Aircraft Are Painted : Attractive aircraft paint jobs make for one of the most captivating views in the sky, featuring vivid colors, intricate details, and eye-catching designs sure to grab people’s attention. American Airlines features red, white and blue while Air New Zealand adds yellow and green for an eye-catching appearance – creating striking aircraft paint jobs as an expression of company personality and an eye-catching appearance.
Aircraft paint jobs also serve a practical purpose, helping identify aircraft during flight. Details, colors and patterns selected specifically to enhance visibility create an unforgettable sight.
1. Grinning Horror
Oregon National Guard F-15E fighter jets now sport beautiful paintings depicting Oregon’s natural magnificence – symbolised by an iconic bald eagle – as part of their decoration program. These aircraft have long been recognized for their impressive performance and offensive capabilities since first debuting in 1972 and remain operational today with both U.S. Air National Guard and Air Force squadrons.
2. Kulula Flying 101
Kulula Flying 101 For years, South African budget airline Kulula stood out as having one of the most imaginative exterior paint schemes. Their Flying 101 painting displayed many components of its aircraft.
On the outside of the cockpit is written “Big Cheese — Captain My Captain!
Marking it with an arrow makes the “black box” flight data recorder easily identifiable, providing a direct path towards understanding its inner workings. No other way can provide such an effective and insightful experience of an aircraft.
3. Fastest Eagle Alive
Oregon National Guard Decorated F-15E Fighter Jet with Bald Eagle Paintjob Oregon National Guard’s F-15E fighter jet has been decorated with an eye-catching painting depicting Oregon’s state symbol – the bald eagle – as part of their state pride initiative. Known for their incredible performance and offensive capabilities, F-15E’s have been serving with both U.S. Air National Guard and Air Force since their introduction in 1972.
4. Brussels Airlines Tintin
Belgian airline Brussels Airlines recognizes Tintin with their Tintin aircraft decal. Cartoon figures continue to be an increasingly popular theme when decorating aircraft exteriors; as shown by Brussels Airlines’ tribute to one of Belgium’s most well-known figures.
This aircraft features the iconic 37-meter long shark submarine from Tintin’s tale “Red Rackham’s Treasure,” while Tintin and Snowy (or Milou in French) the wire fox terrier are featured as well.
5. Nok Air – Birds
Birds Low-cost Thai carrier Nok decided to have some fun with its planes by decorating them as colorful birds.
Identification of colorful aircrafts flying overhead can be both amusing and instructive; providing answers to the frequently-asked question “Is that bird or plane?”. (Both are in fact true!)
6. Talk About “Royal” Air Force
Oregon National Guard F-15E fighter jets now sport beautiful paintings depicting Oregon’s natural magnificence – symbolised by an iconic bald eagle – as part of their decoration program. These aircraft have long been recognized for their impressive performance and offensive capabilities since first debuting in 1972 and remain operational today with both U.S. Air National Guard and Air Force squadrons.
7. Azores Airlines — Whale
Whale On September 6, Azores Airlines, a Portuguese airline based on the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean, honored their designation as whale sanctuary by painting a blue sperm whale on one of their Airbus A330 planes.
The airline logo features a whale tail – fittingly displayed at the tail of each plane.
As part of its transformation from SATA International, Azores Airlines introduced a special livery.
8. Eva Air — Gudetama
Gudetama for Travelers mes Eva Air aircraft transporting travelers between Taipei and Tokyo feature the popular Sanrio character Gudetama.
Gudetama, or an egg yolk who oozes melanin, can often be seen resting beneath a blanket of bacon. Appropriately, the interiors of Taiwanese aircrafts feature this popular character; from cups and cards to cushions displaying him.
Sanrio’s iconic Hello Kitty character has made headlines for her worldwide travels, appearing on Eva aircraft and Japanese bullet trains as well as at Taipei Airport lounges. Hello Kitty is well known for her travels as she often features prominently. Her iconic pink hue has even graced an Eva aircraft and an Eva Lounge in Taipei Airport!
