With the purchase of hundreds of new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, American Airlines is being forced to update its look.
The Airbus planes and the Boeing 787s have a composite skin, not aluminum, so the airline's current unpainted, polished silver look is likely on its way out.
As far as what the new livery will be, however, AA isn't saying yet.
"We know that we will be taking delivery of composite aircraft, starting with the Airbus deliveries and later the 787 Dreamliner. And we've known since we placed those orders that those aircraft cannot be polished as we do today.," American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said. "With that in mind, and with our focus on building a new American, we are evaluating how the exteriors of our aircraft will need to be modernized in lock step with our plans for the interior customer experience." Obviously, with the delivery of composite aircraft, there are a lot of opinions regarding what our new livery should look like. At this point in time, all we can say is, stay tuned."
Huguely parroted AA CEO Tom Horton's statements made in October to the Star-Telegram's Sky Talk Blog. In that interview, Horton said that he wouldn't say when we would see the new livery, only that people will just have to wait and see.
The mystery over the livery change, the first for the airline in more than 40 years, has prompted aviation enthusiasts to create their own renderings -- some of which can be see here in a Google Images search.
