"It seems the airlines these days seem to be out competing each other on cheap nasty boring branding a la China Eastern, Air Austral, Finnair and Spririt. Hideous."
There's no way you can compare the Finnair product with the others listed - one of the last flying examples of true taste...
New livery is not too good IMO but an improvement nonetheless, agree with planedrive in that different shades of orange would be the way to go.