As part of their ongoing push to win the hearts of Bostonians through sports marketing, JetBlue today unveiled an Airbus A320 painted to resemble a Boston Red Sox uniform.
Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine, team mascot Wally the Green Monster and Boston Mayor Tom Menino were on hand to greet the plane, along with JetBlue SVP of Marketing Marty St. George, Red Sox CEO Larry Luccino, Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy and hundreds of JetBlue and Boston Logan Airport employees.
The fuselage of JetBlue 605 (N605JB) is styled in the colors of a gray Red Sox “away” uniform. The team’s iconic red socks dangle on the tail. A classic round white and red Boston Red Sox logo is stamped above each wing. Wing fences are painted dark blue with a red “B”. A banner commemorating Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary hangs below the cockpit side windows.
JetBlue says 605 is the “first plane to officially tote a Major League Baseball uniform.” While it probably resembles a uniform as closely as a plane can, it is not the first plane to be painted for a Major League Team. AirTran has a Milwaukee Brewers-painted Boeing 717 (N932AT) and America West once had a 757 (N904AW) adorned in Arizona Diamondbacks colors.
Appropriately, the first flight operated by the plane on Friday was to Fort Myers, Fla., home of the Red Sox spring training facility for which JetBlue recently purchased the naming rights: JetBlue Park at Fenway South. Passengers were greeted by Red Sox jerseys and hats on each seat. JetBlue is also the official airline of the Red Sox and Fenway Park.
In addition to their Red Sox-related efforts, this past Sunday, JetBlue ran a Super Bowl commercial. It aired only in the Boston market, targeting the huge number of local folks watching the New England Patriots play the New York Giants.
JetBlue 605 is the airline’s second fully painted sports themed plane. In 2010, the airline unveiled a green and white plane dedicated to the New York Jets (N746JB). JetBlue also applied large Real Salt Lake decals to one plane (N779JB) in honor of the MLS soccer team, but did not paint the entire aircraft.
According to airfleets.net, N605JB was delivered to JetBlue in 2005 and was formerly named “Blue Yorker.”
JetBlue is the largest carrier at Boston Logan International Airport with over 100 daily flights to 44 destinations, making it the second biggest in its network after New York-JFK.
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