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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All Nippon Airways’ standard livery is built around two shades of blue that have become closely associated with the Japanese carrier. While ANA has introduced some of aviation’s more recognizable special liveries over the years, its regular fleet continues to wear a design whose roots stretch back to the early 1980s.
ANA introduced its Triton Blue color scheme in 1982 as part of the airline’s 30th anniversary. The redesign retained a lighter shade known as Mohican Blue from the carrier’s previous aircraft appearance while introducing a darker color that ANA named Triton Blue.
The name itself carries meaning. ANA named the darker shade after Triton, the sea god of Greek mythology who was believed to calm storms. The airline connected the name with the concept of safe flight, giving what might otherwise be a simple corporate color a direct connection to aviation.
On today’s aircraft, the two shades form diagonal bands that sweep upward across the rear fuselage toward the vertical stabilizer. The darker Triton Blue dominates the tail, where ANA’s white block-letter logo provides the aircraft’s primary identifying feature.
The remainder of the fuselage is predominantly white. Large “ANA” titles appear near the forward portion of the aircraft, while many of the carrier’s international aircraft also carry the “Inspiration of JAPAN” tagline along the fuselage.
The design has appeared on generations of ANA aircraft. Boeing 747s, 767s and 777s have all worn variations of the scheme, along with Airbus narrowbodies and several other types that have since left the carrier’s fleet.
ANA’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet has become particularly closely associated with the colors. The airline was the launch customer for the 787, taking delivery of the first aircraft in 2011. Its first two Dreamliners received a special design featuring oversized “787” titles, but aircraft delivered afterward transitioned to ANA’s standard livery.
Today, the scheme can be found on aircraft ranging from Airbus A320-family jets to Boeing 737s, 767s, 777s and 787 Dreamliners. ANA’s three Airbus A380s are a notable exception, wearing the colorful sea turtle-inspired “Flying Honu” liveries used on the carrier’s Hawaii operation.
ANA has also used its aircraft as canvases for numerous special designs, including Pokémon jets, Star Wars-themed aircraft and commemorative schemes. Those liveries have come and gone, but the underlying blue-and-white identity has remained remarkably consistent.
More than four decades after Triton Blue first appeared on an ANA aircraft, the combination of the dark blue tail, lighter blue accent and white fuselage continues to define the carrier’s standard fleet.
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