Virgin Australia’s 150th 737 is a special one (in terms of livery)

Australia is no stranger to special liveries on aircraft. Virgin Australia has just presented its latest special livery Boeing 737 celebrating an important milestone. Its 150th Boeing 737 celebrates the airline's origins in the early 2000s, when it started off as Virgin Blue.

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• Back to the Virgin Blue days for the 150th 737
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Back to the Virgin Blue days for the 150th 737

Virgin Australia used to have a much more colourful colour scheme on its aircraft once upon a time, when it launched as Virgin Blue at the beginning of the 2000s. Virgin Blue first operated its first flight in 2001 between Brisbane and Sydney, operating a Boeing 737-400.

As I transitioned away from the Virgin Blue brand into the current Virgin Australia brand identity, it lost that colourfulness and blended in to the more common white and blue color scheme.

However, the colorful mess is coming back for a special livery celebrating an important milestone for the airline as it receives its 150th Boeing 737.

This special aircraft is registered VH-8VI, specifically, it is a Boeing 737 MAX 8. it is entirely painted red, as were many aircraft in Virgin Blue days, and it is named after the body of water, as are most current Virgin Australia aircraft.

This special livery, Virgin Australia, born in 7378, is named after Lake Centenary, the aircraft has just rolled out of the assembly line in Renton, Seattle.

This is part of an ongoing fleet renovation which will see Virgin Australia take onboard another 11 going 737 and 4 Embraer E195-E2 for its VARA (Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) operation.

We're backed by Qatar Airways. Virgin Australia is looking at the future with a brighter prospect of achieving positive results. With so many attempts already passed and gone, this time it must work for the airline, or the outlook might not be as rosy in a few years' time.