Keeping with the current trend of threads about airline liveries on here, I'm interested to hear your suggests for some underrated airline liveries; liveries that should've gotten attention but were just swept under the rug.

I'll start: I'd do anything to see New York Air's beautiful red DC-9s in the air again. Has to be my all-time favourite livery.



Would also add Blue Islands' old livery, since I don't think anyone really paid attention to it

Royal Jordanian's livery is so beautiful but I've never read much praise (nor anything negative) for it in my years of surfing a.net. I think that livery on the L1011 would be in my top 3 most beautiful plane/livery combinations ever.

I see photographers giving it some love around here, but I've always thought HY has a pretty sweet livery that doesn't get a lot of attention, especially on the Dreamliner/757.

Have always thought the TWA last livery was a beautiful swan-song to a dying airline. Would look totally modern and up to date today on just about any aircraft. A shame it wasn't an effective re-brand that could save the ship... but that was pretty much a done deal by the time the first plane was repainted.

I'll probably get some flak for this but I think Air China's is underrated. The old communist-era look is kinda timeless and their bird on the tail is the subtle touch of red that brings it all together.

I also like NKs bumble bee look only because it's different.

TWA772LR wrote:

I'll probably get some flak for this but I think Air China's is underrated.

Not from me. Air China is one of the last old school cheatline liveries out there. If a livery has swoops and swooshes, I hate it. Give me a BOAC VC-10 over Wunala Dreaming any day.

TWA772LR wrote:

I'll probably get some flak for this but I think Air China's is underrated. The old communist-era look is kinda timeless and their bird on the tail is the subtle touch of red that brings it all together.

I also like NKs bumble bee look only because it's different.

I don't think it's timeless, just outdated. It was what was cheap back then and just hasn't been updated.

I kind of like the plum blossom on the tail of China Airlines

My two favorites-the dark US Airways livery, and the red of their Metrojet subsidiaries.

I really like Helvetic's livery. It looks a lot like Swiss but I find it a lot less boring, probably because of the red tail area.

was always a fan of the ATA liveries

of airlines still around - i do like Vietnam Airlines. agreed on the aforementioned tulip of China Airlines.

The Jet America (lines were great on the MD-80)
New York Air (all red and the stylized apple)
Trans-Brasil (any of their versions)

TriJets wrote:

My two favorites-the dark US Airways livery, and the red of their Metrojet subsidiaries.

Agreed! I also loved their last livery:



Another one I really miss seeing in the skies is AirTran, the dark green color was different and beautiful and something about that "a" was really joyful:



I love both the Desert Gold and Canyon Blue caps lock SOUTHWEST liveries:



The classic white SAS livery has really grown on me through the years:



Last but not least, I was a sucker for the last Northwest livery:

I love Azerbaijan's livery. The waviness and blues really do it for me. Similarly was British Midland's last livery, especially on the A330.

All of JAL's prior liveries are nice to me. Despite tons of white there was something about them that made it just right. I feel like the current livery would be okay if they added a little more to it. When I see their current livery it makes me think of an LCC that went dirt cheap on branding or they were just too lazy to come up with something better.

Spirit's current livery. I'm not the biggest fan of Spirit itself, but their livery is easily identifiable, so props to them for that.

N626AA wrote:

Royal Jordanian's livery is so beautiful but I've never read much praise (nor anything negative) for it in my years of surfing a.net. I think that livery on the L1011 would be in my top 3 most beautiful plane/livery combinations ever.

Agreed. It's almost resemblance of US air, but has the gold to show the royalty.

Frontier airlines is surprisingly beautiful. They kept the original F, plus they have interesting animals and collaborations for each tail.

I know I'm gonna get a lot of flack for this one ...


But honestly, its clean, simple, professional and efficient - in other words, its very German.

gunsontheroof wrote:

I see photographers giving it some love around here, but I've always thought HY has a pretty sweet livery that doesn't get a lot of attention, especially on the Dreamliner/757.

I agree with you there, as the color palette is great. It also matches the Cascadia flag, as you fly lol. I think that these shades of green and blue and a bit of gold would look better in another arrangement, but Uzbekistan Airlines is what we have to settle on right now. I used to watch the Uzbekistan 763's climb out of JFK, trailing smoke like a 727. No other airline's 763's smoked like those did. I think they stopped in Tallinn, Estonia on their way to Tashkent. Not sure if the 787's still make that stop or not.

DL_Mech wrote:

Re: Underrated Airline Liveries



by DL_Mech » 16 Dec 2021 07:45

TWA772LR wrote:
I'll probably get some flak for this but I think Air China's is underrated.



