JetBlue dedicates 25th anniversary livery to its crewmembers

It has now been 25 years since JetBlue commenced scheduled operations out of John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City, with the carrier's inaugural flight having taken to the skies on February 11th, 2000.

Having initially served domestic cities like Buffalo and Fort Lauderdale, the hybrid airline has grown considerably in the last quarter of a century, and is enjoying its anniversary.

One of the most visually conspicuous ways in which JetBlue is marking its 25th anniversary is with a unique paint scheme dedicated to its crewmembers.

As Simple Flying has covered in the past, the carrier is no stranger to a special livery, and has even painted one of its aircraft red in support of New York's firefighters. As pictured below, its latest iteration is light blue, with employees painted on the tail.

An airline is nothing without its people, and the special livery, known as BlueUnity, features the likes of pilots, cabin crew, ground staff, and maintenance workers in its design.

According to JetBlue, the unique paint scheme pays "tribute and recognition [to] the airline's more than 23,000 dedicated crewmembers that make every flight possible." Commenting on the livery, JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty stated that:

"Building a unique culture focused on caring for the crewmembers was always core to the JetBlue model, and this new livery speaks to exactly that. It’s truly awe-inspiring to think about the countless individuals, many working behind the scenes, who make our airline so special. Painting it on the side of a plane lets everyone in on the secret of JetBlue’s success - our crewmembers."

With an airline's livery being among its most important branding tools, carriers around the world are often willing to part with vast sums of money to have a design agency come up with a paint scheme that ticks all the right boxes.

However, in the case of BlueUnity, the concept came from one of its own crewmembers, Ray Mathew.

As well as the aforementioned tail design featuring images of JetBlue employees, it also has the tagline "Honoring the fly-est crew in the biz."

JetBlue ensured that the special livery was front and center when it came to its anniversary celebrations by ensuring that the aircraft that bears it, an Airbus A321 registered as N970JB, operated one of its celebratory flights yesterday.

The service in question was flight #1 from New York to Fort Lauderdale, with those onboard being "treated to surprises and giveaways at JetBlue's Terminal 5." The airline adds:

As mentioned above, the aircraft that has been chosen to wear the special BlueUnity anniversary livery is an Airbus A321 that bears the registration N970JB.

According to fleet data made available by ch-aviation, this aircraft has served JetBlue for its entire career, having first joined the airline just over eight years ago, back in November 2016. It has 200 seats onboard, with these split between:

• 158 standard economy class seats with 32 inches of pitch.
• 42 'Even More Space' economy class seats with extra legroom (37-41 inches of pitch).

As pictured in the photo above, Planespotters.net notes that the aircraft was previously named 'Once Upon A Blue,' and featured the airline's standard livery with the 'Prism' tail design.

Data from Flightradar24 suggests that the repaint took place at Middle Georgia Regional Airport (MCN) in Macon, as the aircraft was stored here between January 21st and February 6th this year.

Yesterday saw it fly from Buffalo to New York and on to Fort Lauderdale, with today seeing a trip to St Maarten.