mallthus

REVISED - The repainted aircraft is N109UW (cn 1065).

@:-) Here are some websites where photos may appear before an official release (in order of likelihood):
http://www.airliners.net
http://www.jetphotos.net
http://www.avianet.de
http://www.myaviation.net

Good luck and happy plane spotting!

snokums925

Actually, the freshly painted aircraft is N109US--an Airbus 320. The comment on N907AW was about our old Phoenix Suns plane that was really faded.

TopGun

I'm flying HP out of PHL tomorrow AM. I wish we were in the US terminal so I could go take a look while I was there. I guess I have to hope that we taxi past it and the pilot references it when we roll by.

snokums925

So, opinions on the new livery? I think what will be great is the retro planes--one in each of America West, PSA (complete with smile), Piedmont and Alleghany...all with USAirways on the side but painted in each airlines original livery. Pictures are posted on the HP employee website but since it is password protected, will have to wait until someone posts on airliners.net or cactuswings.com.
So, opinions?

curbcrusher

It's up on airliners.net...

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=905570

olympicnut

I like it! It a clean looking aircraft with simple lines yet not too boring. Did ya notice the registration? UW. Is this the new registration code for their aircraft?

olympicnut

Here's a link to show the clasic liveries:

http://www.americawest.com/awa/conte..._heritage.aspx

steve64

Well I was looking forward to this and thinking about driving out to Skyharbor tonite to watch the plane land. Maybe not. My personal thots from the 2 pics I've seen is:

It lost the "subtle elegance" of the current U-S-Airways scheme.
Possibly that "elegance" was due to the dark colors which naturally wouldn't work well in PHX & LAS.

It lost the "spontaneous energy" of the current America West scheme.
I know a lot of people here didn't like the current livery but I felt it was fresh, energetic and unique. It made the statement "we are NOT a legacy airline".

This new livery could be the paint scheme for any airline; it's just too mainstream. In fact, on the similar thread over on the U-S-Airways forum, a few folks have already pointed (along with a photo link) out how much this livery to another airline. The airlines name was/is something like USA3000 ? Something that had 3000 in the name. Seriously, even tho I saw the pic just a couple of minutes ago, I've already forgotten the airline's name. Kinda proves my point about this new paint job

I do give Parker and Company credit for (the statement that they will be...) painting one "theme" plane for each of the carriers in the family tree (well, one generation back ... airlines like Mohawk and Empire have been lost); Allegheny, Peidmont and PSA. That's cool. I think they should also include an America West 1983 "Desert Rose" plane ... tho up until 2 or 3 years ago, that livery was still on a few aircraft and they really looked odd (old ?) at the terminal with all the other "new" planes.

Steve

P.S. I had to go back and look. Yes, it's USA3000
From the U S Airways forum:
Thanks to "usairways lover" for this link to another view of the new livery (complete with the news agency's name imposed over the whole photo)
http://prn.newscom.com/cgi-bin/pub/s...iew&tr=1&row=1

Thanks to "Jumpgate" for the USA3000 photo link:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/896508/M/

JRF

What part of the new design is from the old PI?

steve64

JRF,

Check out the link that olympicnut provided above.
It goes to an America West page that tells how they're honoring the heritage.
The new livery doesn't have anything more than an emblem near the entry door. I'm guessing something of the size that passengers will see as they board, not that you could see from a distance.

olympicnut's link will show that emblem plus announce (and give thumbnail examples of) "theme" planes painted in retro liveries, one being the Piedmont Speedbird paint scheme.

Probably one plane painted in each tho my guess is that for the America West heritage theme, they will probably start out with a hundred or so of them

Steve

KevAZ

I had hoped for better. I don't like the lettering used, it appears to be "cheesy" to me. I have never liked the faux flag that Airways used. I am not a full fledged "flag hugger" but don't like reducing the American flag to a single color logo ala McDonald's. If you're going to make a statement that you are a US airline, then shout it out with a beautiful American flag! That ugly thing on the tail just shouts "loser" to me.

The new blue is great, especially with the red line above it. MUCH better than the previous blue which appeared black to many males, me included. I am not color blind, but have a difficult time with super dark Navy Blue and Black. (I'm the guy in F with mismatched socks in the black suit.....)

Hopefully it's not too late to address that crud on the tail. Proud to be an American!

ByrdluvsAWACO

A big yawwwn is definitely in order. The downward curving cheatline is aweful, and looks exactly like Ryan Air. The red stripe in the cheatline and the red tip of the tail add some cheesyness.

I'm glad they kept the lines on the fuselage even if they're not the Native American zig-zag lines.

Those fuselage lines are the only unique thing about this livery. The rest is very boring. Very sad.

Despite the funky font, and orange/green colors, I'm going to miss the HP livery. At least you couldn't call it boring.

I definitely won't be making any special effort to go see the plane. I'm going to have a few beers at the 'Library' in Tempe.


Well, technically they are now. If they kept the America West name they could say that, but at best they're a hybrid. The body of a legacy with the mind of a LCC.

enviroian

Boring. It to me looks like it was done in a half assed quick manner just to get it over with. It looks like they took an HP a/c, whited out the teal/red, and slapped on a US tail, engine cowlings, and winglets. Probably some guy named hank got on his A$$ and painted the bottom fuselage with a brush US Blue.

TransWorldOne

That's much better than any of the simulated images... I'm glad there's no more of those hideous "zubaz-style" lines on the tail.

That being said, the straight-edge diagonal lines aren't a whole lot better!

Tedaz8

Interesting, but I don't recall PSA ever flying an Airbus!

http://airlines.afriqonline.com/airlines/307.htm

I wonder if someone took some creative license with PhotoShop to create an A320 with PSA's livery