LONDON – A photo has emerged from Norwich Airport of the new Icelandair livery seen on the airline’s Bombardier Dash 8-Q402 registered as TF-FXA.
The image was seen on JetPhotos.com, with photographer Josh Knights getting a shot of the aircraft departing the UK airport back to Reykjavik.
History of TF-FXA…
TF-FXA has had quite a life so far, with the aircraft offering an age of 22.5 years at the time of writing.
The aircraft started out life as LN-RDG with SAS Scandinavian Commuter in September 2000. The airline didn’t take this particular airframe up on two occasions, with the original registrations due to be SE-LRG & OY-KCC at that time.
By October 2004, the aircraft was transferred over to mainline SAS with the same registration. The aircraft remained with the airline for four years before being sent over to Flybe in September 2008 as G-ECOY.
By October 2010, the aircraft was sent to Bombardier Capital and was changed into the registration of C-GKZV, where it remained with the company for around two years.
By April 2013, Bombardier Capital found its new owner, which was Air Niugini, who operated the aircraft with the registration of P2-PXP.
The aircraft only stayed with Air Niugini until August 2015, when it was ferried over to Flugfelag Islands – Air Iceland as TF-FXA. By May 2017, it was transferred over to Air Iceland Connect with the same registration.
Finally, in March 2021, the aircraft swapped hands with Icelandair, with the aircraft still being operated by Air Iceland Connect to this day.
Quick Turnaround…
It was only in January that the airline announced its new livery concept.
The first aircraft to receive the livery was TF-ICE, one of the airline’s Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
By the end of February, the airline had five MAX aircraft in this new livery, and then from there, the rest of the fleet will continue according to the maintenance schedule of each airplane.
Icelandair said the following back then:
“In 2022, we are updating our airline livery – the way our planes look – with new colors drawn from Icelandic nature, including the beloved northern lights.”
“This is the first time the whole livery design has been changed since 2006 and is part of a complete refresh of the Icelandair brand. Over the past year or so, we’ve been looking at our brand as a whole and finding new, refreshing ways to bring the spirit of Iceland to the world.”
Overall…
The new Icelandair livery is beginning to grow on me a bit more, and I think it’s because of the way the Dash 8-Q400 has come out of this.
I personally think that the concept graphics probably didn’t do Icelandair many favors, but as this has developed into real life, it is beginning to look a hell of a lot sleeker.
It’s going to be interesting when we see the larger aircraft, such as the 767 and 757, in these new liveries. That will be the ultimate tester of whether this livery will suit or not.
