There aren’t many fashionable airlines, are there? In terms of basic plane design, very few stray from the white-bodied norm. Some might go for a particularly decorative tail pattern, if they’re feeling fancy, but that’s about it.
But German airline Condor is trying to buck the trend. The holiday airline has decided to go bold – really, really bold, in fact – on its new planes. Condor announced yesterday that its new liveries (the word given to a jet’s paint job) will feature thick, brightly coloured vertical stripes. Supposedly inspired by parasols, bath towels and beach chairs, the new designs will come in green, red, yellow, blue and beige.
Depending on your view, the planes might either look a bit like Breton jumpers or sea snakes. But in any case, as you can see below, they look pretty spectacular.
Condor obviously isn’t the first airline to go bold on its colour scheme. It joins the likes of Air New Zealand (with its black planes), Frontier (green) and Wizz Air (purple) in spicing up the runways. But, admittedly, none of those are quite as cool as Condor’s Breton/sea snake jets.
So why are most planes painted white? Well, the main reason is that white reflects sunlight and so helps keep planes from getting too hot. White paint is also cheap, doesn’t fade as quickly as bright colours, and stands out enough to help avoid collisions with birds.
But Condor’s doing things different. While only six planes feature the new paint job at the moment, 80 percent of the airline’s fleet is due to be repainted by 2024 – so there’s a decent chance you might spot a chic new Condor sometime soon.
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