9. Nok Air – Bird
Nok Air, located in Thailand, derives its name from a Thai word meaning “bird.” To honor their title and give each plane an unique appearance, all planes feature colorful bird designs such as painted beaks on the nose of each plane with feather designs decorating its body to form its wings and beak.
10. The Vintage Throwback
To produce such an extraordinary painting must have required considerable jet fuel consumption. We know the plane in this painting as a Short SC-7 Skyvan 3-100; you have to figure out how else it was painted! This paint job stands out among many as one of the more bizarre that we have ever seen and should give credit to its artist; especially as its front gap serves to add another element of art into this artwork.
11. KLM Delft
Delft in the Netherlands is famed for its blue-and-white pottery; to honor this heritage, Dutch national airline KLM even decorated some aircraft with this emblematic design as part of a tribute.
12. Qatar Airways — Barcelona
Qatar Airways and F.C. Barcelona have had an ongoing partnership since 2013; and, in 2014, unveiled a special decorated Boeing 777 bearing their flag and emblem with the slogan, “A team that unites.”
The flag design on this aircraft features an eye-catching shading effect, creating the impression of movement during take off. Barca, or combination of scarlet and blue colors in Catalan, covers half of the aircraft.
13. Landing In Disneyland
This Hog is painted to honor the inspiring aircrafts used in World War II. We can appreciate its work of art on this devastating war machine capable of devastation quickly; even our strongest adversaries would run from it upon seeing its intimidating looks and high number of barrels.
14. Air New Zealand ‘Lord of the Rings’
Since the release of “Lord of the Rings,” numerous tourists have visited New Zealand to pay their respects and celebrate these Oscar-winning movies.
Air New Zealand contributed to the excitement by unveiling Lord of the Rings-themed planes and featuring movie actors in their respective characters in its flight safety video.
15. Jetstar — Singaporeans
Singaporeans To commemorate Singapore’s golden jubilee in 2015, Jetstar unveiled a unique livery featuring 50 regular Singaporeans.
Michael Ng, a Singaporean designer, took inspiration from an iconic bird found there – the black-naped oriole – to design an artwork depicting people who had been nominated by their friends, families, or the general public as “unsung heroes.”
Pop art inspired this transformation, featuring local icons – including one female who left corporate work to aid underprivileged populations in Cambodia.
16. A National Symbol
This plane, paying tribute to Alaska and its frigid climate, flies much slower than an aeroplane and is intended to promote it effectively as well as make anyone considering visiting seriously consider visiting. With its cute husky sitting at its controls representing pilots guiding it.
17. Virgin Atlantic — Where’s Waldo?
Where’s Waldo??, Whilst, What can You do With Waldo, and Do You know Where I can Find Waldo if any are in existence
Richard Branson, head of Virgin, donned a costume resembling Waldo from “Where’s Wally?” fame as part of Virgin’s celebrations to unveil their Boeing 747 featuring him.
Livery was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of popular bespectacled children’s character.
No need to be alarmed; these miniature figurines were hard to spot! You would need keen eyesight to detect them as they blended seamlessly into their design.
18. Super-Fast And Fizzy
Although Concorde aircraft were deadly weapons, Pepsi’s attractive exterior made it look non-lethal – garnering them plenty of publicity in the process. Concorde could only reach speeds up to 1.7 Mach when painted white; since Pepsi plane had thick layers of blue paint covering its wings it slowed it down significantly.
19. Sportwear Liftoff
Sportwear Liftoff The Gulfstream G550 is an extravagantly expensive private aircraft, even without its custom Nike design. Nothing looks as impressive as owning your own jet and this particular example features eye-catching navy and cyan stripes that will have everyone talking. Rarely have we come across such captivating custom paint jobs.
20. Papua New Guinea — AIR
Papua New Guinea — AIR With seven million citizens who speak 800 distinct dialects, Papua New Guinea stands out among Southeast Asian countries due to its isolated and rugged landscape. Air transport remains essential here.
PNG Air has designed an eye-catching livery for their new ATR 72-600 aircraft to reflect the diversity of PNG. The design includes various traditional symbols from across PNG.
This modern depiction of ancient patterns was achieved using only three colors.
