Delta Plans New Paint Scheme for Fleet

ATLANTA -- As it nears the end of its bankruptcy case, Delta Air Lines is preparing to roll out a new paint scheme for its jets -- the third such repackaging in 10 years.

Delta is expected to unveil the new livery soon after its scheduled emergence from Chapter 11 at the end of this month. The airline isn't saying much officially, other than to acknowledge a new paint job might be in the works as part of a larger post-bankruptcy marketing campaign.

Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein "has mentioned that it's something that we're looking at," Delta spokesman Jeff Battcher said.

But word of the project has circulated around Delta and on aviation Web sites such as flyertalk.com and airliners.net.

The main feature of the new design is likely to be the return of Delta's triangular shield logo, known as "the widget," to the tail of its jets, according to one employee familiar with the design.

He said a working version features an all-red version of the logo on navy blue tails. The triangular logo -- currently red, white and blue -- also gets a new three-dimensional look but doesn't change its basic shape, the employee said. Aircraft colors also will be tweaked, featuring a darker blue that matches recently revamped employee uniforms, while the main fuselage color will remain white.

The new scheme also will be designed to be cheaper and simpler to paint than the current design, with its wavy, airbrushed-looking color bands draped across a logo-less tail.

That design was rolled out in 2000 during ex-CEO Leo Mullin's tenure. It replaced a 1997 redesign issued during the regime of then-CEO Ron Allen, which featured a simpler tail design with the word "Delta."

Prior to 1997, Delta had a design that dated to the 1960s and featured the widget logo slanted across the tail.

Jets in both the '97 and 2000 color schemes still fly, and Delta is also using some jets with the swoopy, lime green paint job of its now-defunct Song unit. In addition, the airline has a handful of single-plane paint schemes to highlight its involvement with civic causes such as Habitat for Humanity or breast cancer awareness.

It will likely take months for a new design to show up in large numbers. To hold down costs, airlines usually roll out redesigns gradually, as they take delivery of new jets or cycle older ones through normal repainting.

Delta has sought to involve employees in its choice of a new livery, running it by focus groups and various employee groups such as the Delta Board Council, which represents employees at meetings of the carrier's board of directors.

Not long after he stepped in as CEO in 2004, Grinstein returned to Delta's traditional widget logo because employees objected to a subtly redesigned version that Mullin had introduced.

But at the time, he professed little interest in a new paint scheme.

"If there's one thing I'm not going to fiddle with now," he said at the annual shareholders meeting that year, "it's the livery of the aircraft."

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