LY777 From France, joined Nov 2005, 2456 posts, RR: 2 Posted (10 months 3 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 4175 times:
AF introduced their new livery more than 3 years ago, and I am surprised to see that most AF a/c still wear the old livery...
Why is AF so slow at painting their a/c in new colours?
Ideekay From Switzerland, joined Jun 2012, 183 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (10 months 3 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 4090 times:
I think its something like this, that they need every aircraft. Let's say they want paint a 777 into the new livery so in this time where the aircraft can't fly they need another plane which flies the route..
goldorak From France, joined Sep 2006, 1677 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (10 months 3 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 3311 times:
Quoting LY777 (Reply 4):
A shame they didn't introduce a radically new livery
Why ? Don't you think they have other priorities, in the current economic environment ? Updating/improving premium cabins is way more important than changing the livery. But that's just my humble opinion.
SHAQ From Panama, joined Jun 2007, 285 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (10 months 3 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 3264 times:
I think that the real answer is that they want to save money.
Specially, looking at their billion loss, painting and washing a/c isn't their priority right now
spacecadet From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 3277 posts, RR: 14 Reply 5, posted (10 months 3 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 3203 times:
Quoting goldorak (Reply 6): Why ? Don't you think they have other priorities, in the current economic environment ? Updating/improving premium cabins is way more important than changing the livery. But that's just my humble opinion.
Why are these things mutually exclusive?
I'm tired of being a wanna-be league bowler. I wanna be a league bowler!
LY777 From France, joined Nov 2005, 2456 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (10 months 3 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 3154 times:
Quoting goldorak (Reply 3): Why ? Don't you think they have other priorities, in the current economic environment ?
My guess is that they wasted money with a new livery and a new logo with no interest. If they introduced a radically new livery, they would have spent as much, not more IMHO.
skipness1E From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2007, 2425 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (10 months 3 weeks 10 hours ago) and read 3088 times:
It's a corporate refresh not a rebrand. You need to look twice to tell the difference, unless they intended to paint aircraft for the sake of painting them, like Delta did so well to have one livery, then it take's 7-8 years before the fleet cycles through the paintshop.
No one at AF thinks it was a mistake, indeed feedback seems to gave been positive about a subtle update.
qf002 From Australia, joined Jul 2011, 2604 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (10 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 2959 times:
It's just too expensive -- planes will be repainted as they need to be. The change is pretty subtle, which means it's not particularly important to rush the entire fleet through.
It's been 4 years since QF introduced their new branding, and they've also been extremely slow... It's just the nature of the industry today.
zkojq From New Zealand, joined Sep 2011, 817 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (10 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 2907 times:
It probably isn't too higher priority. A great feature of the new livery is that the changes from the old livery are quite subtle so most customers won't notice if the aircraft they fly in has the old livery. Because of this there is little point of actively withdrawing aircraft from the fleet for a repaint. Might as well just wait for a C or D check and do the repaint then. This will save money too.
NWADTWE16 From United States of America, joined Jun 2012, 242 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2471 times:
does anyone have comparison pics of the 'sublte' difference? i wasnt aware they changed anything
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21679 posts, RR: 23 Reply 13, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2436 times:
Quoting NWADTWE16 (Reply 12): does anyone have comparison pics of the 'sublte' difference? i wasnt aware they changed anything
New: different smaller font. no space between "AIR" and "FRANCE", red "swirl" added, bottom of stripes on tail curved forward, one less blue stripe on tail, red stripe is larger.
Silver1SWA From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 4553 posts, RR: 26 Reply 14, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2400 times:
Quoting LY777 (Thread starter): AF introduced their new livery more than 3 years ago, and I am surprised to see that most AF a/c still wear the old livery...
Why is AF so slow at painting their a/c in new colours?
With the exception of mergers where airlines want to quickly re-brand, new or modified liveries are painted according to maintenance schedules. Aircraft paint jobs typically have 7 to 10 years of life so it would make little sense to paint an aircraft if in 2 or 3 years the aircraft goes through a heavy maintenance check where it will need to be repainted again. So they wait until each aircraft goes in for heavy maintenance and add the livery at that time.
Look at how long it took Delta to get everything under one livery! At one time they had at least 3 different liveries flying around out there!
UA took a while as well, it's only since the merger with CO that things sped up, again for re-branding purposes.
It took WN almost ten years to change the entire fleet to the canyon blue scheme.
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
NWADTWE16 From United States of America, joined Jun 2012, 242 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 2329 times:
i Guess i like it, really not much difference. What are the stars on the tail of AF planes for? Ive always wondered..i like them and at first thought Star Alliance but ofcourse, duh they are an anchor in SKYTEAM
dcaviation From United States of America, joined Aug 2011, 165 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 2187 times:
FlySSC From France, joined Aug 2003, 7313 posts, RR: 60 Reply 20, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1911 times:
Quoting LY777 (Thread starter): I am surprised to see that most AF a/c still wear the old livery...
Wrong.
Most of the AF fleet is now wearing the "new" livery ... and for a long time already.
When the "new" livery was unveiled it was also said that this change would be done at no extra cost, which mean that the aircraft would not be repainted before their turn comes...
Add to this that the aircraft scheduled to leave the fleet in a short term won't be repainted (some A319/A320/A340).
LY777 From France, joined Nov 2005, 2456 posts, RR: 2 Reply 21, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 1759 times:
Quoting FlySSC (Reply 20): Most of the AF fleet is now wearing the "new" livery ... and for a long time already.
