# American Airlines unveils new livery. Photos!



## Texan Eagle

Remember American Airlines and their red-white-blue cheatline livery resembling Amtrak Superliner livery? That is about to change. AA unveiled their new livery and logo today. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Current livery:







New livery:











So... what do you guys think about it? Good? Bad? Ugly?


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## jsreeves

As a graphic designer, I like the new logo.

I really like the new tail graphics!


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## Texan Eagle

If you ask me, personally, I think it looks gorgeous on the 777-300ER (well, it is a beautiful plane, almost anything looks good on it!), but I saw pics of this new livery applied on a smaller 737 and that doesn't look impressive. Will wait to judge until I get to see it in person.

Here's first 737 painted in new livery-


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## Devil's Advocate

We waited half a century for this? I don't dispute that it needed updating; I just don't see the appeal of the new livery. The new logo is fine, but the base coat is too much like the late NW and the tail looks like an over stylized mess. Our flag is already unique enough. Add some waves or do a simple reduction like US. The whole slice and dice thing has been done a dozen times over already.


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## printman2000

Since newer planes are now being made from composites, they cannot do the bare metal look anymore. Instead they chose the silver paint. The silver paint on the already painted plane does not look silver. Maybe the new planes will look better.


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## OlympianHiawatha

It looks like something my cat would deposit in the backyard!


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## railiner

Ye gads! C.R. Smith must be rolling over in his grave over that scheme, as if he wasn't already, considering what has become of his once proud airline...

What was IMHO, the most distinctive and recognizable color scheme in the air, is now just another billboard-style, kind of reminiscent of the defunct 'North American' airline scheme, at least as far as the stylized flag on the tail....

Too bad they can't apply some kind of metallic paint on the composite surfaces to mimic the polished aluminum look. The current scheme looks more grey than silver on the composite surfaces.....

American used to be able to brag about the fuel they saved by not carrying around the additional weight of the paint...


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## AmtrakBlue

Just looked at the picture again. Looks like a keyboard with some of the white keys painted red.


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## The Davy Crockett

It looks okay. Doesn't 'wow' me.

The bigger issue is, with all the problems American has been having of late, should they be focusing their energies on a new paint scheme? I mean, if your ship is taking on water, do you paint the hull or bail out the water?


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## railiner

I can't tell from those photo's, but I wonder if those letters are like a 'wrap', and cover some of the windows.....if so it would obscure visibility somewhat.....


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## railiner

The Davy Crockett said:


> It looks okay. Doesn't 'wow' me.
> The bigger issue is, with all the problems American has been having of late, should they be focusing their energies on a new paint scheme? I mean, if your ship is taking on water, do you paint the hull or bail out the water?


I think that as they are almost out of reorganization (bankruptcy), they want to demonstrate that they are a "New" American Airlines, and break with association of some of their recent troubled past. New logo's, uniforms, ads., etc., are typical PR stuff in that situation....


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## Trogdor

railiner said:


> I can't tell from those photo's, but I wonder if those letters are like a 'wrap', and cover some of the windows.....if so it would obscure visibility somewhat.....


No.

I don't think any airline has ever/would ever do such a thing. There is nothing to be gained from wrapping/covering the windows, and would be an extra expense to apply and maintain.


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## Texan Eagle

railiner said:


> The Davy Crockett said:
> 
> 
> 
> It looks okay. Doesn't 'wow' me.
> The bigger issue is, with all the problems American has been having of late, should they be focusing their energies on a new paint scheme? I mean, if your ship is taking on water, do you paint the hull or bail out the water?
> 
> 
> 
> I think that as they are almost out of reorganization (bankruptcy), they want to demonstrate that they are a "New" American Airlines, and break with association of some of their recent troubled past. New logo's, uniforms, ads., etc., are typical PR stuff in that situation....
Click to expand...

On their website they have a video advertising The New American. Apart from new livery they will have redesigned boarding passes, lounge designs, better interiors and services (only for the high-paying folks, Economy class peasants can continue to suck it up) and so on. It's all a part of giving out a positive image that hey look, we are no longer the bankrupt AA, we are the NEW AMERICAN.. whatever that means.


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## JayPea

I like the new look, myself........


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## The Davy Crockett

.



Texan Eagle said:


> we are the NEW AMERICAN.. whatever that means.


EXACTLY! Now I'm not saying this is what will happen to American, but I once worked for a company that was having financial issues. In an effort to redo our image, we got a new CEO, a new logo and the new motto "Count on Us." Within 6 months 98% of us were put out on the street after we were bought out and the new owner consolidated operations.

EDIT: And almost as if on cue, I just got an email from American entitled "See how we're evolving, inside and out."


