At least it's a fresh coat of paint?

For weeks, United has been touting a new livery, the paint scheme for its aircraft. The airline was set to show it to the world in Chicago today, Wednesday, April 24. But then images of a repainted plane leaked Tuesday night, forcing the airline's hand.

United released a promotional video with a sneak peek of some of the new livery. Calling it “incremental” or an “evolution” would be an exaggeration.

 

 

As a reference, here's United's current paint job.

 

United Livery
Photo courtesy of Eric Salard via Flickr

 

Take out the gold, slap some blue on the engines, and add a wavy line instead of a straight one and voila! You've got United's new livery.

 

United livery

 

Bottom Line

Airlines are always rebranding and fine-tuning their image. I'm just not sure how much of a splash United's new paint scheme would have made even if it hadn't leaked early.