{"id":13271,"date":"2019-03-08T03:30:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T08:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alpharamirez.com\/pintemela-que-yo-se-la-coloreo-a-4\/"},"modified":"2021-01-21T00:18:02","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T05:18:02","slug":"colour-me-painted-a-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alpharamirez.com\/en\/colour-me-painted-a-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Colour me painted (A-4)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. Main <\/a><\/li>\n
  2. The more you know<\/a><\/li>
  3. Colour me painted (A-4)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"Please remember to read the notes on\u00a0contents and copyright<\/strong><\/a> if you have not.<\/div>\n
    <\/i> This article was first published on: March 2019<\/strong><\/strong>
    \n<\/i> This article was last updated on: October 2020<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n
    \n

    This article about Airplanes with special colours is kind of long and thus is divided into twelve (12)<\/strong> lists. You’re about to begin to see list A-4<\/strong>. Choose here any other list you may want to go to: | A-1<\/a>\u00a0| A-2<\/a> | A-3<\/a>\u00a0| B<\/a> | C<\/a> | D-G<\/a> | H-J<\/a> | K-P<\/a> | Q-R<\/a> | S<\/a> | T-X<\/a>\u00a0|<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \"Colombia\"Este art\u00edculo tambi\u00e9n est\u00e1 disponible en\u00a0Espa\u00f1ol<\/a>.<\/div>\n
    \n[aesop_chapter title=”Why Airplanes with special colours?” bgtype=”img” full=”on” img=”https:\/\/www.alpharamirez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_7154.jpg” video_autoplay=”on” bgcolor=”#888888″ overlay_content=”<\/p>\n

    WHY AIRPLANES WITH SPECIAL COLOURS?<\/mark><\/p>\n

    THERE ARE MANY REASONS<\/mark>
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    In general, airlines have a very defined corporate image, and colours.<\/p>\n

    There are some exemptions, for example Frontier<\/strong> in the United States. They paint a different animal in each tail.<\/p>\n

    Or Norwegian<\/strong> in Norway, they paint a different famous character.<\/p>\n

    But in general, they are very uniform and defined images.<\/p>\n

    Nonetheless, at times there are Airplanes that are painted with special colours for different reasons.<\/p>\n

    Those Airplanes are usually few. And from those, there isn’t always an associated campaign through which the public can know why that Airplane is painted in that way.<\/p>\n

    Many times the campaign isn’t even justified because it’s not a commercial matter.<\/p>\n

    Those of us inside this little world are very aware of their existence, but for the public seeing them may mean surprise, and at times, even confusion.<\/p>\n

    I remember being in Rionegro’s Airport once, and listening to the following dialogue:<\/p>\n

    -“She comes in Avianca”.<\/strong><\/em>
    \n-“Ah, but that isn’t Avianca, it’s some Star Alliance”.<\/strong><\/em>
    \n-“Yeah right? S-TAR-A-LLI-AN-CE. That’s so weird, she’s not coming there”.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    Of course, it was Avianca<\/strong>, and the person was coming there. It’s just that it was one of the Airplanes painted with Star Alliance <\/strong>colours, the alliance Avianca belongs to.<\/p>\n

    Making of the archive of photos I’ve taken, it occurred to me to make this article to talk a little bit about the matter, and show you some examples that I’ve photographed of this practice.<\/p>\n

    So, let’s start with a simple list of reasons why an Airplane can have different colours than the rest of the fleet in a given moment.<\/p>\n

    This list isn’t exhaustive, I just decided to divide it this way arbitrarily. Even so, I think it’s fit for what I want to do with this article. So let’s do it.<\/p>\n

    ADVERTISING<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Some airlines offer their Airplanes as flying billboards. This kind of agreement can happen in an Airplane that changes its colours totally.<\/p>\n

    Or it can happen with the installation of a sticker showing the product or service somewhere in the Airplane, but keeping the normal colours otherwise.<\/p>\n

    It can also happen because of specific events, such as the now traditional Coca-Cola Airplane with the FIFA World Cup trophy.<\/p>\n

    BY ASSOCIATION WITH SOME INSTITUTION, EVENT, OR SPORTS TEAM<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Many times Airplanes have been painted with subjects alluding to some institution, or some sports team.<\/p>\n

    Like with the advertising, some times it’s about a sticker (big or small), and some times the whole Airplane changes its identity.<\/p>\n

