RIP Virgin Blue

[Simmo W]

Dang, just heard that Virgin Blue is renamed 'Virgin Australia' in the chase for corporate business.

Their bright, distinctive, mostly red livery to be erased, for this boring look:

http://twitpic.com/4t0kuy

[MaidenFan]

That sucks! They had the coolest paint scheme before.

[UH-60 Blackhawk]

+1, too bad for Virgin Blue VA repainters, that might take a while, and will be boring.

[Beej]

Yes, a great pity, and the loss of a piece of classic Australian ironic slang.  I believe it was called Virgin "blue" because the livery was red.  In Australian slang people with red hair are often called "Bluey" or "Blue", although it seems to be being replaced by "Ranga"!

cheers,

Beej

[Simmo W]

Yes, a great pity, and the loss of a piece of classic Australian ironic slang.  I believe it was called Virgin "blue" because the livery was red.  In Australian slang people with red hair are often called "Bluey" or "Blue", although it seems to be being replaced by "Ranga"!

cheers,

Beej

Ha, I'm Australian (ex pom though) and never knew what the blue meant!

There'll have to be a new nickname- looks a bit maggoty to me.

[Beej]

Simon - since you're an ex-Pom then perhaps the equivalent would have been Virgin Ginge (I lived in London for 10 years...). 

I think the "Blue" is a true story since I recollect it coming from Richard Brandon himself in an interview.  Classic!

Beej

[flightime56]

I think Virgin Australia is a really average livery, bland....they should have kept the red on the tail or a dark purple...boring mr brand.