New US Airways colors

[Sir Innocenti]

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=905570&WxsIERv=Nveohf%20N320-214&Wm

 

[I.P. Freley]

Is that really the new livery or is it a one-off?

 

[Sir Innocenti]

That is the new USAirways livery which will replace thte last debacle of a paint scheme. I do miss the bare metal days!!!!
This new one is a mix of USAirways patterns with America Wests design.

 

[PJUR]

How boring! Not really a new livery it seems, just a revised one.

 

[NYCPilot]

I wonder if they went from blue to white for economic reasons. A friend who used to work with the NYPD told me the reason they repainted all of the patrol cars from blue to white was to save money. White paint costs a lot less than blue. Although I don't see the frequent need for painting aircraft as often as patrol cars which are always being smashed up.

I miss the old bare metal too. (and the USAir moniker too!)

 

[CLE145CA]

White is cheaper in terms of cost of repainting an aircraft.

In addition, another reason for chosing white was the heat of the southwest region of the country. White is a reflective color, as we all know, and will therefore keep the planes a bit cooler when on the ground in places like Phoenix and Las Vegas.

 

[91100 100 set]

Whatever happened to the bare aluminum fuselage paired with the dark blue tail? I've seen a few 737's painted like that (or maybe it was just one or two that I kept seeing over and over?) and I kinda liked it. I can't remember for sure, but they might have had USAirways.com and something about a "no-brainer" as well. Not crazy about that part, but I liked the bare aluminum and the dark blue.

 

[Swaayze]

Yes there is a usairways.com silverbird out there.

I like the new paint.

There's a sale at Macy's!

 

[BenderGonzales]

There were also a few DC9s that had the tail painted blue and US Airways decal put on the side as an interim paintjob before they got rid of them.

Stunning. That airplane will always be my favorite.

 

[ERfly]

Whatever happened to the bare aluminum fuselage paired with the dark blue tail? I've seen a few 737's painted like that (or maybe it was just one or two that I kept seeing over and over?) and I kinda liked it. I can't remember for sure, but they might have had USAirways.com and something about a "no-brainer" as well. Not crazy about that part, but I liked the bare aluminum and the dark blue.

That wasn't a planned thing. The paint shop forgot to put some sort of coating under the paint, so they had to make them bare metal to be able to check for corrosion or something like that.

 

[Fly_Chick]

I wonder if they went from blue to white for economic reasons.

Aside from cost of paint, I wonder if weight weighs into the decision on the paint scheme. Red is the heaviest pigment color (Virgin Airways only painting the nascelles red). I wonder what, or if at all, the color scheme contributed to the economics?

 

[Cactus73]

That wasn't a planned thing. The paint shop forgot to put some sort of coating under the paint, so they had to make them bare metal to be able to check for corrosion or something like that.

True.

The contracted paint shops screwed up the planes when they removed the old paint from the aircraft. There is an AD for lap seals on these planes and it is easier to comply with the AD with the bare metal finish than if there is paint on the plane, so they left 10 of them in the bare metal.

Our old -200's had this same problem and it was one of the reasons they were pushing to retire them so quickly because the lap seal inspection is rather detailed and expensive when you have all the paint on the plane that we did.

Show's that outsourcing mx isn't always cheaper.