united's new livery
1) I actually like United's new look. I think the midline stripe, in graduated shades of blue, transitions nicely from the clean white top to the dark blue bottom of the aircraft. The only unfortunate point is the fact that there's really no accent color to counterpoint the general, well, blueness of the total design. that tiny bit of red in the logo isn't enough. A red-orange ring on the engine cowlings, or maybe on the trailing edge of the tail? Also, this brings United much closer to Ted in livery design, which may or may not be a good move. Delta and Song? Couldn't be more different unless Song flew Tupolevs instead of Boeings. In fact, the branding mash-up doesn't end on the flight line; flyted.com is essentially united.com with more orange paint. It's hard for me to think you're taking this discount thing seriously when you can't establish an identity that doesn't depend on the "old guard" parent's clout.
2) I agree with others who think it's madness that UAL is spending money on a general rebranding campaign at this stage in its fight for survival. Ted's a gamble I can see both sides of -- try making money in the new point-to-point game by starting with your most dominant hub. It's worth a shot. But do you need to be repainting your main fleet? If I ran United, I think I'd take it in the direction of "best overseas network: east and west." I'd sell off my domestic fleet and routes, maybe keeping Ted if I really believe I can make good pennies per seat-mile. I'd plow those revenues into new 777 and 747 leases, but keep an eye on the new airbus A380. My goal? Be America's best overseas and cross-continent carrier. Best service, best cost efficiency. Why shouldn't a stateside carrier take the Singapore Airlines motto of "More Anything? More Everything!" and make that work? United has international routes down to a cool science and the discount carriers just become a distant barking noise once they focus on global service alone. One other thing to consider: service matters -- not just price -- when you're on a plane for 8 or more hours. You can make your brand really mean something when the flight is a significant part of the journey's total time.
Sure, there are mortal risks with hinging a business turnaround on global travel in these days of terror threats and rogue states. And I have a feeling United's hellish labor structure and history would send my plan straight to the shredder. UAL employees, you tell me: would you prefer a leaner, internationally focused United to the belly-up alternative?