21. To Infinity, And Beyond!
Experience Buzz Lightyear flying through the skies like never before thanks to Pixar and China Eastern Airlines working together! In celebration of Toy Story movie fans traveling on this Toy Story flight experience, passengers received themed boarding passes. A memento from such an unforgettable journey makes the memory all the sweeter.
22. BA — Fashion
Fashion (49-566) Style was revealed with the unveiling of a unique British Airways livery created by celebrated Chinese fashion designer Masha Ma.
The Boeing 777-200’s artistic design bridged east and west cultures by showcasing symbols and techniques from both impressionism and Chinese ink-and-wash painting traditions. A bamboo and rose were featured prominently to emphasize cultural harmony.
Design of this piece took nearly 2,500 hours and involved 186 stencils.
23. The Patriotic Ones
Southwest Airlines has taken an incredible step by decorating one of their planes with the Colorado flag! Residents in Denver now have an opportunity to show their patriotism while flying around, and will feel great pride being part of such an impressive tribute. The design of the plane makes any traveler proud that they’re part of it.
24. Flying Droids
It was only fitting that All Nippon Airways custom designed a full-size airplane to honor Anakin Skywalker’s loyal droid R2D2 from Star Wars films. A talented artist expertly gave this aircraft the look and feel of R2D2 from the movie series; fans may need to wait longer until their own plane becomes available, but this plane certainly will make an impressionful statement!
25. Westjet — Frozen
In order to decorate your plane with images from Disney’s hit film “Frozen”, like Anna, Elsa, and Olaf from Anna Elsa Elsa Olaf you will require 23 distinct shades of paint totalling 170 gallons – Westjet Airlines worked alongside Disney employing artists from Canada, US and Germany as painters to make this dream design come to life!
The theme continued inside, with cold and wintry elements at one end of the plane transitioning to warmth and sunshine in front.
26. The Airforce Is Strong
All Nippon Airways’ three planes decorated with Star Wars droid designs were an instantaneous hit! Many passengers may be attracted to traveling on these aircraft with R2-D2, BB-8, and C3PO-themed designs – who wouldn’t want to fly on an aircraft decorated with Star Wars-related elements?! We already have plans in motion – another airline is up next.
27. Western Pacific – The Simpsons Jet
Western Pacific Airlines’ now defunct airline decided in 1995 to decorate one of their aircrafts with characters from The Simpsons television show as part of their advertising campaigns, featuring Bart, Homer, Lisa, and Marge prominently displayed until eventually shutting down in 1998.
28. Jackson Pollock’s Plane
This unique private jet will certainly make an impression. The M3 Charter Jet stands out with its green background and yellow, red, blue and black spots resembling Jackson Pollock’s art work. If ever given the chance to pilot this plane… you will certainly never forget it! In future…
29. US Airways – Arizona Cardinals
U.S. Airways paid its respects to Arizona Cardinals by painting the company’s iconic red bird logo onto both sides of an aircraft in 2006. Don’t you find this look great?
30. Hungarian Air Force Mi-24V Hind
Mil Mi-24 helicopters were developed to deliver maximum firepower with minimum carrying and transport capacities, with international versions such as Mi-35 and Mi-25 also being available. Their paint jobs can either be seen as displays of military brilliance or failure – it remains uncertain whether its appearance represents military brilliance or incompetence, being either comical overstatements or intimidating ones; every detail has been decorated to resemble a bird of prey – only one ever taking flight in reality!
31. Lufthansa – Football Nose
In 2006, Germany hosted the World Cup. As an act of support and to demonstrate this fact, Lufthansa decorated 40 of their planes with painted soccer balls on their noses – an effort which demonstrated their dedication.
32. Big Plane, Big Cat
Rossiy Airlines joined forces with the Amur Tiger Center to erect this impressive memorial to this courageous creature, depicted here with its face located prominently on a giant Boeing 737 plane. To complete the task, an impressive amount of paint was required – obviously all done manually!
33. Aeroflot – Olympics
Aeroflot-Olympics In 2008, Russian airline Aeroflot painted one of their planes in red and silver to commemorate Russia’s Olympic team. This aircraft flew back and forth between Moscow and Beijing many times that summer transporting athletes, politicians, and important people from Russia directly to Beijing; its pattern replicated that found on Team Russia uniforms.
