This week’s featured link:
Airlines to Trump: Block Rivals and Privatize Air Traffic Control – Bloomberg
We frankly have no idea what Trump is going to do once he’s in office, but this article flips it and looks at what airlines would want from him. If he does pay the industry any attention, which is far from certain, his protectionist leanings might bode well for US carriers trying to fight off foreign airlines like Emirates and Norwegian. It wouldn’t be good for consumers, but he’s set up a narrative where foreigners (in various ways) have resulted in ruin for US workers. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see a protectionist move.
I do tend to agree with the final quote in this article, however. Aviation policy won’t be at the top of his list.
Two-ish for the road:
Measure B receives strong support from voters – Burbank Leader
Congratulations to the people of Burbank, who finally approved having the airport move forward on replacing its ancient, tiny, and dangerous terminal. There are still a couple plans on the table, so we don’t know all the details yet. Let’s just hope they don’t overbuild and waste money. (What am I thinking? Of course they will…)
Airplane Porn Potpourri
I haven’t posted any good airplane porn for awhile, so how about a trio today? (Yeah, these are three links on their own, but we’ll just pretend it’s one.)
Alaska Airlines – Honoring Those Who Serve
Alaska rolled out a veteran-themed aircraft, and it’s a stunner. I like the Virgin America-esque flag winglets and the US Airways-inspired red stripe.
Alaska/Virgin America – Merger Special Livery
Somebody leaked a photo of a joint livery meant to celebrate the merger. Rumor is that a Virgin America aircraft has a similar scheme, but these airplanes are sitting, waiting for the merger to actually be completed.
JetBlue – Retro Livery
This one is somewhat controversial, but I love it. JetBlue imagined a retro livery for itself to fit with the return of its Palm Springs service. It’s a mix of a whole lot of things, but it’s a head turner.
Few presidents have directly influenced the airline industry and that isn’t likely to change. most of the key decisions that have affected the airline industry have been and will continue to take place at the Cabinet level. The biggest issue WRT foreign carriers is the ME3 and even before Trump’s win there were indications that the ME3 might accept restrictions on 5th freedom rights to the US – which would largely stop future growth but not necessarily rollback existing rights while leaving the issue of flights from the US nonstop to the Middle East unchanged. The market is very close… Read more »
Those AS/VX and B6 special liveries — both are excellent! Eurowhite is borrrring… there’s nothing to look at other than the tail.
+1. Alaska’s art department (is that who designs liveries?) gets it done!
Buckle your seatbelts, this could get bumpy!
Sort of like, following along good ol’ Rolls Royce-powered, Boeing 752-200, N757FA, S/N 25155, 1991:
from Denmark’s Sterling Airways/Sterling Airlines and its bankruptcies, to TAESA, to Microsoft Paul Allen’s Vulcan Northwest, to TAG Aviation, to registered to DJT Operations I, LLC, of Dover, Delaware.
Hold on, here we go!
I don’t like many airline liveries, but I LOVE the bright airbrush effect on the Alaska/Virgin plane. Will definitely turn some heads on the taxiways and concourses once it gets out into the wild.
At JFK as I write this and while waiting at Terminal 4 for my morning flight back to LAX, just sat Retro Jet Blue taxi by. It is an eye catcher.
OK, I give up. What could be controversial about the new B6 paint scheme?
Bill – Some people seem to detest the idea of an airline making up a historical identity. Others say it wasn’t done well and that it was a mix of different eras. Lots of critics out there, but I’m not one of them.
Oh. I could see how someone might knit-pick specifics (It kinda reminds me of one of BCal’s early A320s) but nobody else has done this so they get an A for effort. And I liked the Clipped Wings tie-in as well.
As an FYI, the Alaska/Virgin picture isn’t there anymore. I tried showing it to my dad on Thanksgiving and the pic has been taken down. My description to him sure didn’t do the idea justice.
That’s a bummer, Heidi. But I found it here (and updated the link on the site).
https://twitter.com/AirlineGeeks/status/794625936880701440