Southwest Airlines introduces newest Arizona One aircraft to honor state
Mar 2, 2018, 11:13 AM | Updated: Mar 3, 2018, 4:07 pm
(Twitter Photo/@SouthwestAir)
PHOENIX — This week, Southwest Airlines brought out the new plane that will hold the title of Arizona One.
Introduced by the company in 1994, the previous Arizona One was retired last year after the 737-300 aircraft had flown for the company for the past 23 years. Airline officials hope new plane, N955WN, will hope to have the same longevity as its predecessor.
Arizona One was the fifth specially-painted signature airplane to be introduced by the company. The new plane joins 10 other state-themed aircraft designed to honor states in which Southwest has a large presence.
When we retired our 737-300 aircraft last year, we said goodbye to the plane that had flown as Arizona One for 23 years. Yesterday, we introduced the next plane to carry the Arizona One livery, N955WN!
(photo cred: Ryan A., Trent B., Dennis A.) pic.twitter.com/fVuMEbRR30
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) February 27, 2018
The plane has a unique paint job that was modeled after the state flag.
Mother Nature Network listed Southwest Airlines’ Arizona One as one of the 10 most creative airliner paint jobs.
The company’s most recent permanent specialty aircraft, Penguin One, was introduced in 2013. It was co-branded with one of SeaWorld’s most iconic animals to celebrate the 25 years of partnership between the two companies.
Southwest has not shied away from temporarily painting its planes to honor other timely pop culture events.
For example, USA Today showed some Southwest aircraft that were painted to honor the Disney-Pixar movie “Coco” and the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week.”