American Airlines has revealed that it will soon be introducing a special livery aircraft to celebrate its centennial, and my goodness, it sure is a distinctive plane!
Continue reading: Wow: American Plans Special Centennial Livery On Boeing 777
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Wow! This Centennial livery absolutely destroys Delta's! DAL's seems rather bland comparatively!
It was really hard to tell from the press release but it seems like they were hinting on this also being the plane to debut the new interior on the 77W? I don't quite believe they could retrofit the plane (in addition to paint) as the prototype retrofit in less then a month and a half, but I'd love to see this plane debut the new interior which is overdue on these planes.
Neat. Agreed that it's great that there are retro liveries on other American planes. Makes for a great conversation with kids interested in aviation history and is an extension of the learning at museums and even from some toy kits.
Plug for the American Airlines crew store open to the public at DFW. Great nostalgia and reasonable prices.
However folks, will it not take a lot more than a new livery to improve the AA customer experience?
I am sure that Tim will put us all straight on that score …. 🙂
He's already here, Aero. you! As you know. You forget to log back in from Guest
I always love when you forget to put your voice back in ChatGPT for that 1950s style British voice. "Folks"?
It's like you've never even met a Brit, Tim.
Also Aero. Apparently, you're now a Falkland Islands Veteran? Stolen valor much?
At least it's really American's real Centennial. Unlike Delta that moved their anniversary up off crop dusting to be first (even though in 2004 they claimed their anniversary was 1929).
Little wonder the Delta Centennial livery is lacking when they had to make up a new starting year to be a fake first.
Quite possibly the most Delta thing in 2025 -- fake marketing and a fake centennial to create an image that isn't real -- your own birthday
Great to see the American retrojet tradition continue. It is a shame they aren’t going to go the whole hog and do a polished metal fuselage finish as opposed to gray paint.
V/F
American should celebrate this by going back to their bare metal livery (and old logo) and never changing them
I kinda wish that they didn't go back quite as far and went with their metal/orange/lightning bolt livery from the 1960s. That was so cool on a 707! And it would look better on their 777 than this version does. Which is not to say it isn't great....it is. Just could be a little bit better.
Now, their current livery is dull as ditchwater.
I’m sure AA in its current state, will botch this and make it look terrible in person. And naming it Flagship DFW is predictably lame for an airline that can’t run any reliable ops mostly due to DFW.
The retro liveries are pretty cool. Wonder if AA will do something similar to DL with the different decades of crew uniforms (on their current safety video), or would they be shunned for copying them?
The retro liveries are pretty cool. Wonder if AA will do something similar to DL with the different decades of crew uniforms (on their current safety video), or would they be shunned for copying them?
Seriously. So disappointing. When booking premium transcon, it does affect my choice, (and Tim will be happy to hear this) because I'd rather enjoy DeltaOne at LAX (and at JFK, on arrival), than to dish out extra for Flagship First on the a321T (with its broken seats), but not get to experience First Dining. C'mon!
Touché, sir.
(I presume this is the fellow behind @Un, etc., impersonating me, yet again.)
If you wish to co-opt the '1990' brand as your own, just note, the 'O.G.' 1990 is no fan of the current administration or its policies, advocates for air passenger rights legislation (EU261-equivalent in the USA), generally supports worker and consumer protections, and is no fan of the CCP or Putin.
Otherwise, please do treat her well.
And, I happen to agree with you on this one. I do like the design, too.
Nothing says premium like a late arriving, bad service flight, with a distinctive livery.
“…because I’ve never seen a modern commercial aircraft painted quite like that.”
American did a similar livery on a 757 late 90’s.
Maybe so but let's hope it isn't like Delta's different decade commercial where they attempt to whitewash decades of racist and homophobic life in Atlanta and the Deep South. Some of their choices for the various decades were ironic, at best, since Black women weren't even allowed to fly for Delta in some of the times they represented the Delta uniform.
I wonder if airline livery schema should be (or are) analyzed for visibility - so that pilots can see each other perhaps even 15 seconds earlier. Could be a safety matter.
If so, livery should reflect a minimum standard for safety.
Still, livery is cool, safety is cooler.
Jane: He started claiming that when he read my response to Martin O'Homophobe that stated that I was a Gulf War vet. So the valor he's stealing is actually mine, and I'm rather ticked off about that.
Yikes, Jane. I get what you're saying, but, are we really gonna demand the same of say, Lufthansa (they know what they did...), or Rwandair ("We're sorry, again, for the mass slaughter of the Tutsi people and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists"), or I donno, pick your favorite historic horror.
