New Aer Lingus Livery

[RANGERMOUSE]

Has anyone seen the new Aer Lingus livery yet? I just watched the unveiling and was horrified. All white with a token green tail, a carbon copy of QANTAS with different colours. They should get a refund from whatever design company they used to inflict that abomination on us. Can you tell I'm not a fan 

[Warbonnet]

28 minutes ago, RANGERMOUSE said:

Has anyone seen the new Aer Lingus livery yet? I just watched the unveiling and was horrified. All white with a token green tail, a carbon copy of QANTAS with different colours. They should get a refund from whatever design company they used to inflict that abomination on us. Can you tell I'm not a fan 

I was told that it is due to easy rebranding for swapping of aircraft between sister companies, so all that needs to change is the tail rather than a full repaint. Sad, but that's the way of the world now. 

[Noel]

32 minutes ago, RANGERMOUSE said:

Has anyone seen the new Aer Lingus livery yet? I just watched the unveiling and was horrified. All white with a token green tail, a carbon copy of QANTAS with different colours. They should get a refund from whatever design company they used to inflict that abomination on us. Can you tell I'm not a fan 

Agree, its pretty awful. Some people are just born with a natural talent for branding and marketing, others are not. Similarly unjoined up thinking to the uncreative process that came up with the disastrous original 201 class IE orange, black, yellow livery. At least the Rotem yo-yos have a nice crisp, noticeable and striking livery. I'd guess the new aircraft livery is more a cost saving exercise for savings on aircraft maintenance and purchase price. Every time a panel or window is replaced with the current livery requires painting, all white makes this quicker and simpler. Pre-painted panels can be afixed. Costs cost, costs, but at the cost of a bland unmemorable livery from a marketing perspective.

[Garfield]

As Fran said above, the new livery is basically there so that aircraft can be easily swapped over and back among other IAG carriers as required, with only a few vinyls having to be replaced instead of a full-scale rebranding. It's sad to see the end of the classic Aer Lingus colour scheme, but it does make sense from a business perspective.

[Noel]

8 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

I was told that it is due to easy rebranding for swapping of aircraft between sister companies, so all that needs to change is the tail rather than a full repaint. Sad, but that's the way of the world now. 

Yes I remember when Aer Lingus were near retiring the 747 fleet in the late 80s and early 90s, two of those ended up with all white fuselages so when wet leased to other airlines out of season, they could quickly and cheaply apply their own logo above the windows.  IMHO it is a big mistake, BA tried something similar in the late 1980s when Maggie Thacther at the opening shouted on camera how bad they looked and had lost the famous BA identity, and on camera she took handkerchiefs out of her hand bag and covered the offending colour scheme on models at the launch. I suspect this livery will be short lived. Aer Lingus brand has been one of iconic schemes of the last century and stand out a mile at crowded international airports, and instantly recognisable in the air at low level. Big mistake IMHO but they will discover that themselves as did BA. It should save a bundle on maintenance costs.

[Broithe]

This is mostly white, a long stripe and a few short ones...

[Garfield]

5 minutes ago, Noel said:

Yes I remember when Aer Lingus were near retiring the 747 fleet in the late 80s and early 90s, two of those ended up with all white fuselages so when wet leased to other airlines out of season, they could quickly and cheaply apply their own logo above the windows.  IMHO it is a big mistake, BA tried something similar in the late 1980s when Maggie Thacther at the opening shouted on camera how bad they looked and had lost the famous BA identity, and on camera she took handkerchiefs out of her hand bag and covered the offending colour scheme on models at the launch. I suspect this livery will be short lived. Aer Lingus brand has been one of iconic schemes of the last century and stand out a mile at crowded international airports, and instantly recognisable in the air at low level. Big mistake IMHO but they will discover that themselves as did BA. It should save a bundle on maintenance costs.

As I understand it, this is out of Aer Lingus' hands... it's IAG (who also own BA) who've made the decision. It's no coincidence that the positioning of the logos and other vinyls are similar to Iberia's, etc.

[Tarabuses]

It might grow on me.

Look up it's Aer Lingus

Edited January 17, 2019 by Tarabuses

[Noel]

The once distinctive green'n'blue toothpaste tube won't stand out on airport aprons as much anymore nor the nose at gates which is what the public see most of the time from inside airport terminals. Anybody remember the old striped green tail livery? I think there is one aircraft currently painted in the iconic 1960s livery. It's great to see WW an Irish Pilot turned businessman head IAG one of the world's largest airline groups.

[WRENNEIRE]

Cant see the livery when you are squashed inside the plane, Couldn'tt give a rats about the livery, give me more space! 

[Broithe]

34 minutes ago, WRENNEIRE said:

Cant see the livery when you are squashed inside the plane, Couldn'tt give a rats about the livery, give me more space! 

The last few planes I've been on, all I saw of the outside was a bit round the door and the top of a wing through the window.

[RANGERMOUSE]

I might make sense from a business perspective and being interchangeable with other IAG airlines but I believe they have got it totally wrong. They have totally misjudged what the publics reaction will be. The comments on their social media pages are mostly negative. I watched the live unveiling and when they lifted the curtain I was horrified. 

I fly home every second weekend and when the incoming flight lands it's instantly recognisable even from the other end of the airport as it taxis to the gate in Manchester. Sounds corny but it's like a little piece of home. The new livery wont be, it'll just be like every other bland boring aircraft there. 

[jhb171achill]

Bland. 

[Broithe]

 

[heirflick]

Well Boyos, I think it is a welcome change and good luck to it! There is another consideration here other than the interchangeability factor -  - white paint weighs lighter than coloured therefore it saves money on fuel bills over thousands of air miles,  also white does not heat up as much , if memory serves (and today its fine!) the Pepsi  Concorde was painted blue and could only fly at mach 2 for about 20 minutes before the air frame began to overheat. 

[Broithe]

Vulcans, Valiants and Victors were painted white in the early days, as 'flash-protection' from the thermonuclear explosions they might have ended up delivering - so, if you happen to be flying in a white plane when Trump or Putin finally get fed up, you have a slightly higher chance of surviving for a few seconds longer.

[Noel]

IMHO, the original and best Aer Lingus livery ever (the equivalent of Black'n'Tan era). The original 707s in this livery looked stellar.

Back in those days all aircraft fuselages were white with a simple colour band at window level in the livery colour of the air line in question which logo on the tail. I quite liked the BOAC livery on their VC-10s and later boeings.

Edited February 8, 2019 by Noel

[RANGERMOUSE]

I parked there 2 hours ago having landed from Manchester. In fact the pic looks like it was taken from where we parked. Is parked the right word? Cars park, ships dock. What do planes do? 

[WRENNEIRE]

Eh planes fly Ranger.......

[Noel]

7 hours ago, RANGERMOUSE said:

I parked there 2 hours ago having landed from Manchester. In fact the pic looks like it was taken from where we parked. Is parked the right word? Cars park, ships dock. What do planes do? 

Park at a stand.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Noel

[minister_for_hardship]

Colour schemes only matter to aethestes and plane 'spotters', the public, who help pay the bills, only care about how cheap fares are and the service they get, not what the outside of the plane looks like.

[Noel]

7 hours ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Colour schemes only matter to aethestes and plane 'spotters', the public, who help pay the bills, only care about how cheap fares are and the service they get, not what the outside of the plane looks like.

Not so sure. Brand advertising kind of works, otherwise Google and Facebook might not exist Like it or not marketing works and we are all susceptible to it if even subliminally. It is relatively easy to accidentally damage a brand identity and cause customer confusion. If it didn't work O'Leary might sell advertising on the side of his planes, imagine, DAZ, OMO, Vodafone logos on the side of planes like buses. Look at the effort IRM/AS have put into their quality packaging and brand graphic design.  

[JasonB]

Personally I quite like the new look. But does it really matter that much, they spend most of the time that far up you can't see what colour they're painted anyway. 

[RANGERMOUSE]

Public perception does have an impact. British Airways had to get rid of their hideous tail designs from the mid 90's due to the publics reaction. The same when Air India got rid of their window design, there was a public outcry and they had to amend the new design to keep the window outline. 

I was speaking to a member of the ground staff as I boarded one of the newly painted aircraft in Dublin 2 weeks ago and although he liked the design he did say the majority of the publics reaction has been negative.

To me and a lot of other people it is a source of national pride seeing the big green aircraft in a foreign airport. It's like a piece of home. Maybe I have a different outlook having lived and worked abroad for so long. Painting them white with a token green tail is like the national Rugby or Football teams switching to white but saying it's fine because they have green socks.

[Noel]

31 minutes ago, RANGERMOUSE said:

Public perception does have an impact. British Airways had to get rid of their hideous tail designs from the mid 90's due to the publics reaction. The same when Air India got rid of their window design, there was a public outcry and they had to amend the new design to keep the window outline. 

I was speaking to a member of the ground staff as I boarded one of the newly painted aircraft in Dublin 2 weeks ago and although he liked the design he did say the majority of the publics reaction has been negative.

To me and a lot of other people it is a source of national pride seeing the big green aircraft in a foreign airport. It's like a piece of home. Maybe I have a different outlook having lived and worked abroad for so long. Painting them white with a token green tail is like the national Rugby or Football teams switching to white but saying it's fine because they have green socks.

Spot on.  There is a great feeling of your coming home sooner than you thought when you see that big green bird and welcoming shamrock at say JFK 

[Noel]

Actually just about to board the Irish Rugby livery A320

Edited February 10, 2019 by Noel

[Noel]

To ice the cake, Believe it or not BOD was on board returning from TV work covering 6N (Eng v Fra). 

[RANGERMOUSE]

I was hoping that'd be the basis for the new livery. Ah well. I do hope they leave the Rugby planes as they are as well as the retro livery. I've been on all bar one of the A320s in the last 5 years, EI-GAL is the last one.

Cillian Murphy was a regular on the Manchester Dublin flight last year as was Amy Huberman. I've also seen Roy Keane and Paul Scholls.

[minister_for_hardship]

On 2/9/2019 at 6:51 PM, Noel said:

Not so sure. Brand advertising kind of works, otherwise Google and Facebook might not exist Like it or not marketing works and we are all susceptible to it if even subliminally. It is relatively easy to accidentally damage a brand identity and cause customer confusion. If it didn't work O'Leary might sell advertising on the side of his planes, imagine, DAZ, OMO, Vodafone logos on the side of planes like buses. Look at the effort IRM/AS have put into their quality packaging and brand graphic design.  

I must be one of the few who really doesn't care what way the plane is painted, provided it gets me where I want to go for the cheapest price. I can't recall scrolling through Skyscanner and choosing a more expensive or inconvenient flight because I preferred the colour.

Edited February 12, 2019 by minister_for_hardship

[RedRich]

You're not one of the few minister but one of the many who don't take every opportunity to have a moan. Getting there and back home safely is all that matters. Especially when you consider the Emiliano Sala and pilot tragedy. 

Rich,