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In 2011, United Employees were given the chance to vote on a new retro livery in celebration of the airline’s 85th anniversary. The winner was the Friend Ship livery which graced United planes during the 1970s. I spotted N475UA, an Airbus A320, in Cleveland in 2012.
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Mai Tai’s reader Kurt (thanks Kurt!) spotted the “infamous” Continental Blue Skyway retro jet a few months ago at LAX, tail number N75436. In 2009, Continental painted this 737-900 in a vintage design dating back to 1947. This retro jet was in honor of that airline’s 75th anniversary. I’ve also spotted this plane at my home airport, SMF.
The painting of a retro jet:
The United Friend Ship livery and the Continental Blue Skyway livery, both interestingly enough were replaced by Saul Bass designs in the 1970s. At Continental it was the famous “meatball” design and at United it was the “tulip”. Then both of those liveries were then ultimately replaced with the blue and gold globe we are all familiar with today. Both retro jets survived the 2012 United-Continental merger and can still be seen flying in the “friendly” skies today.
Have you spotted one of these special retro planes? When and where?
Special Livery Sunday will continue next week with something “fun” from Hawaii. If you’ve spotted a special livery and would like to share, email me at milespointsandmaitais.com