2000 colours

Airline: Continental
Livery: The millenium

For its celebration of the millenium, Continental Airlines commissioned the American artist Peter Max to create a new livery for one of its planes. Max was largely given a free rein, having been told simply to make the aeroplane look as colourful as possible. This he did: the result could be said to resemble an explosion in a paint factory.
Sixteen people used paint guns to apply 320 gallons of paint to the plane, which also featured an image of the Statue of Liberty and "NYC2000" in star-spangled letters. The aircraft's maiden flight - from the Boeing plant to New York - took place on 18 November 1999; the then-mayor, Rudy Giuliani, inaugurated the aircraft.

On the nose

Airline: Lufthansa
Theme: World Cup

Lufthansa's "football nose" appeared on more than 30 planes in 2006, to celebrate the World Cup. The first trip made by the first football-themed plane involved flying the Bayern Munich football team to Japan to take part in a friendly game.
Lufthansa was later accused of jumping on the World Cup bandwagon: Emirates was in fact the official sponsor of the tournament. However, in 2006 Lufthansa won the world medal for marketing effectiveness at New York Festivals International Advertising Awards for its football-nosed planes, which admittedly makes us suspect the competition wasn't exactly fierce that year.

Flying high

Airline: Swiss Air
Theme: San Francisco

In 2010, Swiss Air unveiled a San Francisco-themed aeroplane to celebrate the launch of its non-stop flights from Zurich to the US city. The livery played heavily on San Fran's hippy, countercultural associations: the flower power design included peace symbols, a hand strumming a guitar and the word "love" in pink.
Eight people took three days to paint the 60-metre aircraft but, unlike some of the themes above, this is an example of an aeroplane where the motif stopped at the paint job. Stoned cabin crew and free love in the aisles might have been taking a tribute to the famously permissive city too far.

Sleep colourfully

Airline: Germanwings (take two)

Theme: Park Inn partnership

Germanwings emblazoned the words "Sleep well" on an aeroplane painted to mark the airline's collaboration with the Park Inn budget hotel chain, although the checkered design seems bright enough to keep you awake from 30,000ft away.
Whatever you think of its suitability, the livery is certainly not one you'd forget in a hurry. The design became an instant hit with plane spotters, partly because anyone lucky enough to spot the plane could win a free hotel stay and flight simply by snapping a picture of the aircraft and emailing it to Park Inn. Whether a pastime such as plane spotting should be encouraged in such a way is a debate we'll leave for another day.

There's a bear on there

Airline: Germanwings
Theme: The Berlin bear

Airlines appear to like animal themes when it comes to adorning their aircraft. Southwest Airlines' Illinois plane bore the suitably lofty image of an eagle; another depicted a graceful whale. Yet some commentators were mystified when the airline Germanwings painted a plane to look like a brown bear. They were finally put out of their misery with the information that the animal is the symbol of the German capital, Berlin.
The airbus A319-112 proved a hit with plane spotters, and a miniature die-cast toy was later produced.

Where's Arnie?

Airline: Austrian Airlines
Theme: The millennium

Some of the greatest classical music was composed in Austria so it's not surprising the country's airline relies heavily on composers when it comes to decorating its planes. In 2006, to mark Mozart Memorial Year (what, you mean you hadn't heart of it?) the airline added an image of the composer to the doors of all of its 19 airbuses.
For the millennium, Austrian Airlines pulled out all the stops with a livery including the faces of famous Austrians such as Sigmund Freud, Franz Schubert and - again - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. All we want to know is, where on earth is Arnie?

Where eagles dare

Airline: Southwest
Theme: Illinois's bald eagle

When the US carrier Southwest Airlines decided to honour the state of Illinois with a specially designed aeroplane livery, some argued that a picture of Abraham Lincoln (the former president, who grew up in the state) might have been most appropriate. The airline, however, eventually opted for the more streamlined, so to speak, theme of a bald eagle to represent the so-called Prairie State. The design required some 400 litres of paint, and took 26 people six days to paint.
Southwest's Florida One aeroplane (the lower of the images above), stands out for its cheery use of colour. The design, the airline's seventh tied to a US state and based on Florida's state seal, took 32 people eight days to paint, using 16 different colours. Other Southwest aeroplane liveries have included Slam Dunk 1, a tribute to the airline's NBA partnership, and Triple Crown One, dedicated to the airline's baggage handlers. (They would probably have preferred a bonus, but there you go.)