I can confirm that Qantas does somewhat of an acknowledgment to the aboriginals ("We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, work and fly and pay our respects to Elders past and present.") Like, what do you think is enough, if anything?
So, I suppose American could include a segment on the Trail of Tears, if it would make Native Americans feel 'seen,' but, I wouldn't count on that, and I don't even think they're asking for it. Yet, American Airlines does have its largest commercial aircraft maintenance facility in the world in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so maybe it would be 'the right thing to do,' no?
I haven't seen LH celebrating the 1930s or early 40s publicly like Delta is doing now. Or celebrating their history with a goose-step down the aisle for the 30s decade.
Why would AA have a segment about the Trail of Tears? AA didn't exist and AA had nothing to do with that period in history. Are you suggesting AA's Tulsa Maintenance base is or has purposefully excluded native americans in their hiring practices?
You're creating fake equivalencies.
Delta literally did not hire blacks for decades and now tries to whitewash their past in their video by putting them in the uniforms for some of those decades when their corporate policy did not allow them to be hired.
.
And when they did finally hire, Delta did VERY little to prevent the experienced racism inherent in their deep south network.
We wish they would bring back the stewardesses from that era , instead we are stuck with the overweight 60 year old ladies and a bunch of gender confused men.
Love this. . as a kid who grew up with the AA eagle and lightning bolt! With the new interiors and pinch up the service. . .AA is heading in the right direction
The trolls who post on this website never fail to offer the readers endless entertainment value. They read the posts of others and take from the narrative only the words which will serve their current warped beliefs. Then they post accordingly the most ridiculous uneducated responses. Being so engrossed in their own agendas they constantly fail to recognise the reality of their ignorance. Wake up little children and smell the coffee …. you are being used for the entertainment of others. Ben loves you for your click-bait swallowing too …. 🙂
Looks outstanding, now can the on board service and crew match it with their service and attention.
Oh boy… “goose-step down the aisle for the 30s…” only Mel Brooks could pull that off… “Springtime for…” On Tulsa, not a false equivalence, more so, a strawman, because it’d be so ridiculous.
I still don’t buy your premise that Delta’s safety video is inappropriate; the airline, Atlanta, and Georgia have come a long way. Sure, Stone Mountain ain’t great, and the current administration is pushing to undo the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court today, so, there’s always more work to be done.
You probably could have expressed your displeasure in a better way than to vilify ‘foreign,’ especially these days, unless that was your original intention.
Bedtime calls, our special stolen valor brit
Also. Don’t forget your British syntax as you so often do…
You sound oh so American and Georgian until you remember your ChatGPT filter
They've come a long way, sure. But whitewashing your own racist history? not my style.
Don't pretend you had people in your uniforms that you actively didn't hire in those decades to make your company seem hip today.
Delta should own their own racist and homophobic history for MOST of their history. They actively did not hire black people and did nothing for them once they did.
Delta has come a long way but let's not pretend you had black women walking down the aisles in the 40s and 50s when you refused to hire them.
Or start your video out with a very openly gay man (look it up) when your hometown certainly did not hire them at the time and actively persecuted them at a corporate level.
Personally, I think it is vile and not the least bit inspiring.
To me, it would have been far more appropriate to compose the design using the historic decals of *all* the airlines that AA has taken over / merged with.
The whole idea of a centennial livery is multi-fold. It should have a 'balanced' design, be eye-catching, easy to identify quickly at a glance and purvey a view to the future. This design does none of that. Certainly, the lightening 'flash' has some history - particularly with the astrojet design of the 50's and 60's. But it is way too subtle to most people who would encounter it at a boarding gate.
Iconic livery ? No. That title unquestionably goes to the polished bare silver livery wearing 'AA' logo with the Eagle between the two A's.
How can a company with so many gay men on staff so consistently come out with such disgustingly ugly designs
Nah he will say DL livery has some special paint scheme and formula that makes aerodynamics 10x better then the AA livery thus maximizing profit and making DL the most premium airline in the universe
Really pretty cool - would be nice to see it in person, too bad it's just going on one aircraft.
What is it with some of this website’s resident trolls …. always wanting to decry American ‘whiteness’ and ‘black-wash’ American history?
Hope Tim's alright; I enjoy his stuff. Keep Climbing, wherever you are, for 100 more years!
I love this centennial livery. I think it is stunning, eye catching, and has real marketing potential. Personally, I prefer this over the "party tail" livery they currently have. I wish they would paint the entire fleet in this commemorative look. The party tail is OK, but this livery is sublime. It really stands out, a back to the future kind of a look.