This commercial airliner is missing something.
Can you tell what it is?
You might have guessed the big airline logos, but it's also the paint.
How do planes get painted, and how important is it to their overall structure and
operation? Commercial airliners can last up to 30 years on
average, or 135,000 to 165,000 flight hours
before they are retired due to metal fatigue and the overall effects of harsh weather
and solar radiation.
That means that the exterior of a plane must be protected.
And for many airplanes, the paint does exactly that.
"The aircraft is the literal embodiment of the airline's
identity. So airlines will paint their aircraft, because
it is marketing, but also, there is a functional element to
painting a plane."
Painting companies are key to not only making airplanes pretty, but ensuring their
longevity and ability to stay in service for as long as possible.
The average price of a standard Boeing 747, a popular commercial
airliner, is about $420 million.
So maximizing that return on investment is major.
Staying in service for longer means more flights and more tickets sold.
The global commercial aviation aircraft paint market was estimated at nearly $18.5
billion in 2020 and is expected to grow into about $65 billion
by 2027.
We spoke to Dean Baldwin Painting, one of the aircraft paint industry leaders, to get an
inside look into how planes get their
sparkle.
Here in the outskirts of the small city of Macon, Georgia, is one of five facilities owned
and operated by Dean Baldwin Painting, a 57-year-old aircraft painting
company based in the U.S.
This is Barbara Baldwin-McNulty, CEO and owner of the company.
"Back in 1965, my father-in-law worked for Eastern Airlines
in Miami International and wanted to make extra money, and he started
painting parts, and the parts became Cessnas and Pipers.
And then they became DC Threes and DC Sixes.
And the company progressively kept growing slowly for probably
30 years. My ex-husband and I took it over back in 1978,
and we stayed in Miami until
1999 when we expanded into Roswell, New Mexico.
So now we have Roswell, we have Peru, Indiana, Macon, Georgia, and then we
service San Antonio and Goodyear, Arizona."
Behind Barbara is a Boeing 767-300 being repainted for Delta
Airlines. On this particular day, the facility is painting three planes from
Delta, JetBlue and United.
The cost to paint a plane is an expensive endeavor.
"Almost $200,000, $175-.
That's for an airline with major customers."
Those costs include labor, stripper, paint, primer, masking
materials and proper disposal of consumables.
When a new plane is brought into the facility, the plane must pass initial inspections
before it can undergo its new paint job.
"Everything we do before we go on to major steps has to have
inspection come in and sign off that we're ready and it's okay to move forward."
The painting process varies depending on whether the plane is brand new or needs to be
repainted.
"There are other reasons why airlines might change the paint.
That could include, for example, a merger.
Think of Alaska and Virgin when they merged back in 2016.
They had to start looking at both of their planes that had two different names on them.
Alaska was the branding that that kind of won out."
A repaint begins with sanding the old paint off.
Overall, painting will involve 4 to 5 layers and ends up being as thick as just a
fraction of a millimeter.
Painting an airplane is a surprisingly laborious process.
It involves multiple engineers, inspectors and painters who must ensure
that all safety standards are being met and that the design as sent by the airline
is accurate.
This plane is in the process of being repainted.
Right now, it's being stripped of all of its layers so that the new ones can be applied
. After the paint is stripped, an anti-corrosion primer is applied.
From there, the main paint layer, which is often white, is painted on.
Then more protective intermediate layers are applied.
This can be a one-coat or two-coat process, depending on the painting company or the
airline's specifications.
You might have noticed that most commercial airplanes are white, and that's usually not a
design choice.
White is optimal, because it's the color that best reflects light, which prevents cabin
overheating and solar radiation damage.
Historically, this has not always been the case.
Airplanes used to be left as bare metal or chrome, but it tended to dirty more quickly,
which caused some airlines to start painting their liveries.
Throughout the entire process, the plane is continually inspected.