34. Royal Netherlands F-16 Fighter Jet
We were fortunate enough to capture Royal Dutch Air Force Aerobatic team flying F-16 jets. Additionally, their Demoteam flew AH-64D Apache Solo Display Team and the AH-64 Apache. One F-16 in particular stands out as being painted in its signature orange colour – it made an exciting display! Unfortunately we weren’t around when their performance ended but we do offer impressive helicopter designs!
35. South West Airlines – SI One
Bar Rafaeli, a supermodel featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in 2009, celebrated by having her likeness painted onto a plane of South West Airlines and flying it from New York to Las Vegas before they repainted it later that year.
36. Digital Aces
Even though the United States and Russia were once bitter rivals during the Cold War, they still closely monitor each other’s military advances. The top photograph displays Russia’s Su-57 fighter jet while its U.S. Air Force counterpart F-16. While relations between both nations may currently be tenuous at best, both are investing substantial sums of money in each other’s military sciences – even subtle details like paint color cannot escape intelligence services from either nation!
37. Austrian Airlines – Wiener Philharmoniker
Vienna has long been celebrated as the home of world-renowned composers, orchestras, ballet companies, and artists. To honor Vienna’s rich classical music heritage and to remember some of these luminaries of art history who call the city home, Austrian Airlines designed one of their aircrafts with an eye-catching livery featuring violins, bassoons, cellos, and various other classical instruments – but unfortunately had to repainted a year later and now no longer displays this design! This plane first made an appearance back in 2006 before unfortunately being repainted over and this design no longer remains visible!
38. The Duracell Plane
This C-130 Hercules serves as an advertisement for Duracell’s battery company in an effort to bring power to electronic toys for children. They partnered with Toys for Tots to distribute this load of AA batteries pictured; though we should note they weren’t powering the plane itself! Many find its amusing battery-themed design endearing; we find its military design especially captivating.
39. Versailles In The Sky
When it comes to private plane designs, some of the most striking and unique can be seen. If you want to attract the wealthy and famous, make sure that their attention is drawn with something like this beautiful sky blue background with flowers flying freely – an attractive romantic escape which offers transportation on daring voyages!
40. Malaysia Airways – Hibiscus
Malaysia Airways gave two Boeing 747s an exclusive look when they painted them with red Hibiscus flowers – Malaysia’s national flowers – as part of an extraordinary design in 2005. Unfortunately, both aircraft were returned to their original colors in 2008, meaning this eye-catching feature no longer exists.
41. Having A Whale Of A Flight
Most people associate brightly painted planes with animals like eagles and tigers; however, this special artwork features an incredible Beluga whale design instead! Do you see its remarkable likeness? whoever created this artwork noticed its large size and created this piece that features it; giving an appropriate design such as that of one of nature’s largest living creatures for its plane – no doubt someone did just this with their artistic talent!
42. Digital Russians
Digital Russians When it comes to artful designs, few can match Russia. Its digital-camouflage look has become one of the most iconic military designs; those familiar with United States Air Force work may remember this paint job from an F-16 from years past; an interesting connection may exist here – though critics might point out how similar the Sukhoi Su-57 was almost copied directly from F-22 Raptor! Now moving from fast to electric!
43. Light Up The Sky
Icelandair Stopover has chosen to highlight Iceland’s famed Northern Lights on one of their planes as part of a plane design that will surely go down in history as one of the greats! Passengers shouldn’t forget their Poke balls before embarking!
44. Singapore Airlines – Tropical Megatop
Singapore Airlines utilized two Boeing 747s with special paint jobs known as Tropical Megatop to promote their first class and business class services during the late 90’s. Unfortunately, Flight 006 from Taiwan crashed while traveling to Las Vegas killing 83 passengers; consequently, both planes immediately received new paint jobs, rendering Tropical Megatop no longer in existence.
45. Pokémon Airlines
Airlines Wreckage Ever since its inception in 1998, people had long anticipated seeing this Pokemon-themed plane take flight and cause such a stir that it eventually got off the ground and caused huge waves. After it achieved such success, ANA created another Pokemon plane which has also proven quite popular and brought many smiles; even though these aircraft have since been retired they will always remain remembered with fondness.