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## Ryan

Yuck.


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## Texan Eagle

The Davy Crockett said:


> EDIT: And almost as if on cue, I just got an email from American entitled "See how we're *evolving*, inside and out."


Do they send these emails even to people who do not believe in evolution or is there a separate version going "See how God has created a new American"? h34r:


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## Devil's Advocate

Trogdor said:


> railiner said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't tell from those photo's, but I wonder if those letters are like a 'wrap', and cover some of the windows.....if so it would obscure visibility somewhat.....
> 
> 
> 
> No.
> 
> I don't think any airline has ever/would ever do such a thing. There is nothing to be gained from wrapping/covering the windows, and would be an extra expense to apply and maintain.
Click to expand...

Airlines wrap their windows all the time. On their cargo aircraft. h34r:


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## The Davy Crockett

Texan Eagle said:


> The Davy Crockett said:
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: And almost as if on cue, I just got an email from American entitled "See how we're *evolving*, inside and out."
> 
> 
> 
> Do they send these emails even to people who do not believe in evolution or is there a separate version going "See how God has created a new American"? h34r:
Click to expand...

:giggle: :giggle: :giggle: Boy, oh boy... Now that is a real can of worms. 

Or maybe subliminally they meant devolution.


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## Shawn Ryu

Looks very low costish.

Not bad but not really a good logo for a major full fare carrier for whatever reason.


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## SarahZ

I like the brushed silver with the modern font, but that tail graphic makes me think, "Amurrica..."

Edit: Okay, okay... I know the company is "American", so of course they're going to use red/white/blue, but it's just... it screams at me. That's where the "Amurrica" comes from. There are more subtle ways of incorporating the colors, especially since it has "American" plastered on the side.

It just reminds me of everyone trying to out-patriot-pride each other. I feel like the plane needs truck nuts and an NRA sticker.

tl;dr - they need a different tail graphic.


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## Ryan

Sorcha said:


> I feel like the plane needs truck nuts and an NRA sticker.


I actually laughed out load at this one. Brilliant.


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## NS VIA Fan

I know there might be the possibility of a merger in Americans future. But could it be with Cubana?

That new scheme would be an easy transition to theirs. 

http://www.cubana.cu/guide/?article=IL-96


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## Devil's Advocate

Sorcha said:


> I like the brushed silver with the modern font, but that tail graphic makes me think, "Amurrica..."
> Edit: Okay, okay... I know the company is "American", so of course they're going to use red/white/blue, but it's just... it screams at me. That's where the "Amurrica" comes from. There are more subtle ways of incorporating the colors, especially since it has "American" plastered on the side.
> 
> It just reminds me of everyone trying to out-patriot-pride each other. I feel like the plane needs truck nuts and an NRA sticker.
> 
> tl;dr - they need a different tail graphic.


That's just what I'd expect a socialist Murrica hatin' elitest to say.


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## Trogdor

Devil's Advocate said:


> Trogdor said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> railiner said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't tell from those photo's, but I wonder if those letters are like a 'wrap', and cover some of the windows.....if so it would obscure visibility somewhat.....
> 
> 
> 
> No.
> 
> I don't think any airline has ever/would ever do such a thing. There is nothing to be gained from wrapping/covering the windows, and would be an extra expense to apply and maintain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Airlines wrap their windows all the time. On their cargo aircraft. h34r:
Click to expand...

Cargo planes generally don't have windows.

Where cargo planes are converted from former passenger aircraft, the windows are usually plugged. Those plugs are often painted over.

None of them are "wrapped", though.


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## SarahZ

Devil's Advocate said:


> Sorcha said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like the brushed silver with the modern font, but that tail graphic makes me think, "Amurrica..."
> Edit: Okay, okay... I know the company is "American", so of course they're going to use red/white/blue, but it's just... it screams at me. That's where the "Amurrica" comes from. There are more subtle ways of incorporating the colors, especially since it has "American" plastered on the side.
> 
> It just reminds me of everyone trying to out-patriot-pride each other. I feel like the plane needs truck nuts and an NRA sticker.
> 
> tl;dr - they need a different tail graphic.
> 
> 
> 
> That's just what I'd expect a socialist Murrica hatin' elitest to say.
Click to expand...

Wine juice boxes for all!


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## tp49

It just looks cheap. The American titles look kind of Greyhoundish.


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## The Journalist

It looks like was designed with the Oneworld unified livery in mind, otherwise why all grey? The tailpant is about as similar to British Airway's tailpaint as possible without actually copying it, though I guess if the design concept is "stylized red white and blue flag" there's only so many things to do with that.