Safety standards are set by the Federal Aviation Administration, and employees
must be trained to apply the paint correctly and identify any anomalies
before, during and after the process.
"Not only the safety, the compliance, the environment, the manpower, the
training. It's-it's not as easy as most people
think. These days, manpower has been a terrible issue in
trying to obtain, and and then you have to spend time training.
It takes years to get an individual to a
paint level. Takes years of training, OJT records and continual
updates on their training."
"At the factory — say Boeing or Airbus — and you see a lot of the green aircraft that are
lined up that haven't yet been delivered, often you'll see the tail painted.
And the reason for that is the airline- the airplane wouldn't be balanced if they
didn't have that on there.
It's very important for the weight and the balance.
And so many pounds of paint go into painting that tail that it could really tip it in one
direction or the other."
Along with a multi-faceted team, millions of dollars are on the line when a plane is
painted. The job must be completed in time and done well.
Otherwise, the consequences can be costly, not just monetarily but
reputationally for the airlines.
"If they use a painting facility, a third-party painting
facility that doesn't do a good job, or if their own in-house painting facility doesn't do a
good job, if the paint isn't applied correctly, it can peel
off. And there are examples of that that you'll find posted on social media.
It's embarrassing for the airline.
It's also bad because it means that that plane is not going to be as
fuel-efficient."
Because of the sheer size of an airplane, the paint ultimately adds up in weight.
The more weight an airplane carries, the less fuel-efficient it will be, which means higher
costs to refuel the paint over time.
Aircraft painting can be a lucrative business, and Dean Baldwin has grown significantly
in its 57 years.
"We are approaching this year $35 million in sales, and we
employ approximately 350 to 400
employees."
For all of the functional aspects beneath its glossy surface, however, for most people
or most passengers, the paint job on an airplane just gives it a nicer look and
feel — an identity.
"I always say a paint job on an airplane is like makeup on a woman.
Just beautifies it."
But how does this all come together in the first place?
For the most part, aircraft painting companies and airlines enter into long-term
partnerships.
"The airlines usually go put a request for
proposal, and they put out a bid that probably all of us will bid
on based on the space that we have.
Once you get an award, it is usually a 3 to 5 year award.
They need us as much as we need them.
They need us to be compliant.
They need us to be on time.
They need us to provide a quality product.
No damages, keep our pricing at a competitive level, and they
actually work- will work with you."
Aside from Dean Baldwin, International Aerospace Coatings and MAAS Aviation
are two of the larger aircraft painting companies, both of which have facilities abroad.
Aside from its seven facilities in the U.S., IAC operates two locations in
Ireland and one in the Czech Republic and also has services ranging across
interior solutions and graphics.
MAAS has facilities in the U.S.
And in Europe and has an annual revenue of $6.7 million as of
February 2022.
Aside from the painting companies themselves, the painting market also includes the manufacturers
and distributors of the paint.
The main players are Akzo Nobel, PPG Industries and IHI Ion
Bond AG.
Sherwin-Williams, the paint company better known for its industrial and residential paint
manufacturing, is also a manufacturer of aerospace paint.
The largest market for airplane painting is North America, with Asia Pacific being the
fastest-growing market.
So between the manufacturers, distributors and painting companies, how do the
airlines fit into the chain?
The world's biggest airlines get their liveries painted either in-house or at external painting
companies. In general, commercial aircraft are what dominates the market.
With airlines investing heavily into their marketing, the aerospace paint industry has identified
specialty liveries — planes painted with complex artwork or as physical
advertising — as one area of growth.
Several airlines have produced artful iterations of planes for sponsorships,
partnerships, anniversaries and advertising campaigns in general.
Alaska Airlines made a Disney-themed plane, WestJet painted a Disney's Frozen-themed
plane and United made a Galaxy-themed plane.
These are just a few examples.
So next time you're on a plane, even if you're inside the cabin, consider
everything that went into the exterior.
This time, it's what's on the outside that counts.