Official: New AA Livery - Jan/17 - Part 3

bogota · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:35 am

It is simply an updated version of the boring Cubana livery. Very dissapointed.

EA CO AS · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:36 am

Here's a 3:06 video all about how they changed stuff that didn't need to be changed:

Tampering with American - How They Did It

AF185 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:40 am

The tail design makes the overall livery look cheap!

On another note, why changing the livery now while the probabilities of a merger and re-branding are very high?

mdavies06 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:42 am

This is a cheesegrater.

This is a tilted ladder.

This is AA's tail !

I am still imagining what it is like seeing hundreds of these sticking up at ORD, DFW or MIA. LHR will only get 15 of these at any time max...

infinit · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:51 am

Why the need for a change though?
If it ain't broken, it ain't need no fixing.

WROORD · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:02 am

Quoting infinit (Reply 54):
Why the need for a change though?If it ain't broken, it ain't need no fixing.

Amen to that! The money spent on development and markeing could go towards improvig client experience.
I hope this will be shortlived like BA's taste of the world on tails. Enough people complained and they got rid of it.

Mir · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:06 am

Quoting martinrpo1 (Reply 35):
Tom Horton: “Early on in this process when we embarked the different process of restructuring, I said to our people, what we’re going to do here is we’re going to set out to build American’s flag carrier, an airline that could compete on the level of any airline in the world. When I think of flag carriers, I think of the great companies of Oneworld, our great partners like British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.That’s the sort of quality and look to the customer that we seek, and we think the new look is very much in line with that.”

Their strategy is to covert American into America's flag carrier. That explains why they decided to use the flag.

They might have done well to remember that none of the carriers they mentioned have tails that display the respective flags of their countries.

-Mir

asuflyer · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:07 am

I think they should have at least included the logo on the tail. The flag just looks tacky. IMO If they wanted a flag they should have gone with darker reds and blues.

I drew up the logo on the tail, but still I think the logo needs work.

N243NW · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:10 am

Quoting Mir (Reply 56):

They might have done well to remember that none of the carriers they mentioned have tails that display the respective flags of their countries.

BA's tail is a quite recognizable derivative of the Union Jack.

gulfstream650 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:12 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):

Even that is such an improvement. I don't have much of an issue with the logo other than the fact that I think it could be more substantial but the tail is a "mess". Yours looks much better and portrays a brand.

Mcmax · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:15 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):
I think they should have at least included the logo on the tail. The flag just looks tacky. IMO If they wanted a flag they should have gone with darker reds and blues.

I drew up the logo on the tail, but still I think the logo needs work.

Now that's a beautiful tail that goes with the new logo and livery. Excellent job. Now, how do we get AA to use this?

gulfstream650 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:17 am

Quoting N243NW (Reply 58):

Remember that it was somewhat of a journey for BA after the world tail nonsense:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4g8zwVfPAI&sns=em

flyaadc10 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:17 am

Quoting ckfred:

"Are pilots, F/As, mechanics, and CSAs getting new uniforms? What happens to the crest on pilot hats? The current crest is based on logos AA used prior to the 1968 rebranding."

Well, my wife is a tower agent at ORD. She wanted to get a new jacket with her uniform allotment, so called the appropriate person who informed her that she should wait for a few weeks as the uniform colors would be changing. When she inquired further, he said said that the colors will be dark gray, teal and melon.

Immediately, I pictured my days at YV as HP Express in PRC and PHX in a flashback.

Either this person is joking, or the colors of the southwest seem to be nigh.

As far as the new livery goes (as an ex-AA employee), I think they're going to take a long time to grow on me...

I'll miss you, Silverbird...

HermansCVR580 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:18 am

Quoting mcmax (Reply 60):
Now, how do we get AA to use this?

I'll second that!!! C'mon there has to be someone on here that has some pull at AA. Please go back to the drawing board AA and try again for something better.

iFlyLOTs · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:22 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):

I like that, while I don't mind the new livery (it's slowly growing on me) that would have been much better.

Independence76 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:26 am

I just came from the corporate/executive rebranding party at AA.

I have to say, some thing I like about it, some things I don't. I talked to the designers (who were present) from FutureBrand and they said the text was a "graphite, modern" look. I don't understand their motivation.

I decided not to talk to Horton about it (who was also present).