I miss the days of loud and gaudy plane liveries, but I think I'm the only one. Most airlines seem to be going in the direction of "solid color body with the name in block san-serif font and random shapes on the tail." The new United livery in particular is immensely boring; they seem to have taken the bad parts of both parents airlines' liveries and combined them.


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## Texan Eagle

BTW did anybody see the "new" American Airlines website? It is an absolute trainwreck right now. See these screenshots-







_Umm what's that big blob of grey emptiness next to the improperly resized images? :wacko: _

_



_

_Why has all that text run away to hide in top left corner? :blink: _


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## Devil's Advocate

Trogdor said:


> Devil's Advocate said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trogdor said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> railiner said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't tell from those photo's, but I wonder if those letters are like a 'wrap', and cover some of the windows.....if so it would obscure visibility somewhat.....
> 
> 
> 
> No. I don't think any airline has ever/would ever do such a thing. There is nothing to be gained from wrapping/covering the windows, and would be an extra expense to apply and maintain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Airlines wrap their windows all the time. On their cargo aircraft. h34r:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cargo planes generally don't have windows. Where cargo planes are converted from former passenger aircraft, the windows are usually plugged. Those plugs are often painted over. None of them are "wrapped", though.
Click to expand...

 In general, when you see a smiley you don't need take my post all that seriously. 



Texan Eagle said:


> BTW did anybody see the "new" American Airlines website? It is an absolute trainwreck right now.


That's pretty damn funny. Something got missed in the migration. Anybody need an IT job with free travel? LOL.


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## SarahZ

It looks like the style sheet didn't load for the text along the top. That, or a script needs to be fixed.

I like Frontier Airlines' livery. They have a pretty basic body with their name in HUGE font and an animal on the tail.


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## PerRock

I'm not a huge fan of this new livery. It's seems like it's following the new current new design most airlines are going to, so I can't blame them. But personally overall it isn't a design I looks that good. They've got a logo that looks like a airline tail that they didn't put on the tail, that's a no-brainer for a designer like me.

peter


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## trainman74

I always liked the old livery and thought it was fairly timeless. I think it's definitely going to take a while to get used to seeing the new livery, given that the old livery predates my birth! I do think it looks better in the actual photo that was posted in this thread than it does on the Photoshopped mockups.

I do hope they keep one aircraft in the old livery as a "retro" tribute.

Guess now there needs to be a update to the documentary "Helvetica."


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## Devil's Advocate

trainman74 said:


> Guess now there needs to be a update to the documentary "Helvetica."


I was thinking the same thing. It's different alright, just like everybody else.


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## Texan Eagle

Sorcha said:


> It looks like the style sheet didn't load for the text along the top. That, or a script needs to be fixed.


I pointed this out to their Twitter account @AmericanAir yesterday night and they immediately replied that they are going to do website upgrade tonight, and sure enough, today morning the new AA website looks simply beautiful.. compared to websites of United and US Airways stuck in 1990s or early 2000s.






The other pages, such as AAdvantage homepage or their fleet information page have not been updated yet and look like a disaster. Some IT folks need more coffee to stay up on their toes I guess.


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## rrdude

Double yuck. That was my honest, first impression. Then I said to myself, outloud, "You've got to be kidding me........."

It's not bad, but what they HAD was better........


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## Devil's Advocate

Texan Eagle said:


> Today morning the new AA website looks simply beautiful.. compared to websites of United and US Airways stuck in 1990s or early 2000s. The other pages, such as AAdvantage homepage or their fleet information page have not been updated yet and look like a disaster. Some IT folks need more coffee to stay up on their toes I guess.


The UA website may look old (although 1990's era is an excessive exaggeration) but it has other factors in its favor. UA uses CO's front end with their own back end and while their hybrid system isn't as all-knowing as first hoped it still allows for far more raw functionality than most other airlines sites I've used. So, even when half of UA's site is broken it's _still_ twice as useful as most airline sites in my experience. As for US, I don't like the look or the functionality of their site and even on a good day it can't do that much for me anyway. Still more useful than AGR's site though.


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## TimePeace

I am having a hard time caring one way or the other. I rarely see airplanes except so high up in the sky they are not identifiable.

However my favorite things to see on an airplane on the rare occasions I am planning to fly in are wings, engines, and horizontal and vertical stabilizers, landing gear, and various control surfaces. Oh, and pilots in the cockpit. :mellow:


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## AmtrakBlue

Just like humans, I prefer to judge the plane by what's on the inside, not what's on the outside.

Since I will be spending hour(s) inside the plane, I'm more interested in how the inside looks & feels.


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## Devil's Advocate

AmtrakBlue said:


> Just like humans, I prefer to judge the plane by what's on the inside, not what's on the outside.Since I will be spending hour(s) inside the plane, I'm more interested in how the inside looks & feels.


