Feels a bit like sunset at Denver International in the late 1990s with a United Express Bae-146 getting unloaded after arriving from Aspen while a Boeing 727-200 is prepared for its evening departure to Los Angeles……. United’s “Battleship Gray” livery debuted in January 1993, the first aircraft painted in these colors was a Boeing 747-400. They were part of a rebranding under CEO Stephen Wolf to project a more professional business-like image over the earlier Saul Bass-designed livery. Joke then was that Stephen Wolf had a thing for dark liveries as before he came to United, he was at US Airways and was at the helm there when they rebranded from the bare metal/red/blue US Air colors to the dark blue colored US Airways livery. I’d read that ATC and United crews disliked the Battleship Gray livery as it was hard to see at night and on a gray winter/rainy day. From a historical perspective, these colors cover a turbulent time at United- from the massive losses in 1991-92 following Desert Storm/Gulf War that resulted in the ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) that gave the employees 55% control fo the airline which made United the largest employee owned company in the world at the time. The livery was superseded by the United’s final pre-merger livery in 2003 after United filed for bankruptcy and the ESOP was terminated. When United cancelled its pension plan in 2005, I believe it was the largest pension default in US history. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #airlines #planeporn #TheChickenport (follow this tag to see more of my collection) #airlines #aerosanctuary #BritishAerospace #BAE #BAe146 #UnitedExpress #AirWisconsin #N292UE #Boeing #727 #United #N7291U #400Scale #GeminiJets #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #Avgeekery #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge
