We got our fist glimpse of Riyadh Air at the Paris Air Show earlier this year. The airline arrived at Le Bourget with a stunning Boeing 787, it had rented, in a dark purple livery. A very eye catchy color scheme to get everyone talking about them. And in all honesty it worked. It was impossible to avoid talking about the intense colours painted on the Riyadh Air 787. However a second paint scheme was presented at the Dubai Air Show. A more traditional livery, in line with what we see from most airlines. Here’s more about it and my personal thoughts.
About the Riyadh Air Second Livery
While the first livery presente was quite unique and stood out from the crowd, the second of the airline’s liveries is much more in line with what is the norm.
The aft portion of the fuselage retains the purple color, while the vertical stabiliser has a much softer tone of the color while the Riyadh Air logo is painted in white. The engine cowlings also retain the dark intense purple colour we saw on the first livery.
Overall it is a much less eye catchy livery so it has less of a wow factor when you look at it the first time. But I must admit it does give a feeling of elegance and grace.
Why The Second Livery?
The second livery is more likely to be the first livery, let me explain. I think that most of the planes will be painted in this second presented livery and not in the darker first livery. Those planes will be the outliers and the white ones will be the norm.
White painted planes are just more practical for airlines, that’s why you don’t see many around, particularly among the middle eastern carriers. Why is it so? Well just think of what a nightmare it will be to cool down these planes when they are on the ground in Saudi Arabia during the summer when daytime temperatures creep up to 50 degrees celsius. Also having such a dark color might cause paint issues in such extreme conditions.
The only other airline to dress its planes with such dark colours is Air New Zealand but temperatures are significantly cooler in that neck of the woods.
So I think the first livery was more of a publicity stunt, to get people talking about an airline that still hasn’t launched or received any planes. We will see some planes in those colours but not that many.
Images by Riyadh Air
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