” themed aircraft paint jobs, and All Nippon Airlines rendering of Pokemon Go on its exterior. This is the next wave of airline/aviation marketing after the latest foray into novel, cool, and sometimes downright hilarious in-flight safety videos (like Delta’s “find the meme” video”).

Here’s our favorite five best aircraft paint jobs in the industry over the course of the last five years – tweet us if you’ve flown in any of these planes (#picturestoproveit)!

  1. Air New Zealand (NZ). Arguable my personal favorite since it’s a continuance of the Lord of the Rings theme that NZ has taken on over the years, this “The Hobbit” themed Boeing 777-300 livery is probably my top pick for best aircraft paint jobs. Even though it debuted in 2012, it is still arguable one of the best. NZ’s cohesive brand marketing and associating with the Lord of the Rings dynasty was a bold move to encourage travelers to get out and tour New Zealand. A wonderful example of destination marketing partnering with an airline.
    Best aircraft paint job
    Air NZ – Best aircraft paint job. Photo: Brandon Farris / AirlineReporter.com
  2. Kulula Airways. We rank Kulula’s “Flying 101” livery as one of our top picks of best aircraft paint jobs for use of humor and risk-taking. This plane was apparently designed in-house by Kulula’s graphic design team as part of the airline’s greater strategy to demystify air travel. You can learn more about it here.
    Kulula Airlines has one of the best aircraft paint jobs
    Kulula Airlines has one of the best aircraft paint jobs
  3. All Nippon Airways. NH had a grand plan to piggyback off of the success of Pokemon and launch a livery under the brand Pokemon Jet. The airline even has an official website that details the various Pokemon-themed aircraft paint jobs and characteristics.
  4. GOL. Brazil’s Low-Cost Carrier G3 put together a creative and football (soccer) themed Boeing 737 livery with aircraft paint jobs focusing on the World Cup. The carrier was also named the official transport for the Brazilian national football team. The exterior was creating with the help of local street artists Os Gêmeos painting portraits representing the people of Brazil.
    GOL - World Cup themed aircraft paint jobs
    GOL – World Cup themed aircraft paint jobs. Photo courtesy of CNN
  5. Norwegian Airlines (DY).  Although not out yet, DY plans to unveil a Roald Dahl tail-fin “hero” on its Boeing 737-800 planes later this year. Roald Dahl, while not Norwegian (he’s British), is of Norwegian descent. He is famous for writing children’s classics like James and the Giant Peach as well Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl was also an aviator. Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch for association, but it’s still cool either way. According to Norwegian Airlines:

    Roald Dahl is widely regarded as the world’s number one storyteller. Many elements of his universally-loved stories are said to have roots in the Norwegian tales that he heard from his family and from visits to Norway as a child

Well, those are tripchi’s top 5 best aircraft paint jobs. As always, feel free to leave a comment and let us know if we’re missing one. Or, tweet us @tripchi with some pictures of you with your favorite aircraft paint job. Keep calm and fly on!


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