Aircraft

JetBlue Airways has revealed a new livery design and plans to refresh all aspects of its "brand experience" four months ahead of celebrating its 10th anniversary of operations.

"This is just the start whether it's uniforms, whether it's the interior or whether it's the exterior of the aircraft as well," JetBlue CEO Dave Barger told employees gathered for the reveal ceremony inside the airline's LiveTV hangar in Orlando on 14 October.

A key change replaces JetBlue's black-and-blue logo with large-font, dark-blue lettering. For the airline's Airbus A320s, the new JetBlue logo extends from the wing-join to the cockpit.

"When you think about the ability for customers, crewmembers, partners to really see us from afar, I don't think they're going to have any problem at all seeing JetBlue with this large font," Barger says.

Another major change introduces JetBlue's ninth pattern for the tailfin. The new look, which the airline calls "blueberries", features concentric, bubble-like rings of lighter and darker blues. The top one-third of the new fin design is white.

The New York-based carrier has frequently refreshed its tailfin look. Previous incarnations have included mosaic, plaid, stripes and windowpane shapes, although plaid is being slowly phased out, a spokesman says.

JetBlue also announced that a new fin could be selected to celebrate the airline's 10-year anniversary.

JetBlue crewmembers will be allowed to submit up to three design ideas. Independent judges will then select 15 semi-finalists, and then a celebrity panel will choose up to five finalists. Public voting will decide the winner, which will be announced on 11 February, the airline says.

The low-cost carrier started operations on 11 February 2000, launching passenger service on a flight from New York to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.