Lovely Virgin

[Steve S... 2]

Hi,

I'd be parking aircraft like this at gates that are out of view... :)

It does not give a good impression to the average Joe, whether leaving the fleet or not.

VBV being prepared for a flight from Sydney to Ballina last Thursday.

[Mick F]

Perhaps. But why take it out of the fleet just because of some fading? When it can be out earning money?

The average Joe probably wouldn't really care. The average spotter, will notice.

Mick

[JamesL]

I actually noticed there is also a B737 that still has eyebrows...

[Andrew Coggan]

VH-VBU James.

[Jayden Laing]

So would you hide a person with a sunburnt face from the rest of the world Steve?

[Jacob P]

rather fly on this than VH-JQX which is morethan just fading paint but a patch up job.

[James S.]

Red is a particularly prone colour to weathering than other colours. A lot of the old livery QF aircraft fade the same way. Not a great look, but I echo the sentiments above, I doubt the average passenger will care.

[Brett Williamson]

Black will absorb a lot of UV, so I wonder how The All Blacks aircraft will look in 5 years?

[Maikha Ly]

I flew on this aircraft from Adelaide to Melbourne late last year.
As a spotter, and a passenger, I didn't even notice (Or care) about the fading of the paint.

Adding to this, earlier on I weaved around the empty queues and checked straight in, as well as got offered an exit row seat. Was quite an enjoyable flight actually :)

[David Knudsen]

Regardless of whether or not the customer notices or cares, still probably not a great thing for brand image - but if she's about to leave the fleet, maybe the risk of that is acceptable compared to the cost of fixing it. That said, I've been on plenty of QF 767's that looked like they'd never had a wash, ever :)

[Rowan McKeever]

Not too mention the HOW many faded/rusted/generally-rubbish-looking cars on the road that noone gives a second thought to... why is an aircraft any different? And hey... it's still a lot better than Air France! :P

[Greg McDonald]

I was in Melbourne today...if you think this is bad you should see the condition of the paint job on 122UA :eek:
There are massive areas where the paint looks like it's just peeled off and heaps of other smaller areas that are the same. Even a little kid that was beside me at the window commented on how he could 'fix the colours'. :)

[Rowan McKeever]

Picked up my folks at CBR tonight, VH-SBW came in from Sydney not looking a whole lot better than this VA aircraft.