3 Links I Love: Explaining the Lufthansa Livery, Flight 1, California Pacific Tries Again

Jun 1, 2018

More Reading on This Topic: Caifornia Pacific, Links I Love, Lufthansa

This week’s featured link:
Exclusive Interview: Lufthansa Explains Its New Livery, Why Yellow Was Dropped (+Photos) – Airways
Though the commenters on this article trashed the piece for not really getting answers, I found it fascinating to hear the designer’s take on why Lufthansa ended up with the new livery that was chosen. I know it all sounds fluffy to me, but that’s because I’m not able to appreciate the nuance that comes with design work like this in general. It’s totally lost on me, but it’s still fun to read about. I particularly enjoyed the look at some discarded mock-ups that were considered.

Two for the road:
Flight 1 – The most prestigious airline flight number – Nomadic Notes
Thanks to James for sending over this post he put together looking at flight number 1s from around the world. You can really group these into buckets. Some are done for legacy reasons (Southwest’s first flights in Texas, Virgin Atlantic’s first route to Newark) while others just go on prestige routes (Turkish to JFK, WestJet to London). I can personally think of four flight 1s I’ve been on: Air NZ London to LA, Hawaiian LA to Honolulu, BA back when it was Concorde to JFK, and BA again when it became the London/City flight via Shannon to JFK. Though of course, that flight was properly noted as BA 001. The zeroes make it fancy.

California Pacific Airlines to launch service from Carlsbad – ABC10 News
Looks like California Pacific has an airplane again and is getting ready to fly. I won’t believe it until the first aircraft takes off with paying passengers.

Brett

20 responses to “3 Links I Love: Explaining the Lufthansa Livery, Flight 1, California Pacific Tries Again”

Nicc

Jun 1, 2018 at 5:02 am

Flight 1s. It was fun to look up which ones I have flown along with those in the top 10. For CX their flights CX001-099 are all cargo and passenger flights only start from CX100.

So here are mine.

JL001 SFO-NRT (also 002, 004, 005 & 006)
MH001 LHR-KUL (also 002 & 003)
QF001 SIN-LHR (also 002, 005 & 009) Did not do the SYD-SIN leg
SQ001 SFO-HKG-SIN (also SQ002)
CX100 SYD-HKG (also CX101 to CX108)

By strange co-incidence all the airports link up together.

Have a good weekend,
Nicc

Reply
Kilroy

Jun 1, 2018 at 5:29 am

As a layperson who has never flown Lufthansa, I really agree with the Lufthansa livery designer. Yellow is loud and garish, and the yellow medallion on the old livery was very distracting. Dark/navy blue is definitely a more “upscale” feeling color, and simplicity in design, lots of white space, and fewer colors (with the colors that are used typically being more similar in tone, as opposed to contrasting) create an implicit feeling of class and and luxury. Even upscale store private labels (Target’s higher end private labels, for example) follow many of these principles in their branding and trade dress.

Leave the garish liveries to the ULCCs who want pax’ attention.

Reply
1. Nathaniel
  
  Jun 1, 2018 at 10:15 am
  
  Agreed I like the new livery. It’s also fits what is a German stereotype for me, it’s just business. Simple and stylish.
  
  Reply
  1. Kilroy
    
    Jun 4, 2018 at 5:28 am
    
    Good point on that. The livery definitely fits into the stereotypical German mold of being a bit more upscale, a bit more staid/serious, and a bit more conservative, and that’s not a bad thing.
    
    Reply
A

Jun 1, 2018 at 5:46 am

Guess I’m not enough of an airline geek to care much about what my flight # is. That being said, the numbers I remember are when an incident happens. Not sure I want to get on an AA or DL flight #191 or a flight to Paris with #800 or to Malaysia with #370. Perhaps I’ve watched too much Air Crash Investigators but personally when a plane is lost the superstitious part of me likes when the flight # is retired. Assigning a prestige to flight numbers seems foolish as it potentially makes the flight a bigger target for terrorism and you’re always one major incident away from losing that number forever. Just do a random number generator for my flights, thank you.

