Finally here's a complete view of the new c/s:


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Photo © Ricardo Morales Aviation Photography of Mexico

View Large View Medium Photo © Ricardo Morales Aviation Photography of Mexico

View Large View Medium Photo © Ricardo Morales Aviation Photography of Mexico

Several people didn't like the new c/s, as there are very few things we can do by ourselves, here's my proposal:

Here's a link to MX's website were we can all suggest or give our opinion, perhaps they'll listen:

http://www.mexicana.com/g4mx/public/customer/mainCustomer2/

Ricardo APM

in my opinion if they had a little bit more withe considered the paintsheme would be perfect....lol

I love it... They finally got rid of that salad vomit green... NOW i'm liking MX!

MGA

It looks like a Star Alliance aircraft.

[Edited 2005-03-17 00:11:52]

Ricardo:
Are there any pics of the new interiors for Clase Ejecutiva?
Rgds,

AM001

Quoting Mexicana757 (Reply 3): It looks like a Star Alliance aircraft.

true.... but i love it. Ive always liked dark colors on planes. the livery is plain, but the tail is now on my "favorite tail livery" list!

this new color scheme would look neat on an A330 or A340.


personally, i like it.

It looks like the logo was the wrong size for the tail. I like the color, but the logo placement looks like an error more than a deliberate design...

I have come to the conclusion that it does not look really awful, but simply unfinished. I think the belly and the exit and emergency exit doors should be painted the same dark color and then you would have a very modern and cool design.

The new C/S is great.....if they wanted a dead serious scheme, it is defenetly not my fav.

Just thinking about the fact that they had endless possibilities for creating a new Scheme and came out with this makes me feel a bit dissapointed. As a designer I don't think that you get to do an airliner very often so please concentrate!!!

Is just too serious,


Please tell the boys on the creativity department that they've done a great job.

Quoting MTYFREAK (Reply 9): Just thinking about the fact that they had endless possibilities for creating a new Scheme and came out with this makes me feel a bit dissapointed.

That's precisely the point!!! It's not bad, it's not ugly... But everyone (yeah, even me) expected something much more grand(er)... And it came up to be, hm, plain and simple to say the least... I don't understand why they didn't modified the white/gray combo... The change from the Golden Aztec to the multi-colored was astonishing... But this, they turned it into just another carrier... I think this is the big issue...

AM001

Personally, I liked the intricate tail designs of the mid-90's:

View Large View Medium Photo © Frank C. Duarte Jr.

View Large View Medium Photo © Frank C. Duarte Jr.

View Large View Medium Photo © Frank C. Duarte Jr.

View Large View Medium Photo © Frank C. Duarte Jr.

View Large View Medium Photo © JetPix

View Large View Medium Photo © JetPix

I read that these were hand-painted and deemed by MX management too costly to continue with. Is this true?

Quoting Am001 (Reply 4): re there any pics of the new interiors for Clase Ejecutiva?

JC, you've got an email!

Ricardo APM

HIDEOUS!!

México is about vibrant colors, intricate indiginous designs, spectacular scenery, and some of the most hot and spicy cuisine on the planet. In short, México is never boring.

But this livery is. It looks foreign-imposed. It needs to go!

Any other comments I could make about it would need to be    .

But, it's not my decision to make. Just mine to comment on.

The logo can be improved by adding some light like if it were a metallic shine. The grey belly looks bad; all white would make it look better. And at the engines I would vanish the dark blue into white at the end.

But the big question is... Why dark blue?

... Could it be because Telmex is Blue? Or

... Could it be because Telcel is Blue? Or

... Could it be because C. S. wears dark blue business suits?

It looks cheap. The body of the plane is the same as the old (white top, grey bottom, letters still written in the same print) the only thing that changed was the tail and the engine nacels. I know that we're all armchair CEOs, but I could have done a better job with paint shop on my laptop. It's almost like it's an interim scheme. Yes, that's what I'll tell myself, an interim scheme until the new owners change it again next year. Wishful thinking?

They could have done so much better....

The tail is not bad, but the grey belly kind of clashes with the rest of the plane. They should have made it white or better yet the same dark blue color of the tail and engines. The old multi-color tail designs of the '90's were far better.

AM now has the best looking planes in Mexico.

Im having mixed views on this.

I understand the concept of what they were trying to do, a new modern look to there existing logo, just like UA, but it didn't come out right.

The almost black color is not working. When I think of Mexico, I think of bright colors, not dark blue or black. And what's up with the logo hanging off the tail???? If I wasn't familiar with MX, I wouldn't know what it was supposed to be.

They should of gone for more of what TAP did with they new image. It has festive colors.


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Photo © António José Avelar


I do like that the engines are finally a color other than grey. I'm sure it will grow on me though. Can't wait to see it in person in SAT. Maybe I will have a different view of it in person. Then again, maybe 737-990 is right, the new owners next year will just change it again.

