AirTran Airways has taken a bold step with their gorgeous new paint scheme to commemorate the their hometown Atlanta Falcons football team. Their five-year-old 717-200 N891AT, painted black and red, was caught by Mario Rodriguez departing Orlando (MCO) yesterday.
Past special paint schemes for AirTran have not been full repaints. One plane featured a decal of race car driver Danica Patrick and another added some blue silhouettes of Elton John to advertise satellite radio. This is perhaps the first black scheme in the United States since Playboy Enterprises did so on a DC-9 (registered N950PB) decades ago. Do you know of another one? Tell us in the comments below.
EDIT: We have also learned that there was a black 727 in the 1980s operated by SunCoast here in the US. (Thanks Mike!