Skyliner: Hapag Lloyd Paintscheme May Return

PlaneHunter · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:28 pm

Skyliner Magazine reports in its latest issue that one TUIfly 737-800 may be painted into the former Hapag Lloyd livery again - in order to perform connecting flights for people booked on the company's cruise ships.

Good old times:

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Photo © Michael Schmidt

Apart from fleet reduction (735 to leave in November, eight 73G to leave by January), Skyliner reports that TUIfly has decided to stop repainting the remaining blue aircraft into the new yellow livery. No more details available.

PH

[Edited 2007-11-09 11:29:09]

flytuitravel · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:32 pm

So whats next? They become Hapag Lloyd again? Then back to TUIfly then HLX maybe... and then it will be time to give Hapagfly another try? Its a bit of a joke to be honest, they really need to sort out their business plan. It seems Thomsonfly/First Choice seem to be sorting themselves out but I hear its a different story at X3 / HF.

miamix707 · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:34 pm

Lovely. That's one of my favorite European schemes, and it certainly stands out. Too few orange tails around.

IMO the TUi scheme is awful, especially when about 5 airlines all have it.

cheers PH

columba · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:35 pm

That has been posted on a German forum a week ago so it might be true, still Skyliner has stated that AB has ordered 10 Q400 and last year that LH has ordered the 737-700. Still I hope that this is true the current TUI fly is horrible as well as the baby blue one that they had before.

acelanzarote · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:41 pm

Hope Hapag Lloyd colours do return, TUI yellow must be one of the worst out.
Rummor has it most German's don't like the yellow either...

Wonder what will happen long term with First Choice/Thomson colour's

Go3Team · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:43 pm

Quoting PlaneHunter (Thread starter):
for people booked on the company's cruise ships.

Look's quite comfy...

PlaneHunter · Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:49 pm

Quoting Go3Team (Reply 5):
Look's quite comfy...

How about these:
http://www.hl-cruises.com/redwork/do...layoutid=100&node=11296&language=2

PH

petertenthije · Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:01 pm

Quoting PlaneHunter (Thread starter):
eight 73G to leave by January

What will happen to those? I know that Arkefly is getting new 737, PH-TFA was delivered just days ago, will Arkefly get some of TUIfly's 737s? How about Jetairfly, they seem to be expanding as well.

Go3Team · Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:14 pm

Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 6):
How about these:

Not too bad.

BA787 · Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:50 pm

Quoting Go3Team (Reply 8):

Nothing compared to Royal Carribean though or even P & O .

I like the big new modern ones though. I wish TUIs German arm would sort itself out.

I worked in a Thomson shop for my work expeience and the whole staff were saying that the UK arms seems to work well but only because they are left alone by the "useless" German side of Pressaug. They seem to think that First Choice will continue to be a seperate enitity to Thomson as far as the travel shops are concerned but they will all be one happy family. I'm not sure about the airlines but FCA and TOM both have relatively good reputations. I do think one brand should be standardised though, its incredibly confusing for the passengers.

BA787

extspotter · Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:59 pm

I would say keep First Choice because even though they haven't been given the horrible TUI treatment (like Brittania) because the product is better. The planes in both fleets aren't desperateley new (For longhaul, FCA has 763s and TOM has 762s and 763s). The green FCA interiors give the old girls a new lease of life with all the gadgets and green leather.

flyorski · Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:00 pm

Quoting Go3Team (Reply 5):
Look's quite comfy...

HAHAHAHA

The old Hapag colors are much better than the yellow uglyness imho.

Leskova · Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:06 pm

The yellow livery is pretty awful - no question about that... how, on the face of this planet, someone could actually believe that painting a plane to make it look like a New York taxi would be a good idea is completely beyond me...

Then again, HF's old livery is hideous as well - not as hideous as the taxi-livery, but hideous nonetheless... and the blue one's not much better either.

On the other hand - before they start finding yet another livery, with at least the remote possibility that, after 3 unsuccessful tries they'd be getting it right this time around, I still guess that going back to that orange/blue livery might still be a good idea: at least people will start recognizing them again........

Boeing74741R · Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:14 pm

Quoting FlyTUITravel (Reply 1):
So whats next? They become Hapag Lloyd again? Then back to TUIfly then HLX maybe... and then it will be time to give Hapagfly another try?

Any chance of the Britannia name coming back? No, thought not.

Quoting BA787 (Reply 9):
I'm not sure about the airlines but FCA and TOM both have relatively good reputations.

Having flown with both FCA and TOM in the last 2 years or so, I can confirm that I had good flights with them so the reputation of them must be good surely.

