Late last year the Romanian carrier announced it was making LJLA its eighth European base, launching four new routes and creating 35 extra jobs. Tony McDonough reports.

Blue Air has unveiled the new Liverpool-themed livery that will adorn its aircraft at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA).

Late last year the Romanian carrier announced it was making LJLA its eighth European base, launching four new routes and creating 35 extra jobs.

And as part of its plans to to become Liverpool’s airline, Blue Air launched a competition for the public to design the new livery for its 189 seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft that will be based at Liverpool from the end of March.

Originally, there was to be one winner for the best design but in the end Blue liked the ideas from three entries so much it decided to incorporate aspects from each and create a livery which is an amalgam of all three.

The winners are Kenny Thomson, Will L’armour and Jonathon Davidson, with the final design recognising the Liverpool’s strong musical links, its warm welcome and famous city skyline.

Both halves of the city’s football support are catered for too through the use of both blue and red colours.

The Liverpool-liveried aircraft will operate on Blue Air’s new routes from LJLA to Rome, Milan, Hamburg and Alicante.

As well as seeing parts of their designs appear on the aircraft, all three winners of the competition will also each receive two free return flights from Liverpool to any Blue Air destination.

Tudor Constantinescu, Blue Air’s chief commercial officer, said: “Apart from the top quality flying experience, we are committed to deliver an airline that gives passengers a really local feel and a flavour of the Liverpool city region and the dedicated livery for our first based aircraft hopefully reflects this.

“We congratulate the winners and hope they will enjoy their free flight to one of Blue Air’s Liverpool destinations at least as much as we are excited about our new venture with the Scouse community.”

Robin Tudor, head of PR for LJLA, added:  “This has been a fantastic opportunity and the final design that the three winners have all contributed to, will soon be seen by thousands of people at home and abroad.”