The Ten Coolest Commercial Jet Paint Jobs

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Most airlines just deck their planes out in all-white with a few stripes. Jalopnik readers know ten commercial jets that should convince other airlines to splurge on a good livery.

Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

Advertisement

Paint is heavy. It's expensive to put on a plane and it's expensive to maintain. We're not surprised that interesting paint schemes are in the minority in the world of commercial jets. Moreover, airlines know that they can get away with less and less. The average passenger doesn't want to pay extra for artistry.

Advertisement

That's a bit of a shame.

Now, we're staying very restrictive here. We're sticking to commercial jets and nothing else. No private planes, no military planes, no prop planes.

Advertisement

That's not to say you can't post your favorite non-commercial planes or non-jets in Kinja below.

Photo Credit: Getty Images


10.) Etihad F1

Etihad is a big sponsor of Formula One, and while most F1 cars are plastered with ugly stickers, Etihad's planes get to look clean and awesome.

Advertisement

Suggested By: Enginerrrrrrrrr, Photo Credit: Yas Marina circuit

Advertisement

9.) Kulula Airlines Flying 101

South African Kulula Airlines' ‘instructional' livery is great. The lime green looks awesome, too.

Advertisement

Suggested By: The Ninjalop, Photo Credit: Kulula Airlines

Advertisement

8.) Air New Zealand, ‘All Blacks'

There are only a handful of black commercial planes, and Air New Zealand's is perhaps the best. It was started in 2009 for the national ‘All Blacks' rugby team.

Advertisement

Suggested By: daft_manoeuver, Photo Credit: Air New Zealand

Advertisement

7.) All Nippon Airways Pokemon Plane

Yes it's silly, but if you can't love the Pokeplane, you have no soul.

Suggested By: Kiwi_Commander, Photo Credit: ykanazawa1999

Advertisement

6.) Everything By Braniff

We're not sure if Braniff International Airways ever painted an ugly plane. Their run from 1930-1982 was always classy.

Advertisement

Suggested By: JSWilson64_g, Photo Credit: Braniff

Advertisement

5.) Alitalia "Baci Perugina"

From 1997 to 1999, Alitalia ran this plane-long ad for Italian chocolate. It was just an advertisement, but it looked fantastic.

Advertisement

Suggested By: AndreaGentile13, Photo Credit: Aldo Bidini

Advertisement

4.) Cunard Eagle Airways

Cunard, a shipping company, had the same red paint on its ships' funnels since 1840. They called it ‘Cunard Red' and it looks fantastic against a blue sky.

Advertisement

Suggested By: ranwhenparked, Photo Credit: Cunard Eagle Airways

Advertisement

3.) Alaska Airlines ‘Salmon Thirty Salmon'

it looks good and it's punny. What more do you want?

Suggested By: Joel McLaughlin, Photo Credit: Associated Press

Advertisement

2.) Pepsi Concorde

The speed and heat generated in flight meant that the Pepsi Conorde could only fly at VMax for 20 minutes to preserve the paint. That's why the livery was short-lived and there weren't other elaborate Concorde styles.

Advertisement

Suggested By: ejp, Photo Credit: Pepsi

Advertisement

1.) American Airlines ‘Astrojet'

There is no greater exercise in classic minimalism than American Airline's metal Astrojet livery. The perfect accents make everything else look excessive.

Advertisement

Suggested By: seanpeaaa, Photo Credit: Etienne Boucher