Air NZ 'All Black' plane.
 

Air New Zealand has just launched its new 320 in stunning black to show their support for the national rugby team 'All Blacks' and the upcomming Rugby World Cup.

Air NZ offers mobile phone calls on new All Black' plane - National - NZ Herald News

:cool:

What does it cost to paint a plane in 'one-off' livery for a special event ?

I'm sure someone with an aircraft colour scheme/design background will come with more specific information, but I wouldn't think the cost would be substantially more than a normal paint job. Granted, you have the design cost and (maybe?) extra costs for unusual colours etc, but I'd guess the cost of getting it put on would be similar to the normal paint job.

Of course, if they plan on repainting it back in std ANZ colours once the RWC is over they will have to pay for that too. Here's hoping they don't repaint it, I quite like the colour scheme - looks better than the green 737. Is that one still flying in those colours? I haven't been around to see it for a while...

The Green One (holiday shop) ZK-FRE was returned to the lessor almost a year ago.

OAB is not strictly painted for the RWC so it will probably remain black until it is due for painting or return to the owner in 7 years time.

Is this aircraft actually painted or is it done with preprinted vinyls stuck on it ?

@ NZScion I agree - black colour looks great!

Might make it a bit hard to see in busy airspace.

It is paint, and it is actually easier to spot this thing than the white ones in daylight. The black appears to make it more solid and different to the background.

Which is why the RAF have all their training aircraft from Tucano through Hawk painted in this scheme

Have previously seen issues with aerobridges having trouble "seeing" a black aircraft. Heres hoping they don't.

OK, so if it is paint rather than adhesive vinyls, the thing that determines the time taken to apply (and thus a lot of the cost), more than anything else, is the number of colours in use, for you have to wait for each to dry before applying the adjacent one. This scheme is only black and white, so only two paint colours, so that minimises the time taken in the shop to apply it (though how the painter up the scaffolding applies the designer's intention here is a separate discussion !).

They had better keep that aircraft away from high ambient surface temperatures. Parking an all black aircraft where the day time temperatures are high will cause all kinds of problems with the avionics and the interior.

A friend of mine had a all black Lear 35, until the first summer he owned it, after that they repainted the aircraft.

flat black has long been the favourite colour for high altitude spy planes, the germans started flat black in 1940

You can see how it's painted here!

YouTube - Air New Zealand A320 Crazy About Rugby - build & paint - 90 seconds

Looks like it is done with adhesive vinyls then. Basic all-over single paint coat as standard (usually white, of course, but black here), and then all the white detail and pattern applied by preprepared decals. The production and application of these is the only extra cost and time.

The clever bit is unfortunately not shown in the clip, it's the computer-controlled large printer that does the adhesive material and cuts it to size.

I believe the BA "World Tails" from some years ago used this technology to best effect.

I agree with the comments about black being known as a poor colour for the upper parts of an airframe (which is precisely why the majority use white, including all the rest of the Air New Zealand fleet), the lack of reflection of solar energy causes a significant increase in temperature on the upper skin and inside. Bear in mind jet aircraft are meant to spend most of their time above the clouds. If nothing else, it causes a measureable increase in fuel consumption because of the increased cabin air conditioning requirement to maintain the standard desired temperature. Now I know Air New Zealand can't help what colour is associated with their national team, but it will show up in the operating costs.