If you are like me (and hopefully, for your sake, you aren't!), your mother was always telling you "Eat your liver; it will give you the iron you need." Gee Mom, I thought, why can't I just eat a pail of rusty nails because they would taste better. Well, an airplane's color scheme is called a livery. For our first 30 years, we kept the same basic livery (thank goodness, he finally tied "livery" into this), and I admit that we got a few disparaging letters about our choice of colors. Then, to celebrate our 30th Anniversary in 2001, we introduced our new standard Canyon Blue livery. From that point on, all new aircraft, except for our "one-off" (the Anglophiles among you are probably gobsmacked that I used a British phrase) specialty aircraft, have been delivered in the Canyon Blue livery, and we began a gradual campaign to repaint our existing aircraft in the new colors. That process has come a long way, and it is rare to see an aircraft in the original colors.
However, one of the things that sets Southwest apart from the "other guys" is our sense of history and our continuity of Corporate Culture. We wanted a way for our aircraft to illustrate that, and we will be keeping three aircraft in the original livery. Why three? This trio will represent our original three cities, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, and we are calling this "new" old livery the SOUTHWEST Classic. All three aircraft will be 737-700s, and N714CB and N792SW will be two of the aircraft. (The "CB" in N714CB's registration refers to our President and Culture "Guardian," Colleen Barrett. N792SW was the last aircraft delivered new in the old livery.) The other Classic aircraft (N711HK) has a name attached to it, The Herbert D. Kelleher, and it marks the third airplane to have carried the name of our Cofounder and Executive Chairman.
You probably have seen some of our specialty liveries, and they always are a hit with aviation buffs, and the two newest specialty airplanes are Maryland One that features the colorful, and a bit unusual Maryland flag, 
and Slam Dunk One that celebrates our partnership with the National Basketball Association. Slam Dunk One featutes an incredibly three-dimensional basketball painted on the fuselage. 
All of our liveries come from the wonderfully creative folks at our advertising agency, GSD&M. Most of us never know when the next specialty aircraft will be delivered, but I promise to let everyone know the details when they are public.
Comments
Might have to slap a Pistons sticker on slam dunk one this year.
What is the scheduled completion date to have all of Southwest planes painted in the new livery? That way, we'll know when we see a special classic edition.
Hi John,
Thanks for the question. About 75 percent of the fleet has been repainted, and the number is growing daily. I think all should be in the new (and Classic livery) fairly soon. Once I get the date, I will post it.
Brian
I know you guys like to paint state flags on planes which leads me to my question: when is Illinois and/or Missouri getting theirs done? Considering Chicago-Midway is one of your biggest and oldest destinations I would have thought Illinois would have got theirs before Maryland.
By the way, I like the three "original" liveries freely moving about the country...
Those of us in the Sunshine State would love a "Florida One" aircraft. SWA has become Florida's largest intrastate carrier, and has surpassed the competition in the large markets of Tampa and Orlando as those airport's largest carrier, respectively. The question is this: does a state specialty plane have to be the state flag? Our flag is quite boring, and some creativity might be fun with a Florida-themed aircraft...like making the plane look like a giant alligator, much like the popular Shamu planes (although you'll probably get some critisism from the FSU Seminole fans!). Thoughts...?
I flew aboard "Slam Dunk One" when it was just a couple of months old and still had the "new plane smell" - another great experience flying SWA. I'm sad I have a new job that does not require frequent travel because I won't get to see my favorite airline employees as often. But I'll be aboard when I can and want to thank you for continued great service and interesting things like new planes and this blog.
As a proud citizen of the great state of Maryland (born and bred) I would like to congratulate everyone at Southwest for choosing to honor Maryland's beautiful flag on one of its planes. We all know, here in the old line state, how special our flag is - more special because of the great state that it represents. Now, thanks to Southwest, the rest of the country will have more of an opportunity to see our unique flag. Southwest has always been the best airline in my book. Even so, you've just gone up a couple notches.
I started flying for the very first time in my life in Sept 2004 - going from Norfolk, VA to Baltimore, MD and back weekly for months.
After the first flight (and I was fearful), I became a staunch SWA supporter and now love to fly ... only SWA, of course! The SW
employees - in the air and on the ground - are the friendliest, funniest, most caring and respectful group of people ever.
Kudos to you all! jhd
Wow, glad everyone is enjoying their plates of livery! I'll try to answer some of the questions here.
Travis and Chuck, since we serve 32 states and have only done Flaghsip Series of Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, New
Mexico, and Maryland, there are still lots of other states to cover. We may indeed get around to some of your suggestions, but
keep in mind that these special liveries are expensive to create (it takes GSD&M, our ad agency about 30-45 days for this process), paint
(usually two days more in the paint shop), and maintain (that's a lot of special touch-up paint). Because of that, we have been
somewhat slow in rolling out the state-themed aircraft. My guess is that we will have more of these aircraft, but its only my guess
because any new design is a carefully guarded secret. Chuck, we have always used the state flag, and it probably has to do with
just the rivalry you mention. The state flag is a universal symbol of each state, but if you start using team mascots or symbols that don't apply to just part of the state, you risk antagonizing the rest of the state.
Like everyone else, I love the special theme liveries, and I'd like to put in a plug for one for Louisiana. New Orleans was the first city outside Texas to get Southwest service, and it was (prior to Hurricane Katrina) the largest carrier at the New Orleans airport.
With the devastation we took in the floods after Katrina, having a "Louisiana One" plane would serve as a great symbol that Southwest is committed to serving this area. We also just celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase a few years back, and we're coming up in a few years on the 200th anniversary of our statehood, so those are two additional good reasons to honor us.
I know it's not your decision at all, but if these comments made it up the chain to the folks who make those decisions, I'd appreciate it.
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