Cheers
Ciccone from SAT

Quoting QuestAir (Reply 11): Personally, I liked the intricate tail designs of the mid-90's

well unfortunately it seems latin airlines nowadays absolutely don't care about brand recognition or how their planes look on the outside. It's a shame for us aviation enthusiasts, photographers, etc because nowadays, as PanAm747 said, their liveries seem foreign-inspired. In no way this represents a colorful nation like Mexico.

I actually thought the first pics Ricardo posted looked ok, I guess it was the lighting inside the hangar. Now these latest pics outside and oh my.. that's horrible!!! Judging by the current trends, I don't think the major design agencies would've done anything with bright colors or much more eye-pleasing, but it still begs the question: Who designed this thing for them? The son of the CEO?

This new look will be the benchmark for bad taste. Now people will say: Hope it's not uglier than Mexicana.




.

What about the uniforms for the F/A's ??

Is it going to be a more smart casual uniform to blend nicely with the new scheme???

It should be a must!!  

Did the interiors change also? I the last plane I was in was back in the early 90's when it was still all coach.

This new c/s must be cheaper to apply. It certainly doesn't break any new ground artistically....rather bland and boring. A thin orange pinstripe at the cheat line would have done wonders for this design, adding style points without dipping into gaudiness.

Quoting Anthsaun (Reply 14): But the big question is... Why dark blue? ... Could it be because Telmex is Blue? Or ... Could it be because Telcel is Blue? Or ... Could it be because C. S. wears dark blue business suits?

I dunno. But now that I think about it, Sanborns "Tecolote" would be awesome on the tail...   

PS. Tecolote = Owl.

Latest news....! There's a rumor around that apparently MX might make a few changes to their new c/s!

As for QA here's a confirmation... they will be re-named Mexicana Clic. They will get a new c/s also!

Ricardo APM

The new colours look like the uniform of preppy student at a private school - blue blazer, grey pants.

Boring and doesn't reflect Mexico in the slightest.

the pics of the mid 90s scheme puts the new livery to shame. If they kept the green, yellow and pink tails from the, WOW - that would be awesoem. But this is just blah.

After seeing the new scheme, I was very disappointed. While the colourscheme is clean...it certainly isnt inspiring at all. Some one had mentioned about bringing back the gold colours, so I decided to play around a bit...here is what I came up with:


Modified Airliner Photos:

Design © Rik Barry
Template © Rik Barry

has anybody heard anything more on a revision of the new scheme?

Nice one Rick, too much ATA and Icelandair there but hey.. it might actually be an improvement over their new livery.

Quoting Aerokiwi (Reply 24): the pics of the mid 90s scheme puts the new livery to shame

Exactly. You'd think they'r are progressing forward, yet their early 90's white scheme with the colorful tails was far superior. Let the color flow down to the fuselage please, not just paint the tail. Also keep the green, and if adding some blue use a bright blue not that depressing funeral black/blue. That oversized logo is one lame attempt at looking trendy and it didnt work. That A320 in this livery looks like some kind of halloween horror witch plane.

I have a better Idea since they wanna save on paint so much. All white plane, with the Mexicana symbol on the tail in a bright blue shade, and some bright green diagonal dashes on the rear half of the fuselage. the Mexicana titles and font could stay where they are and the gray bottom is eliminated.

Simple, cool and the most important thing for Mexicana: cheap  

MIAMIx707... thanks...

My idea was simply to CHEAPLY update what they already had, while introducing colours that were formerly popular (and by request of another A.net member).

I DO agree the full-colour tails were the best scheme Mexicana had... Reminiscent of the Braniff "jellybean" scheme...always a treat to see which colour you get...

Quoting Ghost77 (Reply 23): As for QA here's a confirmation... they will be re-named Mexicana Clic. They will get a new c/s also!

Mexicana Clic!!!!!

Cool!!!!!!!!! It sounds friendly, Clic, Clic, Clic.... A lot better than Express, than Low Cost, than... But, where does the Clic come from? From the @net? So it won´t be an airline with a website, but a website that has flight services.

About the c/s change... Anything might be even better than what there is now. Let´s advice the guys at MX not to think too much and not too hire any designers. If they just read this post they would get the early 90´s design back.

How much more does it cost to bring back the color tails? I don´t think they are really that expensive. I´m sure they are not hand painted by artists from "San Carlos", nor from "INBA".

You know, a hand painted graffiti from an East LA Mexican would really look good on top of the aircraft.

Sorry for being pessimistic. I´m still upset by the new c/s.

Anthsaun,

Yeah, I'm sure MX Clic will have something to do with the WWW.

As for... being pessimistic, apparently you missed reply 23! As I said above their are strong rumors of modifying the new c/s with little but important changes!