46. Sci-Fi Spaceship
The NATO Tiger Meet provides an event to showcase customized aircraft, and this year’s gathering took place in Zaragoza, Spain. One notable entry at this gathering was “Tiger Hind” which won Best-Looking Tiger Aircraft Award due to resembling Alien from Alien movie; also featured was cyborg jaguar body parts reminiscent of Alien alien. Although rare among such works of art to actually see battle action; nevertheless this particular example was battle-ready!
47. The Incredible Airline
Alaska Airlines launched a promotion featuring Inuit art to promote Incredibles 2, even with superheroes being so pervasive in our culture today. Unfortunately, certain members of the older generation were outraged by Alaska Airlines’ portrayal of an Inuit hero in this advertisement.
48. Air France – Pepsi
Don’t be fooled; that plane really is a Concorde! Considered an incredible achievement of modern aeronautics, its legacy has seen many iconic paint jobs over time – most famously that of Pepsi in 1996 when they partnered with Air France to promote themselves through advertising on this plane painted blue with their brand symbol until 2003 when this changed again.
49. Out Of The Ocean
All Nippon Airways (ANA) A380 series was manufactured at Airbus Paintshop’s Hamburg facility in Germany and their adorable Hawaiian sea turtle design was super cute! As one of Airbus’ first clients to receive its Japanese superjumbo, ANA A380s received similar treatments to their two preceding A380s; photo shows that two following A380s received this same Hawaiian treatment as well. These A380s will fly directly between Tokyo-Honolulu route; in total three shades (blue, green, and orange). One of Airbus most ambitious projects, taking 21 days with 16 different colours to cover its 3,600m2 surface.
50. Qantas – Wunala Dream
To honor and celebrate Australia’s Aboriginal peoples’ culture and heritage, Qantas Airlines decided to decorate three planes with traditional Aboriginal artwork dating back to 1994. A team comprised of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists collaborated in designing these intricate yet beautiful designs that capture people’s attention.
51. Disco In The Sky
Clay Lacy Aviation has designed the “SexyJet,” a glittery Gulfstream GV with flashy colors that makes its presence known in the sky. Perfect for high rollers, the plane features a roomy gallery, personal lavatory, power outlets for electronics and hot and cold snacks – not forgetting its two Rolls-Royce engines powering it! Upon seeing it for yourself you won’t believe your eyes.
52. Delta Airlines – Pink Plane
Delta Airlines began supporting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation by painting their aircraft pink in 2005, bearing their ribbon logo near the front of each plane. Their staff also wear pink uniforms and provide pink items like lemonade or headsets on board the planes as an expression of support.
53. Maple Marvel
The Royal Canadian Air Force unveiled their spectacular demonstration jet, decorated with vibrant white and red maple leaves, at the 2017 Canada150 Air Show to commemorate Canada’s 150th year. This incredible machine can reach speeds of 1,127 miles per hour but is difficult to spot with naked eyes.
54. Eva Air – Hello Kitty
Eva Air- Hello Kitty In an effort to support Taiwan’s diminishing tourism sector, Eva Air partnered with Hello Kitty brand for increased air travel. Not only can many of the cute cats adorning its exterior of aircrafts and seats; Hello Kitty images can also be seen adorning check-in desks, employee uniforms and food served on board that has been designed specifically to look like Hello Kitty characters!
55. The Terror Of The Skies
No longer do we wish for something pleasant; let’s go back to the A-10’s classic aesthetics! With its olive drab green color scheme and intimidating monster-nose job, the A-10 is truly intimidating. From all the creative concepts on this list, we couldn’t leave out this classic war-inspired paint job, which will scare terrorists into retreat. Giving military planes more friendly looks helps pilots feel more secure while making enemies more fearful – yet giving it away gives enemies something to fear more than anything. But enough with its warlike aesthetics; let us return to aircraft’s more pleasing aesthetics!
