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I think at this point we’ve established that I (sometimes) become transfixed with random routes and planes, waste time, and am unable to be productive letting hours pass by.
A few weeks ago, I had a ‘soft dad moment’. I’m still processing my feelings about that BUT I’m still going to take that flight. 🤪
A few days ago, I had another moment, became obsessed intrigued and justified a trip to India because the seats were my favorite color when I could’ve been writing another article.
WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS…
Well, it just happened again and I’m not going to make excuses because this is cool (if avgeek-ery can even be cool).
In January 2016, ANA, a Japanese airline, ordered three A380’s and purchased them specifically for its heavily-traveled leisure route from Tokyo to Hawaii.
To come up with a suitable special livery for the aircraft ANA held a competition for the public resulting in 2,197 entries.
The winner was Chihiro Masuoka and it was his idea to create a family of “flying Honu”, the endangered Green Sea Turtles living around Hawaii, also a symbol of good fortune and prosperity.
The basic design on all three aircraft is identical, with one large, one medium, and one small turtle adorning each fuselage, however, the difference on each A380 is the color.
The first one called “Lani” (meaning blue sky) is blue. The second one is painted in emerald green called “Kai” (meaning ocean) and the third is painted in orange, called “Ka La”, Hawaiian for sunset.
It’s the most complex aircraft paint job ever done by Airbus taking 8,000 man hours and 21 days for one plane.
For comparison, basic liveries can be applied in about 12-13 days. Airbus didn’t use decals for the ANA livery, but painstakingly spray-painted layer after layer.
The two additional A380’s already serve the Narita to Honolulu route but this particular A380 looks amazing!
A380 CONFIGURATION
The cabins are fitted with 520 seats in four classes, the high seat count is second only to Emirates’ high density 615-seat A380. The upper deck is for premium customers only, seating 8 in First Class, 56 in Business and 73 in Premium Economy.
The main deck features 383 Economy seats, of which the last six rows features “couch” seats, similar to Air New Zealand-pioneered Skycouches.
FINAL STAMP
ANA has ambitious tourism growth targets that will be boosted by the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo this year.
Although, I already have a flight to Tokyo scheduled, this third color scheme (the orange plane) speaks to me and I want to fly on it.
How would you feel if your plane pulled into the gate and it looked like this? Would you feel excited about your trip?
If you have 2 minutes, check out this fun video…
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