    We could set as examples of this the Avianca Airbus A319 that had a sticker of the Colombian national football team, or the JetBlue A320 totally painted green with the Boston Celtics’ colours, a NBA team in the United States.<\/p>\n

    IN COMMEMORATION OF ANNIVERSARIES, OWN CAMPAIGNS, CELEBRATIONS, OR REMEMBERING PAST TIMES<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    These are some of my favourites.<\/p>\n

    The ones commemorating anniversaries are just that, the company just turned a determined number of years, and they painted some Airplane, or put some sticker to it.<\/p>\n

    The ones remembering past times are some of the ones I like the most. These are Airplanes they paint with colours the airline had many years ago, before the current corporate image. They’re called “retro-jets”<\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    There is a variation of this, it’s when the current airline is the result of the buy-out or merger with others.<\/p>\n

    Now and then they paint some Airplane with the colours of the airline that doesn’t exist anymore.<\/p>\n

    Also, when the airline is the first one to fly some type of Airplane, or any similar reason, they usually paint Airplanes with subjects alluding to that.<\/p>\n

    Some times, the airline makes a campaign that belongs to them only, and they paint the Airplane accordingly.<\/p>\n

    FOR OPERATIONAL REASONS<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    It happens at times that an airline acquires some second-hand Airplane that used to fly for another before.<\/p>\n

    Painting an Airplane is a time-consuming process and it’s not cheap, and an Airplane that isn’t flying is lost revenue.<\/p>\n

    So when an Airplane reaches in those conditions and is ready to fly, sometimes Airlines prefer to put it to fly without painting it, leaving a mix between the former airline’s colours, and the titles of the current.<\/p>\n

    It also happens when an airline is going to use an Airplane that belongs to another one for a short period, knowing beforehand it’s going to be like that.<\/p>\n

    In those cases, it can’t be financially justified to paint the whole Airplane, and in general they only change the titles and that’s it, since the Airplane will return to its original owner in short time.<\/p>\n

    That would mean a double painting job, with the costs it has in time and money, and since the operation is going to be for short time, they just leave it as it came, and only change the titles.<\/p>\n

    Those Airplanes are usually called\u00a0“hybrids”<\/strong><\/strong>, and some are really striking.<\/p>\n

    Another variation of this is leaving the Airplane only with the titles, and the rest without painting. It’s usually made when the Airplane is going to be returned to its owner, or was sold, or some other reason that may warrant it.<\/p>\n

    BELONGING TO A GLOBAL ALLIANCE<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Some airlines belong to global alliances such as\u00a0Star Alliance<\/strong>, OneWorld<\/strong> or SkyTeam<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Usually when belonging to any of those alliances, some Airplanes in the fleet are painted with colours alluding to the alliance.<\/p>\n

    BEING AN AIRPLANE IN EXHIBITION BY THE COMPANY THAT MAKES IT<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Some Airplane makers such as Airbus<\/strong>, Boeing<\/strong> or Bombardier <\/strong>go to air fairs, events, and conventions worldwide such as Farnborough<\/strong><\/strong> in the United Kingdom, or FIDAE<\/strong><\/strong> in Chile, among others, to showcase their Airplanes’ capabilities.<\/p>\n

    Often, they find buyers there or close deals that were already being prepared, when they take their Airplanes to those events usually they paint them with the colours of the maker, that almost never are seen again in operation (even though there are some very interesting<\/a> Boeing colour schemes flying with China Airlines<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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    After that little explanation, I want to show you some examples that I’ve been able to photograph.<\/p>\n

    Of course, this list is limited to what I’ve photographed (and some external links to photos of other people), but these practices exists since before I was born, and in many more places that I’ve been able to visit. That is, this is but a small sample.<\/p>\n

    The list will go by airline name in alphabetical order, and I will include some details of the pictures, and the reason of the colours if I know it.<\/p>\n

    I’ve divided the whole article in several lists so it doesn’t become so heavy. This is list A-4<\/strong><\/strong>. In the menu in the beginning, or in the end, you will be able to browse toward the others.<\/p>\n

    I hope you like it.<\/p>\n\n[aesop_chapter title=”List A-4″ subtitle=”The fourth list of airlines by the letter A.” bgtype=”color” full=”on” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#ffffff” maxheight=”50%” revealfx=”inplace” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n