They mostly all have them. Nearly every airline has at least one airplane painted in a special livery. Some are retro. Some are partnerships with other companies. Some commemorate a milestone or event. Some are just plain out there to catch your attention.
What we’ve got here is a small collection of seven of our favourite special liveries that we’ve photographed over the past year. The one that’s eluded us, at least with camera in hand, is Air Canada’s retro look Airbus A319 painted in the historic Trans Canada Air Lines livery.
We hope you enjoy and, please, feel free to tell us in the comments what’s your favourite special. Unfortunately, you can’t add a photo but feel free to post one at our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.
Our Favourite Specials Of 2017
C-GWSV WestJet Boeing 737-800
The second of two Disney themed aircraft in the WestJet fleet. C-GWSV is painted in a special livery featuring characters from the movie ‘Frozen’. It’s not just on the outside, either. The interior is decorated in the same Frozen theme. The other Disney themed airliner in the fleet was painted in 2013. The ‘Magic Plane’ shows Sorcerer Mickey on the tail, casting his spell forward over the rest of the Boeing 737-800.
This B738 was delivered to WestJet in 2009 and was repainted with its current livery in 2015. The paint job was done in Fort Worth, Texas and took 21 days of 12 hour rotating shifts by a constant crew of six painters to complete.
More images and info: C-GWSV WestJet Boeing 737-800
C-GTSO Air Transat Airbus A330-300
C-GTSO is one of three Airbus A330-300 aircraft in the Air Transat fleet that sported the commemorative 30th Anniversary special livery. This served as a transition for the airline as they began a program to switch the paint job on all their aircraft starting at the end of 2017.
This A333 has been around since 1996, first delivered to Cathay Pacific and their Dragonair subsidiary. The airliner came to Air Transat in March, 2011.
More images and info: C-GTSO Air Transat Airbus A330-300
G-CIVL British Airways Boeing 747-400
G-CIVL is a British Airways Boeing 747-400 painted with a special Oneworld Alliance livery. The airline was a founding member of the alliance back on February 1, 1999. There are now 13 full members, down from 14 after Air Berlin ceased operations in 2017.
This B744 is one of several in the British Airways fleet and has been with the airline since 1997. Like all airlines, this and their other Boeing 747-400 aircraft will be slated for phase out in the coming years. However, BA is not as ambitious as others to get rid of their jumbo jets.
More images and info: G-CIVL British Airways Boeing 747-400
D-AIGX Lufthansa Airbus A340-300
D-AIGX is a Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 painted with the Star Alliance special livery. The A343 was delivered to Lufthansa in September, 2000 and named Duren. In 2015, it was shifted to subsidiary Lufthansa Cityline. The Airbus A340 has been back in the main fleet since October 29, 2017.
The airplane is painted in the special Star Alliance livery. Lufthansa is a founding member, with Star since May 14, 1997. There are now 27 full member airlines worldwide.
Unfortunately, we haven’t profiled this particular aircraft yet at It’s About Airplanes. The image above was the best we could get while plane spotting at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) on January 1, 2018. We were simply waiting at the wrong runway while this aircraft landed a distance away.
C-GAWS WestJet Boeing 737-800
C-GAWS represents the 100th Boeing 737 Next Generation variant to be delivered to WestJet. The Boeing 737-800 was delivered to WestJet in December, 2012. This is one of 46 B738 aircraft in the fleet with many more of the first 100 made up of Boeing 737-700 models. Certainly not the 100th manufactured by Boeing with nearly 6,500 rolling off the line since 1996.
More images and info: C-GAWS WestJet Boeing 737-800
C-GITU Air Canada Airbus A321-200
Like Lufthansa, Air Canada is a founding member of the Star Alliance and has a few aircraft painted in that special livery. C-GITU is an Airbus A321-200 that has been with the airline since November, 2001. One of their medium range aircraft, the A321 is a direct competitor with the Boeing 737-900ER.
More images and info: C-GITU Air Canada Airbus A321-200
B-7302 Hainan Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Probably the most ambitious series of special livery aircraft. Hainan Airlines has joined forces with Boeing and DreamWorks to paint up six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in a Kung Fu Panda theme. B-7302 is the third in the series and has a yellow background.
B-7302 was delivered to Hainan Airlines in May, 2017 and is one of 17 B789 aircraft in the fleet of the China based airline. The Kung Fu Panda movies are animated features with the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen and others.
More images and info: B-7302 Hainan Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