Quoting EXTspotter (Reply 10):
TOM has 762s

Very soon all the 762s will be with Silverjet, so that will leave them with 763s for long-haul ops. Didn't realise the 762s did long-haul TOM flights, thought they were kept for busy short-haul routes?

by738 · Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:19 pm

There was a 762 based at GLA and BHX for short haul. They have now all been withdrawn from TOM service.

flytuitravel · Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:37 pm

Quoting BY738 (Reply 14):
They have now all been withdrawn from TOM service.

I'm pretty sure they have G-BYAA/B until at least March 2008 if I'm not mistaken.

Quoting Boeing74741R (Reply 13):
Any chance of the Britannia name coming back? No, thought not.

Excuse my ignorance but I don't really get what you're saying. Are you being rude/sarcastic towards me or towards the TUI Group etc???

by738 · Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:03 pm

Quoting FlyTUITravel (Reply 15):
I'm pretty sure they have G-BYAA/B until at least March 2008 if I'm not mistaken.

I beg your pardon. You are correct. MAN and LGW have 762 flights till March 08, with the last 2 aircraft

miamix707 · Sat Nov 10, 2007 5:58 am

Quoting Leskova (Reply 12):
HF's old livery is hideous as well

What's so hideous about it? Actually even the yellow "taxi" color is more distinctive than the awful baby blue. What is it like 6 airliens got that paintscheme now?

I guess ditching the sharp and recognizable image of Hapag-Lloyd by adopting that awful TUI blue might not have been that great of an idea after all.

columba · Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:29 am

Quoting Leskova (Reply 12):
The yellow livery is pretty awful - no question about that... how, on the face of this planet, someone could actually believe that painting a plane to make it look like a New York taxi would be a good idea is completely beyond me...

I think the HLX livery is great, a pleasant change with all the "eurowhite" liveries and for a low cost airline a clever idea.
Awful where the baby blue and the current TUIfly colorschemes. The old orange livery is a classic 70 style color scheme a bit outdated but still better than everything that came after.

BA787 · Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:46 am

Quoting MIAMIx707 (Reply 17):
awful TUI blue

Quoting Columba (Reply 18):
Awful where the baby blue and the current TUIfly colorschemes

Couldn't DISAGREE more Big grin

I love the baby blue liveries and think they are a bit more interesting than all the Euro-white liveries we are getting. I hate the yellow though, with a passion. And I might get flamed for this, but i prefer BYs current scheme to any of their previous ones, but then I always see them in the fantastic backlight of the Alps Big grin

. Another contraversial view, but I loved the Hapagfly livery and hope they binrg the standardised blue back. The orange and taxi colours are pretty god awful.

Just my opinion though, if I were head of TUI AG that would be my wish.

BA787

Delta777Jet · Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:16 pm

I think TUI management is monitoring this forum, we had just a few weeks back the big discussion of TUI's bad management. By the way, some of the major investors wanted to fire the management, but last week contracts were prolonged, so they can stay longer and serve us with new interesting concepts.

Beaucaire · Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:42 pm

Without trying to attack any potential TUI members on this distinguished forum- but TUI and HLX have by far the worst,most amateurish and counterproductivee brand-marketing management of all companies I've ever seen ....
They have a great brandname with Hapag Lloyd -so why the f... do they change that into silly ,no-name brand-names that nobody can remember or associate with.
TUI by itself is NOT a good brand-name -Hapag Lloyd is !
The permanent change of paint-schemes,renaming and dis-association with names valid some time ago,dilutes the brand-name awareness and damages permanently the customer impact.Any 25 year old student in marketing would do better than those blockheads in Hanover.
They could learn a lot from web-companies that basically sell their inexpensive web-sites for billions to larger investment groups- theose just buy brand and name awareness -not even content ....

Boeing74741R · Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:46 pm

Quoting FlyTUITravel (Reply 15):
Excuse my ignorance but I don't really get what you're saying. Are you being rude/sarcastic towards me or towards the TUI Group etc???

I wasn't being rude/sarcastic towards you, just more aimed at TUI over the Hapag-Lloyd name and how if they've decided to stop repainting the remaining blue-liveried aircraft in order to keep the Hapag-Lloyd name, why can't they bring back the Britannia name and get rid of Thomsonfly (and the plans to re-brand that into TUIfly)?

Sorry if it was misinterpreted, it's just me living in the past.

Quoting Beaucaire (Reply 21):

Agree with you 100%

RobK · Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:59 pm

What is all this talk of the "new TUI yellow scheme"? What "new" scheme? I thought that the TUI "group" scheme was the blue one and the yellow planes are the ones operated by HLX ?

