[OldHand2018]

I really liked the old American Airlines scheme where they just didn't paint the airplane. It was beautiful.

But in the modern age, if you need a metal mesh around a carbon fiber fuselage then not painting the airplane is probably not an option. Sad.

[nickff]

>" I really liked the old American Airlines scheme where they just didn't paint the airplane."

It wasn't quite that simple. I believe the 'bare metal' finish actually had a layer of protective varnish painted on, to protect the metal from oxidation (anyone who has handled bare aluminum can tell you that it develops a layer of oxide very quickly). In addition to that, the panels had to be specially chosen and very carefully handled, as small blemishes were very obvious.

[OldHand2018]

I found this page, you may like it :)

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_05/texto...

> The decision to paint or polish the metal surfaces of airplanes is based on marketing, economic, and environmental considerations. Although the net operating cost of polished airplanes is slightly more than that of painted airplanes, no compelling reason generally exists to choose one type of livery over the other.