Clin d’oeil: Southwest liveries

Southwest Airlines was established on March 9 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King as Air Southwest Co. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the major American airline company has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. Southwest carried more domestic passengers than any other US airline. It is currently the third largest airline in North America based on passengers flown (127 millions in 2022) and the world's largest low- cost carrier. Southwest has a total active fleet size of 814 aircraft (2023) with one type aircraft, BOEING B737, with variant (B737-700, B737-800, B737 Max 8) 

Special US STATES LIVERIES 

Southwest has many different special liveries, but the most entertaining ones are the state liveries. The state liveries (12) are based upon some of the airline’s more prominent destinations: Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Maryland, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri. They are all named in the same pattern as well.  Generally, the aircraft wears the name of the state and then One.  For instance New Mexico’s aircraft is ‘New Mexico One.’  California would be California One. Of course, everyone knows there is an exception to the rule: Texas.  They call their plane ‘Lone  Star One.’  

WORK: 

• Southwest painted 12 aircraft with special state flags liveries to honor the destinations it serves.

• The painting can cost $50,000 to $300,000, and more intricate plane designs are more expensive.

• The job takes 12 days to complete, according to Southwest.

You'll notice Colorado One and Tennessee One are different from Florida One or Louisiana One, where the state flags of Florida and Louisiana have more complex designs for our paint vendors to create, which takes longer.

HISTORY:

TEXAS 

The first state flag Southwest painted was Lone Star One in 1990 on a Boeing 737-300. Texas is the birthplace and current home of the airline, so it is fitting that Texas should be the first state livery. Lone Star One was withdrawn in 2016 after the company began phasing out the last of its 737-300 fleet. A piece of its fuselage is exhibited in the company's corporate headquarters in Dallas. However, Lone Star One was not gone for good. In 2016, one of Southwest's new 737-700 aircraft was repainted with the Texas state flag, though the tail has been updated with the company's latest paint scheme.

CALIFORNIA 

The retirement of Southwest's 737-300 aircraft also forced the retirement of California One . However, it was  recreated on the 737-700, with California One being repainted in 2017 after 21 years of service...

ARIZONA 

Arizona One being repainted in 2018 on  B737-700  after 23 years of service.

NEVADA 

Nevada One painted in 1999  

NEW MEXICO 

New Mexico One in 2000 

MARYLAND  

Maryland One in 2005 

ILLINOIS

Illinois One in 2008 

FLORIDA 

Florida One in 2010 on  B737-700, the most difficult plane to paint. "a Seminole woman, hibiscus flowers, Sabal palms [one of the state trees], and a steamboat."

COLORADO 

Colorado One in 2010 

MISSOURI 

Missouri One in 2015 

TENNESSEE 

Tennessee One in 2016 

LOUISIANA 

Louisiana One in 2018