Reply
Ann Wilkerson

Jun 1, 2018 at 6:01 am

Any discussion of Flight Number Ones must include mention of the late great Pan Am whose iconic Round the World flights were numbered 1 for westbound and 2 for eastbound. Flight numbers could designate prestige and elegance in those good old days.
Ann

Reply
Xnuiem

Jun 1, 2018 at 6:52 am

The California Pacific link is broken

Reply
1. Jake
  
  Jun 1, 2018 at 7:46 am
  
  https://www.10news.com/news/california-pacific-airlines-to-launch-service-from-carlsbad?autoplay=FALSE
  
  Reply
Wild Bill

Jun 1, 2018 at 9:42 am

Crank,
Why with CalPac move from an E170 *which is pretty comfortable( to an E145 which is extremely uncomfortable? Are the economics that much different?

Reply
1. Erik in Carlsbad
  
  Jun 1, 2018 at 10:39 am
  
  California Pacific had leased a E170 a few years ago and got it painted all nice. There were several reasons for that expensive lease not taking any passengers, among them being that FAA was concerned about the ability of the E170 to operate on Carsbad’s short runway. I’m assuming the E145 is OK for that runway length (plus they’ll only need 50 pax to fill it rather than 75-100)
  
  Reply
  1. David M
    
    Jun 1, 2018 at 3:41 pm
    
    Also, this time around, California Pacific has bought an existing ERJ-145 operator, Aerodynamics. Aerodynamics already operates scheduled service with the 145, on a couple of EAS routes from Denver under the brand “Great Lakes Jet Express”, which continues to operate even though Great Lakes Airlines itself has stopped flying.
    
    Reply
Anthony

Jun 1, 2018 at 10:44 am

Yet another sleepy eurowhite livery; sort of the airplane equivalent of a gray flannel suit.
The flag carrier of western Europe’s largest nation is too timid to keep a bright color
on its aircraft? What strange times these are.

Reply
1. Fitz
  
  Jun 3, 2018 at 6:31 am
  
  … this is how ultra bureaucratic outfits operate – the fear of standing out is high …
  
  Reply
Erik in Carlsbad

Jun 1, 2018 at 10:47 am

California Pacific Airlines has painted a plane in their colors. OK, we’ve seen that happen a few years ago, and CPA never got off the ground. I’ve spoken with an investor in the new iteration of CPA and she feels everything’s a go soon… this time.

Anything will beat that unreliable and possibly corrupt Cal Jet / Elite operation, which regularly cancelled flights, stranded travelers, and had crooked management, which included a recently-convicted felon as a VP, and a president who has a history of selling nonexistent travel deals.

Best wishes to CPA, as I’m looking for reliable commercial service out of my local airport. I’m not sure, however, if having Ted Stryker on board a test flight was the best idea. Surely they must be joking.

Reply
andylastella

Jun 1, 2018 at 10:55 am

Regarding flight numbers, I flew several times on Pan Am #1, an around the world flight in westbound direction. I believe that the East bound flight was Pan Am #2

Reply
Eric Coffman

Jun 1, 2018 at 11:16 am

Having the line of the circle and the crane yellow instead of white would have looked nicer. The amount of yellow in the livery would been toned down but still be there. Missed opportunity.

Reply
kelty

Jun 1, 2018 at 12:34 pm

In regard to Flight # 1, as a kid it was my dream to take Pan Am 1 from New York to New York via Asia. Unfortunately, it never happened and the airline stopped flying before I could afford the journey.

Reply
Doug Hirsch

Jun 1, 2018 at 9:06 pm

California Pacific link should have been…
https://www.10news.com/news/california-pacific-airlines-to-launch-service-from-carlsbad

Reply
Fitz

Jun 3, 2018 at 6:26 am

… THE most prestige flight was BA001 – Concorde from LHR to JFK … the only profitable route ever served by Concorde … currently BA001 runs from London City to NYC via SNN – with premium seats only and with a pre arrival immigration process … swift, silent, serene …

Reply
Fitz

Jun 3, 2018 at 6:37 am

… a creative flash of yellow would have enlivened this drab & lifeless paint job … (it is unclear why the airline people constantly refer to their ‘premium’ product) …

Reply