Last Sunday, Cathay Pacific has presented a new livery on one of their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft at a special event held at Hong Kong International Airport.
The repainting of the aircraft will take place during regular maintenance over the next five years.
Cathay has used it’s current livery for quite some time and they probably thought it’s time to give the planes a new, fresher face.
There is an official announcement of Cathay Pacific on their website (access here).
Cathay Pacific is updating the livery as part of our ongoing effort to improve the Cathay Pacific customer experience. The new livery captures our brand values and safeguards our heritage, but it also looks forward to our future with its timeless, yet contemporary, elegance; it blends our Asian roots with our global outlook.
The livery is a vital part of Cathay Pacific’s overall brand. When you think about Cathay Pacific,
you think about our aircraft; and the aircraft’s livery is a symbol of our values. It represents our airline not just in Hong Kong, but as the aircraft take-off and touchdown in all our destinations around the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLskBTrhGek
There are several noticeable areas on the aircraft where the new livery will reflect the brand.
The Nose
At the nose, the brushwing has been increased in size, freed from the green band that used to surround the nose, and the position adjusted slightly. The Cathay Pacific name, or wordmark, now sits above the windows. The font is the same, but the letters are now all uppercase, so that the wordmark is more prominent. These changes make the aircraft easily identifiable as Cathay Pacific from the front.
The FuselageA single grey band now runs down the fuselage, elegantly linking the nose with the tail. The band encapsulates the contemporary design approach that is at the heart of Cathay Pacific’s brand ethos, and yet is also a subtle echo of past liveries. Overall, these elements give a more contemporary feel, which is better aligned with the direction of Cathay Pacific’s overall brand redesign.
The Tail
The tail now displays a brushwing against an all-green tail. This is the same green as on the previous livery, but now a colour gradient runs along the back edge of the tail, subtly deepening the tone of the green background in that area. Additionally, the brushwing appears ‘clipped’ at the back of the tail. This allows us to keep the brushwing prominent on differing tail proportions, for all types of aircraft.
Conclusion
I always found the Cathay Pacific livery very understated and elegant through it’s simplicity and color scheme.
Nevertheless the new design looks really good (in my opinion) and even though it will take several years to repaint all aircraft in operation it will be a pleasant sight on the tarmacs around the world.
