ANA's Pokémon Planes | Why are they painted so? | OnlyVehicle

 ANA's Pokémon Planes

ANA (All Nippon Airways) is well known for its Boeing 747 operations. ANA's Boeing 747s are also famous for its unique liveries. ANA operated about 50 747s which included planes from the -100, -200, -400 variants. ANA was also one of the major 747 operators in Asia. ANA also painted some of their 767s, 777s, and 737s in the Pokémon livery.

What is Pokémon?

Pokémon is series of games released in 1996 onward. This series of games were developed by game developers in Japan. Pokémon became popular among children because of its animation series. Pokémon, both in games and animation series, is based on special creatures possessing supernatural powers. It usually involves fights between these creatures' owners in Pokémon Leagues.

Why did ANA paint some of their planes in Pokémon livery?

The reason was mainly promotional. ANA being the largest airline in Japan promoted Pokémon with their liveries in aircraft. Although, this being the main reason, the livery made the airline more iconic and known among all. The livery attracted small children and Pokémon fans. ANA is also known to paint the planes according to children's votes.

Other airlines who paint their planes in a similar way:

Many airlines have different ways and designs to paint their planes. Some of these liveries make the airline more iconic. Like ANA, Korean Air is an airline who paints some of its planes according to children's choice. Korean Air was known to collect some of the children's drawings, and paint them on the plane. It unveiled the plane, a Boeing 747, on International Children's Day. The 747 is an iconic plane to possess such liveries. The plane will be remembered for a long time. Eva Air operates a Boeing 777-300 having a Hello Kitty themed livery. China Eastern airlines operates an Airbus a330 with a Toy Story themed livery. These are sure to attract small children. The list of airlines with special themed liveries on their planes goes on.

What if we told you that you could make a model aircraft of the Pokémon themed 747 using paper? Click the link to learn more: Making Realistic Models of Planes Using Paper | OnlyVehicle

Interior of the Pokémon jets:

Despite the outside livery, the interior of the planes also had a special design made by ANA. The flight crew uniforms, seats, entertainment, food, etc. were all Pokémon themed. ANA also gave a report stating an increase in the number of passengers flying especially on the Pokémon-themed planes. On the whole, this was a win-win for both the developers of Pokémon and the airline itself.

Retirement of ANA's 747s:

ANA retired its last 747 in 2014. It marked the end of the jumbo jet era for Japanese-based airlines. Although one of the greatest planes to possess the livery was retired, ANA is keeping alive two of its planes possessing the Pokémon liveries. One is expected to be retired next year. The other would be around for quite a long time. Hopefully, ANA would introduce more of their planes having the famous livery.

To learn about the reasons for the retirement of the Boeing 747s, view the post here: The Most Recent Cause for The Retirement of The Boeing 747 | OnlyVehicle

Other special liveries of ANA:

Besides the Pokémon liveries, ANA also operated many other planes having liveries of different movies and cartoons. ANA had operated four aircraft having Star Wars themed liveries. It also operated three Airbus a380s having a sea-turtle themed livery. Some 747s of ANA had a Snoopy themed livery.