Recent news that American Airlines employees will be voting on whether to maintain the recently adapted AA livery, or update it a bit with the old AA on the tail is an interesting twist. I know that I have speculated that the livery might be tweaked, but I’m surprised (in a good way) at how the new airline is approaching it.
There choices are to leave things just as they are with the new livery, or to repaint the aircraft tails with the old AA emblem. Nothing wrong with this approach, but where I had previously been convinced that something about the livery was going to change, specifically the tail art, I’m now less certain.
Not having seen any artistic renderings of what a return to “AA” on the aircraft tails would look like, I’m just imagining how they’d look, and the truth is that I like that even less than the new “piano keyboard” tail art. In truth, after my initial somewhat negative reaction to the new paint scheme, my opinion has softened over time. All of my initial opinions were based on digital photos, artist renderings, and models. As I’ve seen the new livery as it is applied to actual aircraft with my own eyes, I have to say that it is not as bad as I first thought, and has even begun to grow on me.
The bottom line – Based on the choices presented, I think the odds are better than even that the new American livery is here to stay in it’s initially introduced look. Seems like something fun for the rest of us to vote on, so here’s your chance. Should American keep the new livery as it is currently being applied, or should they update the tail art and go back to the AA that used to be displayed?
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
I wrote a post about this early this month. You can see the options that the employees are voting on here: http://upgrd.com/blogs/doublewidesfly/american-airlines-allow-employees-to-vote-new-livery-or-old.html
i too took a bit to embrace the new livery but now looking back at the old, it looks (and is) so very dated. The sight of the new tail always makes me proud when i see it at a foreign airport! i have an awesome photo of a 737 at Jose Marti in Havana last month if you’d like it. Word among crew over the last week is that the new tail will prevail!
Actually, the alternative proposal is to put the old AA Scissor Eagle logo on the tail in its entirety. The company posted a photo – you might find it at the Dallas Morning News Airline Biz Blog site. Parker said he’s not worried about two logos on the plane.
Reminds me of JAL in the 1990s: they kept the crane on the tail but emphasized the JAL logotype/red square/silver band everywhere else as the logo.
I updated my post just a bit, based on your comment and re-reading the DMN site. Thank you for commenting.