17 replies to this topic

[Max Devo]

The new American Airlines livery is a disaster and proves that nothing is sacred. Let's say you called the shots when American was updating its livery. What would you have done differently?

[zipp]

I quite like it

[hayhaa]

I quite like it

[Airplane09]

I know! I know! I know! How about this one?

 

Very original, I know!

 

PS: To answer the question, I would have kept it the same. Unfortunately, as you said above, nothing is sacred, not even the most iconic symbols. Now I actually find a good part in the fact that Pan Am went bankrupt - if they have stayed alive to this day, they would have probably changed that iconic logo into the same stupid "in motion" themes... and it would have been much worse that the new AA livery scandal.

[DSJTRAIN]

Do bear in mind that the amount of composite materials used on newer aeroplanes make the original polished Aluminium livery imposible.

[zipp]

Do bear in mind that the amount of composite materials used on newer aeroplanes make the original polished Aluminium livery imposible.

Such as the AA A300s and MD-11s to name a few (plus the MD-90 iirc)

[Max Devo]

Do bear in mind that the amount of composite materials used on newer aeroplanes make the original polished Aluminium livery imposible.

 

Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to go and trash an identity that could go into the Library of Congress as "socially, historically, or culturally significant". A new livery could easily have been designed, and retained the old eagle on the tail.

 

For example, this concept livery:

 

[Max Devo]

 I actually find a good part in the fact that Pan Am went bankrupt - if they have stayed alive to this day, they would have probably changed that iconic logo into the same stupid "in motion" themes... and it would have been much worse that the new AA livery scandal.

 

Oh, you mean like this?

 

[Airplane09]

Oh, you mean like this?

 

THANK YOU! You've just ruined my day!

[bAnderson]

Can't be anything better than it is. It really is so much better than the paintless old livery.

[eastwind]

Can't be anything better than it is. It really is so much better than the paintless old livery.

That "paintless old livery" has much more history than the bull**** it is today...

[Mutt]

This article has some interesting insight: http://www.askthepil...eep-new-livery/

[BernieBro]

The new American livery is very nice as well as their new interiors. Just looking at the old American Airlines livery makes me think of the worn out leather seats and overhead TV's from the 90's which I and many other so very much hated. I have no idea how you guys can have nostalgia for the old stained reputation that helped them into bankruptcy.

 

 

[Mutt]

The livery, more or less, isn't the issue, at least how I see it. It's the logo. 

 

Patrick Smith, airline pilot and author, says it best:

 

"[The livery] was never anything beautiful, but what distinguished it was the logo — the famous “AA,” its red and blue letters bisected by the proud, cross-winged eagle. This was one of the last true icons of airline branding left in the world. Created by Massimo Vignelli in 1967, it was everything a logo should be: elegantly simple, dignified, and instantly recognizable....

 

 If [the new logo is] not the worst corporate trademark the airline business has ever seen, I don’t know what is. I can’t imagine a kid with crayons trying to sketch it. Why would anybody want to? It evokes nothing, it says nothing, it means nothing. It gives American Airlines all the look and feel of a bank or a credit card company. I cannot believe how awful a mark this is, and how anybody signed off on it I’ll never understand."

[bAnderson]

That "paintless old livery" has much more history than the bull**** it is today...

How can a livery have history if it is brand new?

[tstols]

The new American Airlines livery is a disaster and proves that nothing is sacred. Let's say you called the shots when American was updating its livery. What would you have done differently?

what is it, i cant see the file

[Max Devo]

what is it, i cant see the file

 

There is no file.

[markantony9692]

I'd have the new livery, but with the old logo on the tail, instead of the new one. I'd keep the flag-tail.

I quite like the livery, but the logo is... boring.