56. Feathered Feats
Feathered Feats We have never seen such an amusing plane design as Nokair Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 with their bird motifs paint job is truly amusing! Nokair Airlines are known for their quirky corporate culture, boasting several planes with animal designs like this rooster one which stands out. Most passenger jets fly at speeds below 1,000 miles per hour making this one standout amongst all others!
57. Etihad Airways – Formula 1
Etihad Airways served as an official sponsor of the 2009 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and to mark their involvement they decorated one of their planes with the colors associated with Formula 1, red, black and white; with an orange tail painted to represent a checkered flag flag.
58. Holiday Cheer From Above
In this festive snapshot, the typically dull hues of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II have been dramatically changed to capture the spirit of Christmas. It’s incredible to witness all of the seasonal features which have been added, such as garlanded wings and aircraft propelled by reindeer. The contrast between Santa’s giant presence against a snow-covered landscape is remarkable; perhaps instead of firing rockets they should consider shooting Christmas firecrackers?
59. The Winged Warrior
I can’t quite tell whether this plane has been decorated with a rooster image or whether I am simply seeing things? Assuming this is standard plane design, we don’t agree on whether this plane is truly incredible or just plain silly; neither do we agree on whether its pilot wears retro pilot’s uniform; making the design both admirable and amusing in equal measures – its formation was certainly eye-catching too!
60. Japan Airlines – Disney Jet
Japan Airlines has long been an official partner of Disneyland Tokyo and Tokyo DisneySea Waterpark since their opening. Notable characters such as Micky Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy have featured prominently in many plane designs of this airline; moreover they recently revealed plans to decorate six more aircrafts with Disney designs.
61. Flying Fish
How does this sweet fish stay afloat in the sky? With its eye-catching color palette that both children and adults can easily identify, this stunning visual depicting an SC-7 Skyvan 3-100 from Czech Republic-based Pink Aviation would surely transport gifts for Eastern European children this Christmas if Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer became an A-10 Warthog; even if this seems impossible at first glance it would make a perfect present!
62. The Rainbow Make-A-Wish Jet
International Jet Aviation of Denver donated a Lear Jet model 35 to International Jet Aviation International Jet Aviation has provided this plane since 1990 for seriously ill youngsters to experience thrill flights if desired. Their services have evolved through various models over time until its last flight took place this past March; we commend its bright paint job and its good deed for those less fortunate than ourselves.
63. All Nippon Airways – Fly Panda
All Nippon Airlines marked two decades of travel between Japan and China by decorating one of their airplanes with the panda, a revered national symbol in China. This aircraft remains operational today and has come to be known as “Fly Panda.” This tribute represents All Nippon’s dedication to intercultural collaboration.
64. NATO Tiger Meet Pt. 2
This French Dassault Rafale M fighter has been given an Arctic Tiger paint job, making it look like something out of a video game. Which paint job do you prefer more – either this or its predecessor? When encountered in the sky, its red eyes stand out against most of its black and white paint job; making this special order item for one NATO Tiger Meet more suitable than its counterpart; on the other hand, another item might appeal more directly to children.
65. Thai Airways – Royal Barge
Thai Airways celebrated the monarchy of Thailand by decorating three aircraft with depictions of traditional royal boats – one on each side – as part of a commemorative effort to mark its 62nd birthday celebrations. These boats extend from beneath each wing, featuring tiny painted figures for added realism and Thai architecture.
66. Swiss Air – San Francisco
In celebration of their Zurich-San Francisco non-stop service launch, Swiss Air unveiled an airplane featuring a design inspired by San Francisco. This vibrant and colorful pattern includes peace signs, musical notes, love hearts and words written with hippie font and hue. A team of eight people worked for three days to paint this aircraft before it took flight.
67. NATO Tiger Meet
At the 2003 NATO Tiger Meet, we had the fortune of witnessing one of the most captivating military paint jobs we had ever seen: that of Mirage 2000RDI 83/12-YL from EX 1/12 host unit’s Mirage 2000RDI 83/12-YL with menacing eyes from EX 1/12 host unit – but unfortunately it never even left the runway to take flight! Unfortunately it’s a real shame;
Also Refer : Stunning Paint Transformations On World-Class Aircraft In The Sky