With the exception of D-ATUI, all the new -800s from Boeing were in the blue scheme and the -700s were in the yellow scheme as they're operated by HLX as far as I know? Has something changed?

confused

R

flytuitravel · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:19 pm

Quoting Boeing74741R (Reply 22):
(and the plans to re-brand that into TUIfly)?

As far as I know, only the German airline will be TUIfly, as well as TUIfly Nordic. The plan was to rebrand all airlines (Arkefly, Corsair, Jetair, Thomsonfly) as TUIfly but I think they've changed their minds again because of the whole First Choice merger. AFAIK nothing has been decided so before I go blurting my mouth and getting flamed by the TUI/First Choice know-alls, I think I should stop until I know for sure!

[Edited 2007-11-10 07:45:19]

[Edited 2007-11-10 07:45:40]

lindy field · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:39 pm

Just to clarify, here is the blue Hapagfly identity and livery which has now been superceded by the yellow TUIfly livery.

MyAviation.net photo:

Photo © Edward Kehler

MyAviation.net photo:

Photo © Edward Kehler

It's separate and different from Hapag-Lloyd Express.

MyAviation.net photo:

Photo © Edward Kehler

flytuitravel · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:46 pm

Quoting Lindy Field (Reply 25):
It's separate and different from Hapag-Lloyd Express.

I thought HLX/Hapagfly merged earlier this year, and formed TUIfly?

Beaucaire · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:52 pm

Most likely even the TUI management doesn't understand any longer what subsidiary will fly under which paint and when to decide to re-brand the whole shaboo again..
It's laughable...

lindy field · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:59 pm

They may have merged but they haven't repainted any of the planes. I think they're simply selling the HLX planes (the 737-500s) or returning them to the lessor, Germania (the 737-700s).

Thorben · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:59 pm

I'd love to see that livery again. Has a lot of childhood memories for me. Used to see it often in Spain, although I never flew on it. My grandparents had some scale models and a puzzle of an A300 in flight. I built it 1,000 times.

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Photo © Frank Zahorik

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Photo © Marc Lehmann

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Photo © Olaf Juergensmeier

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Photo © Jordi Grife - Iberian Spotters

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Photo © Rob Rindt - Spot This!

Flying-Tiger · Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:59 pm

Quoting BA787 (Reply 9):
Nothing compared to Royal Carribean though or even P & O .

I like the big new modern ones though. I wish TUIs German arm would sort itself out.

Hapag-Lloyd cruises has positioned itself in the absolute top-end segment of the cruise market, especially with the MS Europa - which has just been selected for the sixth time in a row as the best cruise ship in the World by the Berlitz Guide AFAIK.

TUI had been looking at setting up a Joint-Venture with Carnival but both just recently departed. IMO TUI will no go its own way, but with another brand for not to dillute the Hapag-LLoyd cruise brand.

RobK · Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:08 pm

Quoting Lindy Field (Reply 25):
It's separate and different from Hapag-Lloyd Express.

Are you sure?? The current yellow scheme is Hapag-lloyd Express I think. That's the old HLX scheme you're depicting.

R

lindy field · Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:36 pm

Rob,

Whatever the case, if you and I as airliner hobbyists are confused, one can only imagine what the general public thinks of all this idiotic rebranding.

Cheers,

Edward

PlaneHunter · Sat Nov 10, 2007 5:01 pm

Quoting RobK (Reply 31):
Are you sure?? The current yellow scheme is Hapag-lloyd Express I think. That's the old HLX scheme you're depicting.

Since January 2007 Hapag Lloyd Flug (Hapagfly) and Hapag Lloyd Express have been operating as a combined carrier under the TUIfly brand with one standardized livery.

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RobK · Sat Nov 10, 2007 5:06 pm

Edward, I couldn't agree more.

PlaneHunter, thanks for the clarification!

Rob
spin

Revo · Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:02 pm

Quoting FlyTUITravel (Reply 15):
I'm pretty sure they have G-BYAA/B until at least March 2008 if I'm not mistaken.

G-BYAB has gone according to Jethros

miamix707 · Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:10 pm

Quoting Lindy Field (Reply 32):
Whatever the case, if you and I as airliner hobbyists are confused, one can only imagine what the general public thinks of all this idiotic rebranding.

Quoting Beaucaire (Reply 27):
Most likely even the TUI management doesn't understand any longer what subsidiary will fly under which paint and when to decide to re-brand the whole shaboo again..
It's laughable...