Ricardo APM

A really dumb question but...if MX is about to be sold, what's the point of introducing a new color scheme now, instead of waiting until it's sold and letting the new owners get whatever scheme they want?

I know the official reason (or should I say "excuse"?) is that it's being done to save money, but i figure that by the time most of the fleet gets the new scheme and the savings are seen, the new owners should already be on board (am i right?).

Maybe someone wanted to make some business before the airline is sold?

Anthusan

Quoting Anthsaun (Reply 29): How much more does it cost to bring back the color tails? I don´t think they are really that expensive. I´m sure they are not hand painted by artists from "San Carlos", nor from "INBA".

It's very expensive for an airline to adopt such types of branding. As you know, over the years a few airlines management groups have tried implementing and experimenting the concept and one after the other have determined it to be an utmost waste of resources. While in the beggining it might be used as a nice catchy marketing ploy, a fare paying passenger will be more happier not by what's painted on the tail, but by quality of service he/she get on board (i.e., more confortable seats in First class, clean and confortable VIP lounges, good customer service, etc.).

With the colorful tails, Mexicana wanted to be Mexico's cultural ambassador to the world. Mexicana hired national designers to go abouts the country in search of original native patterns made by the distinct Native American groups that inhabit the country. I used to have poster with each and every one of the patterns selected along with the names and background of the ethnic group that had designed it. Mexicana must have paid not only the certified designers a nice sum, (the indians probably got nothing) but probably had to hire quite a bit of extra help in its marketing department to make sure each in every tail looked like a work of art and then also worry about the design of the ticket jackets and seasonal schedules, or paid a designing firm a nice sum to get that job done. Let's not think about how many types of paints Mexicana's maintenance base had have in its inventory, and how many different types of oversiced pieces of decals, stencils, and such must of had to be specially ordered and made (all different) from outside vendors. That's just what I can think of, but I'm pretty sure there's much more to it. Anybody have experience with what goes along with painting an airliner?

More recently, British Airways learned what from Mexicana's mistake.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/business/story_air120699.shtml

Nevertheless, I wonder why it is, but it seems to work for Frontier. Did I just discredit my two paragraphs?  

Quoting Anthsaun (Reply 29): You know, a hand painted graffiti from an East LA Mexican would really look good on top of the aircraft.

   It's called: Mexicana de Aviacion, not: Pocha de Aviacion!   

 LatinPlane

The new Mexicana livery design is a disappointment. An outlined logo (and especially this Mexican symbol) is not very suitable for an airline's aircraft paint design.

I really expected something better!! Nothing new under the sun!!

  

Henpol747

I'll miss having names on the planes. It was always nice to see your hometown in the plane.  

I recently saw the airplane in Mexico and it really looks
sharp. Although I agree that Mexico is a colorful country,
it is also modern and I believe Mexicana wants to project
this. It is more business like and in person it looks great.

Believe me the colors look better in person and it gives
Mexicana a more professional, business like appearance.

Just my opinion.

Its plain and simple but it still looks great.

Well call me filthy but... I don't think it's quite that bad anymore, and if as Ghost says, they do a few other minor touches here and there, it might look quite nice !

And regarding those old multi-colored tails from the 90s, sure, some of them looked interesting and it was fun from a spotter's perspective, but personally, I thought some of them were -hideous-, especially some of the orange ones, I particularly remember a certain orange and green one, truly awful.

I don't think that a mexican airline needs to have flashy colors to look "mexican" any more than I think that FAs have to dress like Chinas Poblanas (or Charros) to look the part, MX wants to project a more serious image and I think this image is a good step in that direction.

Little modifications to this horrible scheme won't cut it. They need a completely NEW design or stick to the old. Many airlines have done this before and realized the old one was better and the new one was ditched.

Quoting Latinplane (Reply 32): More recently, British Airways learned what from Mexicana's mistake.

British Airways had some really complicated artwork for each tail, not something that could've been done by just masking off the design and spraying the base color (like it could have been done with Mexicana, which only had 2 colors per tail)..although I hear they were hand painted. Not only that, BA's fleet was much bigger and much bigger tails to paint too, plenty of 747s...

Mexicana could use a simpler pattern, not something super complicated like before or do without them completely. They could use 5 different colors, that's not that many. Even if it's just one color paint more than the tail, if only the tail is painted it just looks awful. Again, if they're gonna go for this simple generic euro design make the color go down to the fuselage, like before!


Just thought of something.. Painting different tails too expensive? Have an inmate crew do this, don't have to pay them, and they'll be doing something useful for society.. just an idea 

It's nice. But not great. I would get rid of the gray underbelly and make the whole fuselage black. Then I would make a whitle line across the fuselage just below the windows, which extends up at the back of the plane and connects to the tail art. This would be unique and just plain great!

Thanks,

S E 2 1 0 C a r a v e l l e