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American West Indies "Return of the Greentail" (B722)



Copyright

Livery and logo by Amtran, Boeing 727-200 template by airshark95, et al.

American West Indies "Return of the Greentail" (B722)

My favorite brand, in its third-and-a-half reincarnation (or fourth-and-a-half, I forget).
Backstory
AWIA is a long-running brand in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands - according to the canon I've created, the airline started out as a flight school based at San Juan Isla Grande Airport (SIG) in the late 1940s. Scheduled service was launched with DC-3s to nearby islands, with DC-6s in the early 50s to the mainland, Central America, and South America. The jet age brought DC-8s on medium-haul and the airline's first transatlantic services, B727-100s on larger short-haul routes, and NAMC YS-11 turboprops on island-hopping routes.

Unfortunately, an investment in nearly two dozen L1011 orders in the mid-70s and early 80s by the airline proved fatal - unable to secure a profit with the aircraft, most were repossessed, with the final two sold to pay debts from fuel bills in the early mid-80s. With an aging fleet, unable to compete in the post deregulation market, the airline filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 1987, selling all assets.

A group of former pilots and flight attendants from the airline decided to purchase the rights to the name, and relaunched an employee-owned, streamlined AWIA in 1988, operating a fleet of eight B727-200 Advs, two Grumman G-1C turboprops, and a single L1011-100. The airline expanded service, nearly tripling its 727 fleet over the next 2 years, purchasing 737-200 Advs, and even becoming the launch customer for the BAE J41 turboprop, with 8 firm orders (to replace the G-1Cs).

Livery Details
The livery (dubbed "Return of the Greentail") takes inspiration from the 1980s-late 90s American Trans Air (later ATA Airlines) livery, with the logo inspired by ATA's final logo. The colors - green and gold, have been used by the airline in since the mid 1960s - a slogan from the era advertised "Fly with the Greentails", as a way to advertise the airline's new and young (at the time) fleet of jets and turboprops. The font is one I've used before (see my "Pioneer" and "Dominicana" liveries), Sui Generis.

Many thanks to airshark for this great template.



    Really like this. Nice work. ^_^

    quite nice, Amtran ^_^

    This is awesome! Lovely livery and great backstory contextualizing it all! :D