Like you pointed before, any 20 year old marketing student can come up with something better than TUI's airline marketing department -if they even have such a thing-. Even their older logo in bolder letters was a stronger brand than this dumb smile which combined with the baby blue would be pefect decoration for a laundry detergent box:

Corsairfly:

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Photo © Olaf Juergensmeier

Not only the paintscheme and logo are funny looking but the new names sound kinda ridiculous, at least in English (maybe except Neos, until they rename it Neosfly..)

Quoting RobK (Reply 31):
Are you sure?? The current yellow scheme is Hapag-lloyd Express I think. That's the old HLX scheme you're depicting

Rob.. you're letting me down man Big grin

by738 · Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:31 pm

Dont think Neos is part of TUI anymore.

gkirk · Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:12 pm

Quoting BY738 (Reply 37):
Dont think Neos is part of TUI anymore.

Ye are correct. Bu for some reason, they've kept the old TUI c/s Yeah sure

Delta777Jet · Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:37 am

Beaucaire: You was bringing it to the point, TUI management is destroying shareholder value. Hapag Lloyd airline had the same good reputation and name as the cruise ship business. It's so silly to see such a image turn 180 degrees to change name and want to become a low-fares airline and to forget about the high yield customers. Before at least there was a concept with HLX as the low-cost airline and Hapag Lloyd for the full service product. HLX had a very unique livery and they spend millions to attract it and in my opinion HLX just became really aware and famous in Germany as a low-cost alternative. Now nobody understands anything anymore and even the inflight service on the same airline varies from flight to flight. Sometimes a free of charge service and sometimes you need to pay for everything.

Imagine Lufthansa will change its name to FlyLH Wink

I never saw such stupid decisions being made, I wonder how they can keep profitability.

sausageandmash · Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:21 am

Remember that the Germans aren't in charge any more. Since the merger with First Choice, TUI AG do not control the airlines, TUI Travel do - and although TUI AG owns 51% of TUI Travel, it is headquartered in the UK and run primarily by the old First Choice management. In one of the business briefs that they have been giving to employees, it was categorically stated the UK airlines will not be going yellow and, as yet they have not decided on the branding in the UK. It was also said that the whole TUIfly operation in Germany is being re-evaluated, as it has not been performing as expected and has been very confusung for the customer base. I would not be surprised if it all went back to holiday charter flights only - already TUI Travel have chopped Thomsonfly's scheduled programme for next summer by 12%. Expect this to keep falling. The new airline management in the UK are the same people who a few years ago decided to take FCA out of the flight only market (remember air2000.com?) and concentrate on a high-quality leisure operation. Flight only can still be booked on FCA, but it is a tiny fragment of what it used to be and is not marketed at all. They realised that rather than try and compete with the low-cost airlines, they should focus on the leisure market and more high-yield passengers. It has definitely paid off in the case of FCA - long haul and mid haul bookings are up again this year by 26% and 27% year-on-year. A smart move to move away from the short-haul routes. I expect this will be the way Thomsonfly - and TUIfly - go in the next few months as well.

Thomas_Jaeger · Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:46 am

I actually found my last TUIfly flight rather funny but I am sure most typical consumers would get confused. Booked on a TUIfly website to fly from Hamburg to Memmingen, then had to change to fly out of Berlin and decided to call the UK call center as I had troubles calling the German one from Skype and got a nice "Welcome to Hapag-Lloyd Express" message followed by the agent thanking me for calling TUIfly. Then boarded my Hapag-Lloyd Express B737-700 with a huge "operated by Germania" sticker with HLX information displays on the overhead screens and when buying a sandwich from their BOB service got it in a blue Hapagfly bag ... I know it takes time to do this rebranding but others have managed to at least get the basics of a rebranding right ... so besides changing names twice a year, they also are having trouble to even get some consistency.

miamix707 · Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:19 am

I know this is a worthless post but.. LOL ^ ^

Orion737 · Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:25 pm

Its the name of Hapag-Lloyd I would like to see back. A bit like when Condor returned.

cgnnrw · Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:13 pm

Quoting Delta777Jet (Reply 20):
so they can stay longer and serve us with new interesting concepts.

Were these the same guys/gals who came up with the www.flyairline.airlinefly.fly-airline.airline-fly.com brandings?

godbless · Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:53 pm

Quoting Orion737 (Reply 43):
A bit like when Condor returned.

I believe that DE never recovered from the Thomas Koch venture. Half the fleet is gone and more planes are leaving it while it is already certain that the glorious Condor will be history in a few years...

So if the brand Hapag-Lloyd Flug would return, how much would it have to do with the original HLF? It would be a different product with an old name.

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