The more Horton talked on stage, however, the more I felt he didn't know what he was talking about. At one point he said "with this brand, we will have the most recognizable and iconic airline brand in the world." At that point, my smile faded.

fanoftristars · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:30 am

I actually like the new logo but the tail is UGLY. Wow what a mess.

ckfred · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:32 am

It just dawned on me what the tail section looks like. It's the soccer jerseys for the U.S. National soccer team. It's red and while horizontal stripes, with blue around the collar and sleeves.

I'm not a fan of the jerseys or the tail section of the new livery.

.

flyguy89 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:33 am

Quoting Independence76 (Reply 65):
The more Horton talked on stage, however, the more I felt he didn't know what he was talking about. At one point he said "with this brand, we will have the most recognizable and iconic airline brand in the world." At that point, my smile faded.

Why? He's the CEO of AMR so of course he's going to be a cheerleader for the brand. What was he supposed to say? "With this brand, we will have a mediocre-looking airline."?

[Edited 2013-01-17 19:34:02]

787 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:34 am

We look at this design and see simplicity in branding. Sometimes the simple things just do not work.

Mir · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:39 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):
I drew up the logo on the tail, but still I think the logo needs work.

Much better.

Quoting N243NW (Reply 58):
BA's tail is a quite recognizable derivative of the Union Jack.

It's quite a derivative - only an 8th of the flag visible. Not even close to what AA came up with.

-Mir

OA412 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:41 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):

Now that would have been a great livery redesign!

Independence76 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:46 am

Quoting flyguy89 (Reply 68):
Why? He's the CEO of AMR so of course he's going to be a cheerleader for the brand. What was he supposed to say? "With this brand, we will have a mediocre-looking airline."?

No, he's supposed to say "our future is brighter than it has ever been" and that "with this, we hope to be one of the most recognized brands in the world."

A388 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:49 am

Quoting seahawks7757 (Reply 40):
AA aircraft are trackable on FlightAware.com

The flights are trackable there but not the registrations. I know flightradar24 does but if someone has the schedule that will make it easier.

A388

GSPSPOT · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:49 am

One word... Eeuwww! IMO, DL did a MUCH better job of re-branding during their BK.

freakyrat · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:51 am

The logo is appropriated from the United mainliner livery tail scheme.

AA94 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:52 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):

LOVE this. Well done. This would be such an improvement from what we are seeing currently (though, the newly introduced livery is growing on me)

AirCalSNA · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:52 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):
I think they should have at least included the logo on the tail. The flag just looks tacky. IMO If they wanted a flag they should have gone with darker reds and blues.

I drew up the logo on the tail, but still I think the logo needs work.

Now that one REALLY looks like Greyhound!

Mir · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:52 am

Among the many curious choices made in this livery, perhaps the strangest one is the choice to not have the logo on the tail. That's generally a bad move, since people who see your logo in advertisements and then see it on the tail will be able to draw an instant connection between the two. People who see the AA logo in advertisements and then see their tail won't have a clue what they're looking at. That's not a very good branding strategy.

I'm trying to think of other major airlines around the world that do this, but I can only think of two: BA and AF. And AF is a bit iffy, since the logo is incorporated into the tail design.

Does AA just want to be BA?

-Mir

questions · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:52 am

After a great job on the cabin redesign, AA dropped the ball on the livery. Awful.

What a REDNECK DESIGN, certainly not befitting a "global" airline. I bet whoever designed this has a gun rack in their pickup window!

Victr · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:53 am

my question when is aa.com and digital assets of the company in terms of time will be rebranded

CO777DAL · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:58 am

Absolutely horrendous! I thought there was nothing that could be worse looking than the Kindergarten drawn and painted Star Alliance Livery. AA proved me wrong. To replace what they had with this crAAp is unbelievable. A terminal of those tails at DFW is going to be

! DFW hasn't seen that much color since Braniff in the1980s. Thanks for going back 30 years AA.

caribb · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:58 am

Quoting questions (Reply 78):

Air Canada's true logo is also not on the tail, only on the side of the fuselage.

[Edited 2013-01-17 19:59:47]

Mir · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:05 am

Quoting caribb (Reply 82):
Air Canada's true logo is also not on the tail, only on the side of the fuselage.

