There are quite a few fans right in this Forum, yours truly included, of the (NYC based) jetBlue airline and its (bold and blue) liveries. It goes without saying that here is an airline that may be considered the "bluest" of all airlines within U.S. and possibly around the world. JetBlue does not just sport blue colors (of all shades, I might add), but also shows off multiple designs and variations of it, often with creative, and subtle meanings and expressions that go with a certain specific paint scheme.

In recent years, you might have noticed that, there has been a general trend by many major airlines, towards predominantly "white" or "grey" fuselages, for one or more reasons, including efficiency and cost-saving associated with the modern carbon-fiber composite airframes, such as e.g., white color absorbs less heat from the atmosphere and solar radiation, and also avoids the extra weight due to darker colors, effectively making the airplanes less heavy and less costly to paint. I was checking a bit...average extra weight on an aircraft due to a dark colored paint vs. a white colored paint could translate to the equivalent weight of 8-10 (paying) passengers. And the airlines, to keep their operational efficiency at optimum level, do take such issues of aircraft weight very seriously.

However, who, as a passenger, doesn't like to get on board a colorful plane...🙂...? So, there are (tangible) benefits in terms of branding and marketing etc. from colored liveries on commercial aircraft. So, jetBlue is one of the few that has bucked the trend with eye-catching color-schemes on its aircraft. It helps that the airline is relatively young, 20+ years old, and has only 4 types of aircraft in its fleet (A220, A320, A321, E190), and is willing to deviate from the norm. What got me started on this post is a stand-out "retro-livery", I came across for JetBlue (quite atypical for a 21st century modern airline like JetBlue, been founded in February 2000), that it introduced a year ago. 

Enthusiasts of retro liveries (See e.g., rmeier's recent paint and post of Air Canada's retro-livery, a livery that Air Canada held dear to, for more than 30 years, starting in the 60s well into the 90s...) might recall that one common characteristic of most of the 1960's (retro) liveries was what we call "cheatlines" or "speed stripes", along the length of the mid-fuselage. For example, in the retro Air Canada livery (in the rmeier's post), you will actually spot "two" parallel cheatlines of different shades of Red. And, if you are not a native of Canada (neither I am) and have been following the (recent) livery evolution of Air Canada, you might have noticed that one of the first things the airline ditched, in the 2000s, was the iconic "cheatline", transforming itself to a mostly white (or "turquoise") fuselage. This trend is observed in other major airlines too.

So, the daring young JetBlue has painted one of its A320s in an iconic retro-livery, fantasizing how jetBlue might have looked if it were born 4 decades ago...🙂...and were truly an "International" airline (see my retro-livery images with the word "INTERNATIONAL" next to JetBlue name). Moreover, jetBlue didn't exist during the heydays of Airbus A310. That fact, however, did not detract some of our esteemed and knowledgeable repainters (rmeier is one such example here...🙂...) to portray this retro-livery on the fictitious (jetBlue/MSFS/iniBuilds) A310, in addition to also a more regular "Blue" livery on the A310.

So, please find 3 sets of pictures below. First, I start you off with the fictitious JetBlue A310, taking off, in one of its (many) Blue designs (first 4 shots), this one is so-called "Blueberry" Blue (note the Blueberries on the tail of it....🙂...). Next, I've shown a jetBlue A310, in dawn light, also taking off, in the retro ("Orange Blue" double cheat-lined) livery I've mentioned above (next 4 shots). Finally, you see a set of (12) images of a "RW" jetBlue A320, repainted in the same retro-livery, touching down... shots of both take-offs and the touchdown are taken at KJKF Runways. Also, do notice the fun name for this special A320, "What's Old is Blue Again" ... (look under the chins) ...

Hope you enjoy this collection of jetBlue colors...one old and one new...on two different aircraft...one old and one new... (one real and one fictitious) ...!

Thanks for viewing.

Edited March 13, 20242 yr by P_7878

Fun series, enjoyed it all. And the A320 atop its shadow low on final approach...what a shot!

Great set of shots! 😉 

Totally agree! JetBlue has created some very visually appealing liveries over the years...much nicer than many of the "boring" paint schemes out there today!  🙂

Thankfully, here in Sim World, we don't have to worry about fuel efficiency!  🙂

Nice on's, like both livery schemes.. 

cheers 😉

Great shots and I clearly prefer the older paint as I said before. 🙂 But technically the single color paint in the first shots is also well done.

On 3/12/2024 at 7:32 PM, John F said:

Fun series, enjoyed it all. And the A320 atop its shadow low on final approach...what a shot!

Thanks, John. Glad you enjoyed...And I posted one more such shot closer to your neighborhood...🙂...

 

On 3/12/2024 at 8:50 PM, Alaska738 said:

Great set of shots! 😉 

Appreciated the comment, Will. Cheers...!

 

On 3/13/2024 at 12:07 AM, rmeier said:

Totally agree! JetBlue has created some very visually appealing liveries over the years...much nicer than many of the "boring" paint schemes out there today!  🙂

Thankfully, here in Sim World, we don't have to worry about fuel efficiency!  🙂

Yes, rmeier, we, the non-repainters, are certainly glad that our esteemed repainters...🙂...do not have to worry about the weight of their own painting materials....

 

On 3/13/2024 at 1:22 AM, pmplayer said:

Nice on's, like both livery schemes.. 

cheers 😉

Thank you, and agree, pmplayer, nice liveries, both...!

 

On 3/13/2024 at 4:02 PM, andiflyit said:

Great shots and I clearly prefer the older paint as I said before. 🙂 But technically the single color paint in the first shots is also well done.

Appreciated the comemnt, Andreas. Yes, here, both the retro and the new liveries have their uniquely individual appeal...especially from a daring airline that didn't exist at the time of the retro-livery days ....🙂...