Pictures of the Day: Flying High

Adil Najam

Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has new livery. And, I must say, it looks very nice.

Much nicer, certainly, than the last back-fin livery they had (the ill proportioned waving flag). That one just did not work, especially with the white background to the plane. Always seemed like it was an after-thought that did not do justice to the flag or the aeroplane.

I should also confess that when I first heard that these new designs were coming, I did not much like the idea. Why must every airline try to follow the British Airways example? On this one, however, I will admit that I was wrong. Whoever has done these designs have done a good job.

I am told that there are four designs (one for each province) and they are all depicted here. Additional designs may come. Pay particular attention, also, to the name and city of each plane. The four depicted here are: Thar: Colours of the Desert (in light shades of blue); Lahore: Garden of the Mughals (strong reds and blues); Peshawar: Gateway to the East (red and green on earthy yellow); Gwadar: The New Port City (bold yellow, red, green and blue).

Altamash Mir and iFaqeer, please note the name of the Lahore plane; we do acknowledge our Mughal past… sometimes! (Although, I should add, there are some aspects of our ‘Mughal heritage’ that I am neither proud of nor do I wish to own or emulate; e.g., imprisoning one’s partents and killing one’s siblings).

And, yes, I did note that the Baluchistan plane is smaller and older than all the others. I hope there is no hidden meaning in that!

All pictures courtesy of Jetphotos.net.