Virgin's Australian airline has officially stripped its budget brand as well as the paint from its last Boeing 737-800 with the original Virgin Blue livery. They were so happy to get rid of the old ass paint scheme that a timelapse video was made to commemorate the occasion.
The airline was launched by Sir Richard Branson in 2000 as a domestic low cost carrier called Virgin Blue and featured only two 737s in the red and blue livery. In an effort to compete with Australia's largest air carrier Qantas, Virgin Blue evolved into a full service airline. In 2011 a major executive reorganization took place when John Borghetti, a former Qantas senior executive, took the helm and brought with him a slew of bigwigs from Qantas. The following rebranding brought with it a new name, Virgin Australia, and a new livery.
After nearly four years, the entire fleet has now been changed to the new white and silver colors. This last 737-800 required 18 people 11 days, and nearly 70 gallons of paint to complete in 1,200 man hours. Watch the 11 day process of repainting a Virgin Australia aircraft here, in two minutes!
Photo Credit: Getty
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