[Other] - Select 'special' event livery's made regular

[Hirohitoswaifu]

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What is your suggestion?
Some of the special event contracts in-game really shouldn’t be and instead should be replaced with ones that are rarer or actual special liveries.

Firstly the AeroMexico B772 that is currently a special event livery. AeroMexico operated 4 777-200’s between 2006 and 2018 with 2, N774AM and N776AM, being painted into the white fuselage livery whilst the other 2, N745AM and N746AM, remaining in the chrome livery we have in-game until both were removed from the fleet in Jan/Feb 2018. Both were regular visitors to GRU as well as shown below. It could be replaced by the Ciudad de México livery.

Secondly, the purple FlyBe Q400 in-game was worn by between a third and half the fleet of 54 Q400’s the airline operated in 2020 when it went bankrupt. The Q400 was the backbone of FlyBe’s fleet and saw service from LHR regularly as well as being seen across Europe, at INN and PRG from time to time (A list of ones I spotted wearing the livery, JEDP, JEDU, PRPC, JEDM, JECM, PRPB, PRPF. PRPD, JEDR, JEDW, PRPO, JEDT, PRPN, JECY, FLBD, PRPK, there are more). It could be replaced with a new livery such as the Green FlyBe Q400 which was an actual special livery, or by G-JECP’s livery which was an experimental new livery for the airline but went nowhere, itself featured as a photo below.

Thirdly, the Corsairfly livery was worn by all 6 747-400s the airline operated between 2006 and the final aircraft’s repainting in mid 2013. It was a regular visitor to SXM from ORY and would be very welcome to have as a regular livery in-game. It could be replaced with the Corsair.fr livery that F-GTUI wore up until 2011 (Though honestly I’d like to see that as a regular because I love the TUI 747 liveries) or by the original short-lived GTUI livery pictured below which resembled the older pre-TUI Corsair colours.

Next, the United Blue Tulip livery for the B744 was only phased out in late 2014 with the last 2, N174UA and N178UA, being repainted from November. The Grey Battleship livery was also seen in late 2010 on an N194UA which was brought back from being stored in Mojave but the actual last wearer of the livery was in December 2009 on N127UA, repainted by early January 2010 so that may be up for debate. I’d love to have both but especially the Blue Tulip at HKG, IAD, LHR and SYD amongst others. It could be replaced by the Star Alliance livery, the Charter livery or by the Friendship farewell livery.

Finally for now, the American chrome livery for the B772 and B738, both of which were around well into the 2010s, the final photo I can find of the B772 in chrome was January 2014 and the B738 (minus the current special N921NN) was around into mid-2017. The B772 could be replaced by the Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer livery or the Oneworld/Oneworld Chrome livery’s, and the B738 could be replaced with one of the many specials suggested on here like Reno Air or the AstroJet.

I can’t think of any more off the top of my head but if you can, pop them in the comments and I’ll add them in.

I’d also like to add that VARIG’s B772 and Australian’s B763 would fit this but they’re pre-2010 and the dev’s cut-off so I’ll leave them for now.

How would it work in the game?
The current special livery’s would be changed to be regular or would be replaced by a new special livery and made into a new regular livery.

Why is this a good idea?
What improvement would this bring? Better usability, realism, fun factor, accessibility?

It would be more realistic, more fun for players and for more choice for airport connections in-game, with little work on the side of the devs (Unless ofc they make a whole new livery to replace the above).

Optional: Image or reference
AeroMexico’s N745AM/N746AM,

FlyBe’s G-JECP one off ‘new’ livery from 2018,

And an overview in 2020,

Corsairfly B744’s in 2012,

F-GTUI overview of repainting in mid-2011,

And the original short-lived livery when GTUI was delivered, HSEX and HSEA wore the Corsairfly livery from delivery before GTUI so not sure why they painted it in these colours.

United’s Blue Tulip livery for the B744 seen November 2014 (Was a regular at HKG, LHR and SYD in mid-late 2014) ,

Battleship livery in December 2010 (It was an aircraft taken from Mojave so might not be a fair showing),

N127UA wore it last I believe, being repainted Christmas 2009 or perhaps early January (Was the first to be repainted into the Continental/United livery in Winter 2010/11 so only wore the Blue Tulip for a year),

American B772 last photo in Jan 2014 on Planespotters (Can reliably say likely a little later which could be proved with JetPhotos if its filter hadn’t broken again),

American Chrome B738 in mid-2017 (An image on the next page shows N866NN in the August still wearing chrome),

[Hirohitoswaifu]

Adding to this, the 777-200 of United which just like the 747’s, both the Battleship and the Blue Tulip survived past the 2010 cutoff the devs have set, the Battleship 777-200 N229UA operated the final flight for a UA mainline aircraft from LHR-LAX on Sunday 19th February 2012 before it was repainted. A photo of it after it landed.

The tulip was worn by UA 777-200’s until February 2013, with N775UA and N795UA being repainted either in Feb or March,

Any more I notice I’ll add below.

[Hirohitoswaifu]

Adding onto it again lol, Czech Airlines A330-300. It was leased from Korean Air for flights mainly to Seoul between 2013 and 2020 as per below, so a regular part of the fleet and the Prague landscape for 7 years. This was due to Korean Air owning a majority chunk in the airline until 2017 when it sold it to Smartwings.

Now you might say ‘Well there was only the one so what’s the issue’, ah my good friend I will reveal it, the B738 we have as a regular livery in-game for Czech Airlines was itself merely a one-off, being transferred from new parent Smartwings.

The A333 would make for an excellent addition to Prague and open up many long haul destinations, providing players the option of what sort of airport they wish to run.

Another is the relatively recent addition of the American Eagle E140, a livery worn by all 68 of American Eagle’s E140s

Some wore it into 2018 with Envoy Air,

Another potential candidate would be Austrian’s CRJ-200’s of which Austrian Arrows operated 13. These were all retired in April 2010 so cutting it a little fine, however, they could make for an excellent addition to new players at INN and were seen operating on routes across Europe during their heyday.

Another is a second relatively recent addition, that being Malev’s Fokker 70. Malev was the Hungarian flag carrier until their sad demise in 2012, operating a fleet made up of Boeing’s with Q400s and 6 Fokker 70s mixed in. The Fokker 70s were operated by the airline across Europe including to Zurich, conducting its final flight just past the dev’s cutoff point on 16th January 2010 from Tirana to Budapest, the type then being sold on by December that year. It would add the airline in and a snazzy scheme for players to operate into their airports.

A final one off the top of my head, Aerosur. Both their 747-400 and 767-200 are special liveries, being seen around South America with the 747 straying into the North from time to time and SYD. Both were single aircraft in the airlines fleet so there was no main livery per se, as displayed with the 737-300’s and 737-200’s which both flew with the airline until 2012 and both had 5 each in the fleet, all of which wore different liveries. One 767-200 was operated until 2009 before being scrapped, wearing what could be a regular livery, but it wasn’t seen after 2010 so would never be added.