I am a bit surprised, but you must be right.
Anyway, I flew AF 2 weeks ago, the planes wore the old livery on both legs. And at CDG, most AF a/c I saw were still wearing the old livery.
Quoting FlySSC (Reply 20): Add to this that the aircraft scheduled to leave the fleet in a short term won't be repainted (some A319/A320/A340).
Also, which A319s/A320s/A340s are leaving the fleet first(I know some of them are pretty old)?
The A321s I flew on 2 weeks ago were from 1998 (F-GTAE, and the other F-GTAD IIRC): the interior looked so old, the seats were ugly (old seats). Will these birds leave the fleet soon, too? I flew recently on a newer A321 (F-GTAV), and the difference was huge
ZSOFN From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1394 posts, RR: 7 Reply 22, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 1728 times:
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 13): New: different smaller font. no space between "AIR" and "FRANCE", red "swirl" added, bottom of stripes on tail curved forward, one less blue stripe on tail, red stripe is larger.
As your list is relatively comprehensive, it's probably worth mentioning that the blue used in for the stripe and the titles is darker and less saturated. Looks smart.
FlySSC From France, joined Aug 2003, 7313 posts, RR: 60 Reply 24, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 1652 times:
Quoting LY777 (Reply 21): Also, which A319s/A320s/A340s are leaving the fleet first(I know some of them are pretty old)?
The A321s I flew on 2 weeks ago were from 1998 (F-GTAE, and the other F-GTAD IIRC): the interior looked so old, the seats were ugly (old seats). Will these birds leave the fleet soon, too? I flew recently on a newer A321 (F-GTAV), and the difference was huge
2 A319LR were recently retired from service and transfered to Air Côte d'Ivoire.
The A340 fleet is reduced to 13 after after the "retirement" of F-GLZT & F-GLZL (now with Air Madagascar) and F-GNIH (now with AR). Another 4 are scheduled to leave the fleet within the next 18 months so I guess they won't be repainted before.
The 20 A321 will all remain in service. The one based at ORY are all in the new colors. Maybe a few of them at CDG are not repainted yet. All the interior are also progressively renovated and the seats changed.
The B744 fleet is now reduced to the 7 aircraft that will be kept in service until 2016/2017. They are all wearing the "new" colors and are completely refurbished with the new seats and the new IFE (except one : F-GEXB)
CitationJet From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2249 posts, RR: 3 Reply 25, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1636 times:
Quoting Silver1SWA (Reply 14): Look at how long it took Delta to get everything under one livery! At one time they had at least 3 different liveries flying around out there!
Three different paint schemes on three different aircraft at the same time.
LY777 From France, joined Nov 2005, 2456 posts, RR: 2 Reply 26, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1592 times:
Quoting FlySSC (Reply 24): The 20 A321 will all remain in service. The one based at ORY are all in the new colors. Maybe a few of them at CDG are not repainted yet. All the interior are also progressively renovated and the seats changed.
I thought they had 25 A321s (5 based at ORY, and 20 based at CDG.
Quoting FlySSC (Reply 24):
The B744 fleet is now reduced to the 7 aircraft that will be kept in service until 2016/2017. They are all wearing the "new" colors and are completely refurbished with the new seats and the new IFE (except one : F-GEXB)
So, this summer, all the 744s (except GEXB) have now PTVs in all classes? They were pretty fast!
Do all the 744s have NEV 4 in J now?
I guess GITI/J/H have kept their original seats in Y since they were already equipped with PTVs in all classes?
FlySSC From France, joined Aug 2003, 7313 posts, RR: 60 Reply 27, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1504 times:
Quoting LY777 (Reply 26): I thought they had 25 A321s (5 based at ORY, and 20 based at CDG.
Ooops .. typo.
AF has indeed a total of 25 A321 (5 A321-100 + 20 A321-200) but 9 of them are based at ORY : the 5 -100 (inherited from Air Inter and registered F-GMZA / ZB / ZC / ZD / ZE ) + 4 -200 : F-GTAO / AP / AQ / AX.
Quoting LY777 (Reply 26): Do all the 744s have NEV 4 in J now?
Only F-GITD / TE / TF and soon F-GEXB, in a 2 x 2 x 2 config and 36J (iso 40J)
F-GITH / TI / TJ still have the old NEV2 but will be retrofitted with the NEV4 before Dec. 2012 (and the new seats in Y also).
LY777 From France, joined Nov 2005, 2456 posts, RR: 2 Reply 28, posted (10 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1450 times:
Quoting FlySSC (Reply 27): Only F-GITD / TE / TF and soon F-GEXB, in a 2 x 2 x 2 config and 36J (iso 40J)
F-GITH / TI / TJ still have the old NEV2 but will be retrofitted with the NEV4 before Dec. 2012 (and the new seats in Y also).
That's good news. Thanks for the info.
A shame they don't operate anymore to MIA though. The new 77Ws used on the MIA route are good, the PTVs are larger than on the "old" 77Ws, but the 3-4-3 is a real shame.
When the MIA route was operated by 744s, it used to be a real lottery for the PTVs in Y: unfortunately, GITI/J/H were rarely used on the route, and I usually ended with the older 744 with the poor interior
Sponsor Message: 
From France, joined Nov 2005, 2456 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Jun 2012, 183 posts, 
From Panama, joined Jun 2007, 285 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 3277 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2007, 2425 posts, 
From Australia, joined Jul 2011, 2604 posts, 
From New Zealand, joined Sep 2011, 817 posts, 
From India, joined May 2007, 303 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
