WildcatYXU

The 319's and all but 4 320's aren't eligible for the sharklet retrofit. The 321's would be eligible, but since these are fairly low MSN's too, it would be the more expensive retrofit as the wings weren't prepared for the sharklets yet and would need reinforcements. Probably not worth the money.

B_Alex

Adam Smith

AC is ditching a number of CRJs over the next couple of years (see the master fleet changes thread for more info). The assumption that I think most of us are operating on is that anything that's leaving the fleet soon won't be re-painted, while fins that are around for the long haul will be.

Under that assumption, any Georgian CRJs that are planned to remain in the fleet for a while would be re-painted, whether they stay with Georgian or move to Jazz.

Not sure this is really the right thread for that, but...

Some good technical answers above, but also keep in mind that even if something is technically feasible, it's ultimately an economic decision. Installing winglets reduces fuel consumption and therefore operating expenses, but requires a sizeable up-front investment. As with any other investment, it will only be made if it's profitable, i.e. the future revenues (or cost reductions) more than offset the costs (including time value of money/financing cost).

AC has a lot of 320s that are headed for the scrapyard pretty soon - no sense investing in a retrofit there, because there's no way it will pay off. As for the middle-aged ones (mostly 319s and 321s), I have no idea how the economics look, but safe to say that if AC sees it as a profitable investment, it will make it.

WildcatYXU

I wrote all but 4 A320's, didn't I? As far as Rouge aircraft are concerned, I didn't mention them, as this is a mainline repaint topic. That said, currently 7 of Rouge A321's are sharklet equipped.

kerry786

E75 C-FEJP (378) in new livery. Surprised at how slow the painting progress at mainline is. So far this winter only one 777 and A319 have been done.

CZAMFlyer

Had been thinking along the same lines. Generally, the heavier maintenance is performed at this time of year, offering good repainting opportunities. We'll see a half dozen freshly-painted frames appear when the two new 789s and the 'new' 330s arrive, but my guess is that the narrowbody Airbus fleet is of low priority and the old-liveried 787s are simply too new and/or too busy to withdraw from service for the time it takes to paint them. Despite what I had said on the subject a few weeks ago, maybe the extended absence of the tail-strike 777 in HKG created enough disruption to slow down painting plans?

kerry786

I was thinking about that too. They painted the one 777 before that happened and maybe they didn't have enough slack in the fleet to compensate. But still, if I remember right they said they wanted to have all the 787s and 777s painted within 18 months of the unveiling of the livery which was 2 years ago now. Since the announcement with 801, they've only painted two 787s (the rest being delivered in new livery).

Adam Smith

Two years already? God, I'm so sick of this fugly paint job already. The toothpaste still looks good though, even... what, 15 years after it came out?

CZAMFlyer

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think AC hit a home run with this new livery. Perhaps it's a bit derivative of Delta, but the airplanes look better in the new paint scheme. However, as with all things, time and mileage take their tolls and already some of the new white planes are stained by dirty bridge canopy rectangles and various cascades of grease or other fluids running down the fuselage. Take a close look at the toothpaste tubes and most of them are in similar or worse condition.

It comes as no surprise that AC was rather optimistic when announcing a stated timeline.

jasdou

The first DH3 is now in the new livery. As usual, I see @kerry786 was fast as lightning to update the wiki!


Screenshot for those on mobile:

briguychau

That's cuz C-FRUZ has been in the new livery at least June 2018

kerry786

Updated the wiki a bit (CR9s, A330s, 789) but safe to say this thread will stay pretty dead until the whole Max situation is figured out.

RatherBeInYOW

This reminds me that I saw an CRJ a few gates down from mine at YOW earlier today in the new livery, The black paint on the engines, around the inlets, was already peeling quite noticeably. I haven't noticed this on any other aircraft, but not a good look for the new livery.

Symmetre

I'm still having a hard time liking the "new" 1990s-era livery. That raccoon mask just doesn't look good on any of the aircraft.

WaytoomuchEurope