Editor’s Note: AirlineGeeks is proud to present our ‘Livery of the Week’ series. Every Friday, a team member will share an airline livery, which can be from the past, present, or even a special scheme. Some airline liveries are works of art. The complexity associated with painting around critical flight components and the added weight requires outside-the-box thinking from designers. The average airliner can cost upwards of $200,000 to repaint, creating a separate aircraft repainting industry as a result.
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As the world turns its eyes to Italy for the opening of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games of Milano-Cortina, Italian flag carrier ITA Airways is celebrating its role as official sponsor of he event with a special livery where the iconic ITA Airways’ blue “becomes the sky and a symbol of connection between people, places, and emotions”, the airline explains on its website.
The design, ideated by the Italian visual artist Emiliano Ponzi, includes mountains, snow, ice, and “captures the athlete’s decisive moment, a few seconds encompassing years of dreams, sacrifice and passion.”
ITA Airways and Sports
ITA Airways dedicates every single aircraft of its fleet to an important Italian sports personality, “as a recognition of their accomplishment and to how they have honored the Italian flag around the world through their work ethic, determination, strength, passion and grit,” the airline states in a note.
A number of these athletes are world-renowned champions of winter sports, such as Olympic gold medals in alpine skiing, Gustav Thoeni, Alberto Tomba, Deborah Compagnoni, and speed skater Enrico Fabris.
Former Air One Aircraft
The aircraft repainted in this Olympic-themed livery is an Airbus A320, registered as EI-DSY, that was originally part of former low-cost airline Air One, founded in 1983 and subsequently integrated into Alitalia in 2014. The aircraft was delivered on Jan 5, 2009, and was therefore part of the initial ITA Airways fleet when the airline was created from the ashes of Alitalia in October 2021.
The aircraft configuration is a one-class all-economy layout with 174 seats, just six fewer seats than the standard configuration of low-cost airlines Wizz Air and easyJet for this aircraft type.
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