It pretty much is on the tail. Yeah, the circle isn't there, but the leaf is the same, with a bit of extra coloration. I can't consider that to be an example.

-Mir

BlueSky1976 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:07 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):
I think they should have at least included the logo on the tail. The flag just looks tacky. IMO If they wanted a flag they should have gone with darker reds and blues.

I drew up the logo on the tail, but still I think the logo needs work.

Excellent job. This is how the new livery should look like.
As someone else said - how do we get AA to change into this?

cloudboy · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:09 am

ASuflyer I think you hit it right on with the tail. Bravo!

Looking at that livery, though - I think I realize what I don't like about it. It looks like it comes out of a PowerPoint Clip Art book from about 10 years ago.

Here are the problems:

It relies on weird color grading techniques. They look kinda snazzy now, but will look real dated in about 3 weeks time. They will look really cheap in about a year when computer graphics improve even more and that looks poor quality.

The underlying concept is good, but it is going to start being called the chicken beak instead of wings. I know they wanted to get away from "Eagle" but a beak? Come on, at least include an eye with it.

The font looks cheap. Again, like it was done by a college student who only had a few fonts on his system. Or worse yet, didn't even bother to change from the default Office font. At least choose one that is balanced.

I feel so bad being so critical of FutureBrand. It is decent for a small starting firm. But this is a logo for a world leading airline. You have to get this one right.

usflyguy · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:10 am

I like it. Why stick with a logo that is the same or similar to the current one that is now associated by almost all passengers to an airline that is a disaster in terms of customer service. They wanted a clean slate and thats exactly what they're getting with this new corporate identity package. I think it's very clean, sleek, and modern.

flood · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:11 am

Take note, AA... a 16-20 year old student just put your own million dollar effort to shame.

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):

Great work.

AF185 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:23 am

Interesting views about the new livery in this article form Bloomberg-Businessweek:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...s-its-planes-to-much-carping#r=rss

777way · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:39 am

Why have they kept the same outdated font after chaging the whole look, perhaps soemthing new, more so in all caps might have made all the differnce, something futureistic.

ldvaviation · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:47 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):
I drew up the logo on the tail, but still I think the logo needs work.

The logo doesn't work at that scale. Plus, it is just too much logo.

SXDFC · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:49 am

Does anyone know if the interior of the -800 is the same as the others, or is it sporting the new narrow body interior as seen in the A319/321 demo video released sometime ago..

flyguy89 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:50 am

Quoting Independence76 (Reply 72):
Quoting flyguy89 (Reply 68):
Why? He's the CEO of AMR so of course he's going to be a cheerleader for the brand. What was he supposed to say? "With this brand, we will have a mediocre-looking airline."?

No, he's supposed to say "our future is brighter than it has ever been" and that "with this, we hope to be one of the most recognized brands in the world."

Sounds like nit picking to me, I honestly don't understand why what he said wiped a smile off your face unless he's bad at public speaking.

Quoting Mir (Reply 70):
Quoting N243NW (Reply 58):
BA's tail is a quite recognizable derivative of the Union Jack.

It's quite a derivative - only an 8th of the flag visible. Not even close to what AA came up with.

It's also quite a different flag design as far as the symmetry goes between the two. There's no real way to stylize the American flag without showing the basic box-and-stripes design unless, a la Delta, you turn it into some vague wavy design that really looks like the Russian or Serbian flag. I have to say though, the only thing I like about US's livery is that flag design.

Quoting infinit (Reply 54):
Why the need for a change though?
If it ain't broken, it ain't need no fixing.

For the umpteenth time, with the Airbus and 787 a/c arriving, and composite materials being used more and more, the polished look would have been impossible to keep, unless you favor the all-white look they experimented with before:

spacecadet · Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:56 am

The more people relentlessly criticize a livery like this, the more it makes me like it.

Quoting Mir (Reply 78):
Among the many curious choices made in this livery, perhaps the strangest one is the choice to not have the logo on the tail. That's generally a bad move

Tell it to Aeroflot, BA, China Airlines, Asiana, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, or Mexicana, for starters.

ckfred · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:15 am

Quoting asuflyer (Reply 57):
I think they should have at least included the logo on the tail. The flag just looks tacky. IMO If they wanted a flag they should have gone with darker reds and blues.

