I know a lot of folks in here, just LOVE the American Airlines Livery. I'm interested to know why? I don't get it, Silver, with a couple of stripes down the fuselage.I'm not meaning to bash anything. But I really would like to hear what it is, that people find appealing about it, since there's such a demand for it, in repaints.My guess, is because it's American, with the American Color scheme, that folks like. Which is understandable.Anyone able to add?

Like many other creatures, we are attracted to shiny objects.

Yeah...I dig the chrome look. What other choices to we have? United? Southwest? Ted? Song? (neon green...YUCK!)I guess your right. It's the chrome Red/White/Blue look. I think thay have an MD-80 that's painted in retro which is pretty interesting too.

I think the bare metal just looks cool.

Hello Paul!I for one, travel about 80 - 85% of the time around the world on business. All of my travel is done on American Airlines, since I am out of Dallas and American hubs out of KDFW. When I simulate on my flight simulator, I like to simulate some of the flights I do or will do in the future and it is nice to do it on the airline livery that you'd be flying for real. It adds a nice sense of realism, at least for me - others might differ.Sincerely,Dennis D. Mullert

Same thing with what's the deal with Brittany Spears? Being a musician myself I don't see her musical talent but then again I am a brunette person myself! :-lolCarmine http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/Images/wave.gif

To put it in a simple way, American Airlines has't changed much over the years... The look is classic... They are one of the last airlines to basically start with something and finish with it. They haven't had to change a scheme that just works. It has nothing in my book to do with red, white, and blue but more so a classic look that most airlines have lost. Everything doesn't have to have that modern feel to it. Actually modern isn't always better... Just think of how the old muscle cars have held their popularity over the years. Many newer models like the KIA and/or Saturn will never have that kind of longevity. Everything in the past had it's own character much like comparing a 727 to a 737. Airliners today are almost the same in look and appearance. Gone are the days of many airline manufactures. All we have mostly is Airbus and Boeing. Consolidation is not always good as well. There's not that much difference in say a 757 versus an A321 when you see them flying in the air. I know some will disagree but it's just not the same as it was in the days of the Comet or the mighty 707. So with that the American Airlines scheme still gives us the look of the golden age of airline travel. When we had McDonald Douglas and Lockheed as major players, before big corporate monopolies took over everything. I actually hate all this new fluff some airlines have. I hate the way the new Northwest Airline

Well actually American has changed their scheme over the years... but you point is still semi-valid ;-)

The AA "bare metal" livery isn't really bare metal ... it's the colour of the paint :)

US, Delta, NWA, National, Hawaiian, Aloha, Alaskan.And that's just for US based companies that I can come up with in 10 seconds...Take the rest of the world and your choices explode. Take even just the Americas and there's probably well over a hundred other airlines to choose from.Personally, though I like the looks of the AA livery once in a while, it's not my favourite by far.That honour must go to a livery that's soon to be no more, KLM.

Thanks for the reply folks. It's interesting to read your reasoning. Makes more sense to me now.

No. it's bare aluminum, for the most part. i can only think of eastern as another that had bare metal. while the logos and "stripes" have been altered over the years, there's no mistaking which line your looking at. tt

I like the AA colors, and who knows for sure but I'm thinking it's tradition (who was it who said "tradition is the illusion of permanence"?) that's responsible for the AA polished surfaces. They don't call them silverbirds for nothing. The merits of polished surfaces vs painted surfaces is a subject of considerable debate. In a nutshell, polished surfaces cost more to maintain but weigh less, while painted surfaces cost less to maintain but weigh more.So, a painted surface is heavier, but easy to maintain. More paint on aircraft structure = more weight = more fuel consumed and that results in a higher cost per seat/per mile.Polished surfaces are lighter but require more maintenance at frequent intervals to maintain an acceptable appearance. Less paint = less weight = less fuel consumed = lower cost per seat/per mile.This is true for the direct operating costs, but factor in the maintenance on keeping that polished aluminum looking good and the painted surface is said to have a small economic edge over the really shiny stuff. That's what I've heard, and it might even be true, but the labor cost involved in maintenance (and that includes polishing) is coming down, so the above may no longer be true.Then there are marketing considerations. Really colorful paint schemes with huge splashy logos are popular with the low price carriers so the management types at these airlines must be convinced by some kind of evidence that these decorative paint schemes are attractive to the flying public. Of course a fancy paint job applied every three or four years doesn't compensate for the poor maintenance practices of some low cost outfits. All the pretty paint in the world won't mean a thing when a pencil-whipped C check leaves you with a big problem in flight.And there are environmental concerns with painting that are not present with polished surfaces. There are volatile organic compounds, and toxic and carcinogenic subtances present in paint and primer. The release of these substances into the environment is governed by law in most countries and the paint facility must contain and recover these substances to the extent the law requires. Employee health concerns are also an issue. I'd much rather use compound and run a buffer than spray Alumigrip or Awlgrip, or any variety of epoxy or polyurethane paints, or deal with large quantities of paint stripper. Fuel costs are really becoming an issue. AMR reported a $30 million profit for March 2004, but a loss of $166 million for the first quarter of this year. Better than the 1.04 billion loss in the first quarter 2003, but still a staggering loss, and the rising cost of fuel is responsible for $55 million of the 2004 first quarter losses. And there's more woe to come. AA wasn't able to buy enough option contracts on fuel, and had only a limited number of fuel hedges in place for the first quarter (AA hedged 21% of its first quarter fuel consumption vs 80% for Southwest). With oil prices where they are now buying fuel options in the futures market at a reasonable price is a little difficult to say the least.As I said above, labor costs are a little lower now at AMR as a result of wage cuts, so with the outrageous price of fuel today and the present lamentable state of AA's fuel hedges I'm guessing that for whatever reason, either tradition or economics or both, like it or not you'll still see polished silverbirds well into the future for as long as AA is still around.

It's clean, distinctive and professional looking.Lee

AA has not had many drastic changes like Delta, United, or Northwest Airlines to their look. They haven't even come close to what other airlines have done with their liveries. The time period of change also hasn