Southwest Airlines introduced its latest “salute jet” on Friday, dubbed “Florida One – a High-Flying Salute to the Sunshine State.” The new 737-700, registered N945WN, is the airline’s 14th special paint scheme jet.
The scheme consists of 16 colors, used approximately 46 gallons of paint and was painted by 32 people over a period of 8 days. According to Southwest’s website, “The challenge of this plane was to recreate the flag logo without the use of tools, using only the drawing for reference and the stencils for outline, while at the same time making both sides exactly symmetrical”.
After being unveiled by Southwest CEO Gary Kelly at Tampa International Airport, Florida One spent Friday visiting the southwest Florida cities of Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Fort Myers before heading to Dallas to start regular service.
Other states that have been honored with a logo jet are Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Maryland and Illinois.