I like the look of the logo on the tail. Remember, though, when AA had the lightening bolt livery, the red was far more orange, and the dark blue looked black at a distance. Even the 1968 livery wasn't quite right. I still thought, up close, that the red had a little too much orange, and the blue was a tad too violet.

Quoting flyaadc10 (Reply 62):
Well, my wife is a tower agent at ORD. She wanted to get a new jacket with her uniform allotment, so called the appropriate person who informed her that she should wait for a few weeks as the uniform colors would be changing. When she inquired further, he said said that the colors will be dark gray, teal and melon.

Considering that the cabin appears to be changing from blue to gray and brown, anything might be possible in terms of employee uniforms. But, I don't see how the teal and melon fits in with a brand that is red, blue, and silvery gray.

Quoting Independence76 (Reply 65):
The more Horton talked on stage, however, the more I felt he didn't know what he was talking about. At one point he said "with this brand, we will have the most recognizable and iconic airline brand in the world." At that point, my smile faded.

It will be the most recognizable brand. Considering that a lot of airlines have a Eurowhite fuselage and a tail the blue as the background color (US, UA, DL, B6, and LH come to mind), silvery gray with a red, white, and blue striped tail will be very, very recognizable.

Quoting freakyrat (Reply 75):
The logo is appropriated from the United mainliner livery tail scheme.

I hadn't thought of that, but you have a point. Although, my guess is that the designers are probably so young, they probably only remember the Saul Bass livery for UA.

Quoting Mir (Reply 78):
Among the many curious choices made in this livery, perhaps the strangest one is the choice to not have the logo on the tail. That's generally a bad move, since people who see your logo in advertisements and then see it on the tail will be able to draw an instant connection between the two. People who see the AA logo in advertisements and then see their tail won't have a clue what they're looking at. That's not a very good branding strategy.

I'm trying to think of other major airlines around the world that do this, but I can only think of two: BA and AF. And AF is a bit iffy, since the logo is incorporated into the tail design.

The last TWA livery was a hodge podge. The lettering on the fuselage was different from the letters on the tail, and there was a globe on the fuselage. But, the red, slant block "TWA" was pretty much the logo.

Delta's wavy gravy tail wasn't the logo, which was the widget with the curve (later straightened out). But, it seemed that a lot of gates and ticket counters had a wall of wavy gravy with no widgets. That was confusing.

B6 has multiple tail designs. The words "Jet Blue" are the logo.

JAL is going back to the crane logo, but the prior livery was the letters JAL on the fuselage and the Rising Sun on the tail.

Now for the dumb question. I watched the video with Horton introducing the new livery. What is the music that is used while the aircraft are flying, taxiing, and parked on the DFW ramp? I like it and would like to find it, either on CD or music download.

Mexicana757 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:15 am

The livery is alright. They should have kept the eagle not just the head. The logo sort of reminds of the last Mexicana logo.

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goldenargosy · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:16 am

I think the entire identity system is crisp, elegant and friendly. I already like it and can't wait to start seeing it appear everywhere and on everything. Run into the future and let go of the past.

The tail is awesome. As an American, I'm very proud to be flying in a plane with a stylized United States flag on the tail.

flanker · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:16 am

Coming from someone who thinks the bare metal AA colors were the most timeless design ever created, I must say that I absolutely love the new livery!!!!!

I do wish that they extended the flag all the way down in the rear instead of just stopping by the windows.

All in all, good job AA! Can't wait to fly!

pdx · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:23 am

Why is the flag on the tail backwards on the starboard side of the aircraft?

Mir · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:24 am

Quoting spacecadet (Reply 93):
Tell it to Aeroflot, BA, China Airlines, Asiana, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, or Mexicana, for starters.

Aeroflot, China Airlines and Mexicana all have their logo on the tail (in Mexicana's case the colors are different but the design is the same). I already mentioned BA as one that doesn't, and I hadn't thought of Asiana. Alaska and Frontier aren't really major world airlines, so they don't count.

Quoting flanker (Reply 97):
I do wish that they extended the flag all the way down in the rear instead of just stopping by the windows.

If they had stopped it at the tail and not let it run into the fuselage, it would be better - the stripes ending on the fuselage look really awkward. Truth be told, the tail isn't that bad if you just look at it on its own. But it doesn't go at all with the rest of the airplane.

-Mir

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