Not from me. Air China is one of the last old school cheatline liveries out there. If a livery has swoops and swooshes, I hate it. Give me a BOAC VC-10 over Wunala Dreaming any day.

Agreed. Don't need to agree on politics to have subjective views on airline pain schemes. I love the cheatlines.


I really don't know what qualifies as being "underrated", but I forgot to mention Lufthansa's cheatline paint in the last thread about favorite liveries. So, here, is my submission.

ElpinDAB wrote:

gunsontheroof wrote:

I see photographers giving it some love around here, but I've always thought HY has a pretty sweet livery that doesn't get a lot of attention, especially on the Dreamliner/757.

I agree with you there, as the color palette is great. It also matches the Cascadia flag, as you fly lol. I think that these shades of green and blue and a bit of gold would look better in another arrangement, but Uzbekistan Airlines is what we have to settle on right now. I used to watch the Uzbekistan 763's climb out of JFK, trailing smoke like a 727. No other airline's 763's smoked like those did. I think they stopped in Tallinn, Estonia on their way to Tashkent. Not sure if the 787's still make that stop or not.

Hah! Yeah, it bears a resemblance to the Cascadia flag for sure, but the HY livery is based on the flag of Uzbekistan, so I doubt there's much to read into there aside from the fact I like both. Then again, Seattle-Tashkent was the first American-Soviet sister city pair and both cities have parks named for the other, sooo...

IIRC, the RIX stop was cut from the TAS-JFK route once the 787s arrived. Would love to have seen the smoking 767s at JFK, very cool catch!

ACDC8 wrote:

I know I'm gonna get a lot of flack for this one ...

But honestly, its clean, simple, professional and efficient - in other words, its very German.

I agree, it’s a nice livery, even if I preferred the previous one.

Original HP livery, clean, simple, good reflection of service area with light blue, red, and tan.

I agree with those that have mentioned Royal Jordanian and Vietnam Airlines, among current liveries.

I do really like the black US Airways (and Metrojet). However of 90s liveries my pick has to be the final TWA and final Canadi>n liveries.

I expect some flack for this, but IMHO Emirates is ‘euro white’ done well. Finally, I think Fiji Airways is really underrated.

Equatorial Congo Airlines. They're a eurowhite but the tail is so unique that it just draws so much attention that you forget the whole fuselage is white.
Also looked good in the 757s.

This might be a bold statement but I quite like the current livery of JAL.



It took a long time to grow on me, but to me it evokes the sense of Japanese Minimalism. I think the large black titles saves the livery. I'm just happy they brought back the Tsurumaru which was absent from the previous livery.

vhqpa wrote:

I'm just happy they brought back the Tsurumaru which was absent from the previous livery.

100% agree. Can you imagine Qantas without the Roo on the tail?

I always thought that the Air Seychelles livery made the 707 look more “modern.”

vhqpa wrote:

This might be a bold statement but I quite like the current livery of JAL.

Personally I also really liked the previous 'Arc of the Sun' livery.

Here's some more that I think are underrated. Disclaimer: They're in random order

United Battleship Grey. It's a very divisive livery; some claim it's amazing, others claim it's horrible. I think it looks kind of elegant.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/United-Airlines/Boeing-747SP-21/2571170?qsp=eJyrVkrOzytJrSgJqSxIVbJSSsxJKs1V0lEqSCxKzC1WsqqGiHimKFmZGJgYmNfWAgDBABDU

British Airways Negus. A great mix of the BOAC and BEA liveries that I feel was overshadowed by Landor



Iberia 1977 "IB". Very original striping and great colors.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Iberia/Boeing-727-256-Adv/6325289

United Friendship. The colors and stripes seem very "USA" to me.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/United-Airlines/Boeing-737-222/6432897?qsp=eJyrVkrOzytJrSgJqSxIVbJSSsxJKs1V0lEqSCxKzC1WsqqGiHimKFkZGRqYW9bWAgDBBhDY

Air New Zealand's white livery. The All Blacks livery is great and very original, but this one is also nice. It looks especially good on the 772.
https://images.nztechblog.net/Air-New-Zealand-Boeing-777-200.jpg

Icelandair on the 737MAX. The underbelly is a bit weird, but it looks quite modern.
http://www.skytalkonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MAR-2018-Icelandair.jpg

Air Canada's previous livery was quite distinctive and pretty nice. However, I still like the current one, and I will say that the leaf on this one looks very odd.


Lastly, Qatar Airways. I love the gray and red, as well as the Oryx. This livery looks elegant and especially good on the A340.
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Qatar-Airways/Airbus-A340-642/1138110

I believe Maldivian has a rather eye-catching livery...