The paint scheme on the side of an aircraft is incredibly important. It acts as the airline’s identity, letting everybody know who operates that plane. However, sometimes airlines like to go off-road with special liveries.

ANA’s Airbus A380s are painted in a special turtle livery. Photo: Tom Boon – Simple Flying

Special liveries can be applied to aircraft for a variety of reasons. These could range from sponsorship deals to recognising history, to recognising important milestones. In fact, the possibilities are seemingly endless. While they can be useful for the airlines, however, it is aviation enthusiasts that love special liveries the most, sometimes going out of their way to spot one in particular. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons airlines paint special liveries on aircraft.

Milestones

Milestones are a great reason to create a special livery for aircraft. Quite often, a special milestone livery will tell people exactly what is special about that particular plane.

For example, Lufthansa was the first airline to operate the Airbus A320neo. As such, one of the carrier’s Airbus A320neos, D-AINC, has a special livery marking this. On the side, it says “First to fly A320neo. Less Noise. Less Fuel. Less CO2.”