These Strangely Artistic Aircraft Paint Jobs Will Have You Craning Your Neck For A Closer Look

There’s nothing quite like the buzz of travel. After you get through the stressful parts – airport check-ins and security lines – you can start to get excited about the journey ahead. As you sit at your gate, though, you might peer out the window and notice something that’s going to make your trip even more special. Yes, that is an airplane covered in Pokémon, and yes it is awesome...

40. Blue Brazilian bird

You can learn everything you need to know about Azul Brazilian Airlines just from looking at its planes. As the name – and painted-on flag – imply, this operator is Brazilian. And the word “azul” means “blue” in Portuguese. Both of these facts clearly informed the eye-catching design of the company’s planes.

39. A tropical twist

The side of this plane says Alaska – and that’s the only cold-weather influence you’ll find on it. Rather than letting The Last Frontier inspire this plane’s design, Alaska Airlines seems to have drawn inspiration from one of its other destinations: Hawaii. For more than ten years, it has served The Aloha State’s airports of Kahului, Kona, Lihue and Honolulu.

38. Plum perfect

Do you know the Republic of China’s national flower? We’ll give you a hint: it’s on the tail of this aircraft. That bloom is the pink plum blossom, the country’s bloom of choice. And it makes sense that you’d find it here, on the tail of a China Airlines plane, as it is a state-owned carrier.

37. A Southeast Asian eagle

Bald eagles tend to dominate all of the eagle-based imagery that Americans see – it is, after all, on the national seal. But they’re not the only species of this bird of prey. Hop on over to the Philippines and you might meet their eponymous variety of eagle, which is also the inspiration behind this design from the country’s Cebu Airlines.