What do you think of the pending interior changes?

Even though I usually bring my own content I still like the idea of having AVOD at each seat for when my batteries are dead or I've run out of stuff to watch or listen to. I also like the idea of lie-flat business class seats for those times when there's a steep revenue discount or points redemption mismatch.

Do you like the new "metro-style" look of AA.com?

I'm not a huge fan of metro on the desktop, but it looks fine in the browser.


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## The Journalist

Having looked at the entire new livery, I'm completely baffled at not using this logo, easily the best part of the new livery:






...on the tail, where it would look good and not completely generic. All the colors are there, and the _very_ heavily stylized eagle would look good on a tail, where there's always been an eagle on American's planes. Seriously, look at that shape and tell me it doesn't scream "put me on an airplane tail." But instead, it's...at the front of the plane, and the tail is random stripes. Oh well.


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## Ryan

Agreed - really like this little bit, too bad the rest of it is crap.


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## AmtrakBlue

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Devil's Advocate" data-cid="418086" data-time="1358545783"><p>

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="AmtrakBlue" data-cid="418074"><p>Just like humans, I prefer to judge the plane by what's on the inside, not what's on the outside.<br />

Since I will be spending hour(s) inside the plane, I'm more interested in how the inside looks & feels.</p></blockquote>

What do you think of the pending interior changes?<br />

<br />

Even though I usually bring my own content I still like the idea of having AVOD at each seat for when my batteries are dead or I've run out of stuff to watch or listen to. I also like the idea of lie-flat business class seats for those times when there's a steep revenue discount or points redemption mismatch.<br />

<br />

Do you like the new "metro-style" look of AA.com?<br />

<br />

I'm not a huge fan of metro on the desktop, but it looks fine in the browser.</p></blockquote>

Didn't see the interior. I'm an infrequent flier so I really don't have any preferences and can't really do much comparisons.

I did like having a flight tracker on the headrest TV on a flight I took in 2011 and was disappointed that the same airline/flight did not have those headrest TVs on my flight this past August.


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## saxman

I think it'll grow on me. I wish they had incorporated the 'AA' somewhere on the tail still because of the iconic nature. For the past few weeks the new 777-300's at the east hangar at DFW in gray paint.


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## railiner

So now, they will start repainting the fleet to match, including subsidiary regional American Eagle.

And they are in the early stages of merger talks with US Airways.

If the merger does happen, then will they have to do another modified paint scheme, or more likely let US Airways identity evaporate?

And they are also trying to divest American Eage (don't know who would ever buy them). If that sale goes thru, then Eagle, or whatever its new soon-to-be announced new name will be, will also have to redo its paint scheme.

It all seems such a waste for a carrier coming out of Chapter 11........


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## SarahZ

Ugggghhhh. Now that the tail is even more visible (on the website), I hate it even more.

See the red, white, and blue in the logo? Right next to "Plan Travel"? That would have looked nice on the tail. I think it's the stripes that are irritating me. Plus, they look super-shiny, almost like tinsel. That might be why I'm irritated. It looks like a cheap Fourth of July decoration.


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## Bob Dylan

The Journalist said:


> Having looked at the entire new livery, I'm completely baffled at not using this logo, easily the best part of the new livery:
> 
> 
> 
> ...on the tail, where it would look good and not completely generic. All the colors are there, and the _very_ heavily stylized eagle would look good on a tail, where there's always been an eagle on American's planes. Seriously, look at that shape and tell me it doesn't scream "put me on an airplane tail." But instead, it's...at the front of the plane, and the tail is random stripes. Oh well.


Ditto!


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## Devil's Advocate

The more I look at this the more I think it's part of a rather simple plan to woo US into marrying AA.


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## railiner

Devil's Advocate said:


> The more I look at this the more I think it's part of a rather simple plan to woo US into marrying AA.


As they say...."All the good ones are already taken"......United got Continental, and Delta got Northwest. US Air is the only major left that is looking for a 'suitor'. And they still haven't reconciled their previous merger with America West....

I don't think US Air has much to offer to the merger, other than some valuable 'slots' in places like LGA and DCA......If there is a merger, after a few years, there will be little traces of US Air. Just look for what's left of TWA, Reno Air, Air California, Business Express, Trans-Caribbean, or many others AMR swallowed up over the years including many former routes of Eastern, PanAm, and Braniff.


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## cirdan

jsreeves said:


> As a graphic designer, I like the new logo.I really like the new tail graphics!


I like the tail graphics too, but I find the naked all silver tube makes it look more like a WW2 bomber than anything modern.


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