Boeing Goes Burgundy on the 777X – Why?

Different colors for the new aircraft liveries have their meaning. A350 XWB will present a special black&white paint scheme for the cabin equipped A350 prototypes MSN2 and MSN5, while Boeing has presented the 777X in a dark red-burgundy.

Last month, during the 777X presentation in Dubai AirShow, marketing materials for the airplane, and the livery employed dark red -- burgundy -- as a color theme. It's a departure from Boeing's deep-blue brand, but they did something similar when it rebanded the 747-8 with orange livery.

The choice of burgundy for the 777X is no accident; “The choice of burgundy was not made overnight. Boeing had to complete quite a bit of research before deciding on their new color. Different colors can have different meanings, and Boeing did not want to end up insulting a particular culture or airline based on a wrong choice."

"Believe it or not, there has been quite a bit of work done on seeing what feelings and words that people relate with colors. Boeing found some key thoughts connected to the color burgundy, which they wanted passengers and airline customers to associate with the plane. Those words are vigor, elegance, refinement, high-end, richness, leadership, and maturity. Think of the color as a fine wine, in literal color and embodiment.” said Rob Pollack, vice president Advertising, Brand and Market Positioning with Boeing.


Airbus´ official color is blue as well as Boeing´s, but there have been many different liveries with some variation of their color roots.



The cabin equipped A350 prototypes MSN2 and MSN5 will have a special livery in black & white that will be officially shown in coming weeks by Airbus. The high % of caborn fiber used in the A350 XWB is what Airbus wants to highlight with these colors.