Do You Know Why Airplanes Are Usually White Coloured? Here’s The Answer

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You must have seen aeroplanes flying in the sky a thousand times. Have you ever wondered why they are white in colour? Except for the logo painted on the tail and a bold inscription reading the airline name, the entire exterior of the aeroplane is painted in a pristine white!

 

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Image Source: Emirates

 

So, Why is White the colour of choice for the Aeroplanes?

Interestingly, even the most trained pilots are unaware of the logic behind the white coloured exterior of the aircraft. Here are the few reasons that prompted the airlines to adopt the universal white paint for the airliners!

 

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Image Source: Waggish

1.  Perfect-Reflector

White colour reflects all the wavelengths of light and ensures that the sunlight doesn’t heat up the aircraft. Therefore, white colour provides a thermal advantage as well.

 

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Image Source: SouthWest

2. Cost-Effective

Paint job of an airplane is a time-consuming and arduous task. It requires a lot of manpower and is quite expensive as well. Therefore, the more the time spent on decorative painting, more is the loss of revenues during the same period. Thus, white is the rational choice in this case.

 

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Image Source: SouthWest

3. Overall Weight & Operating costs

The more the paint on the fuselage, the heavier is plane and its operating expenses rise significantly. The airlines companies want to avoid the losses and therefore, opt for the white paint.

 

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Image Source: Airline Lovers

4. Easier Maintenance & Repairs

Dents and cracks are always easier to spot on the white exterior thus saving inspection time and costs.

 

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Image Source: Quora

5. Better Resale Value

White planes have a better resale value than the coloured airplanes. No wonder we don’t see a pink plane in the sky!

Do you think these reasons justify the white coloured airplanes? Let us know in comments!

1 Comment

  1. John doe Reply

    Regarding number 3:
    The default color of the material the plane consists of is not white.
    That means they paint the plane white which means at least 1 layer of color.
    In stead of white they could paint it red thereby getting the final color with the same number of colors as white without adding any extra layers or weight.
    A logo would probably cost the same in weight regardless of color.

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