The 7 steps to paint an airplane

There are countries where companies have their own paint hangars to maintain their aircraft fleet, and when they do not have it served, they rent it to other airlines. There are also companies specialized in this complex painting job that receive an infinity of aircraft models in their hangars, from small private planes to big commercial aircraft.

Most airplanes are usually painted in monotone, in addition to facilitating work, requires less paint and therefore less weight on the plane, less fuel is consumed. But there are companies that have opted for differentiation, and they paint their planes as striking.

In this case Brussels Airlines promotes its most famous cartoon: Tintin

Why are planes painted?

Among the reasons why a company decides to paint the fuselage we find:

• Maintenance of the fuselage. After a long time, exposure to the sun and friction from the wind that the fuselage receives forces periodic maintenance to ensure the safety of the aircraft.
• Mechanical repairs. Some mechanical operations require disassembly of the fuselage and it is used to renew the coatings.
• Airline change. Changing the routes of an airplane is also a reason to modify its image and adapt it to its new destinations.
• Change of the owner airline. On many occasions the planes are bought and sold between different airlines. At that time they must change the image of the fuselage to announce the new company.

What does it cost to paint an airplane?

Depending on the size of the aircraft and its complexity, costs will increase. Taking into account an average commercial airplane, such as a Boeing 737, the painting process can entail an investment of resources that we can divide into:

• Team of about 18 professionals
• Duration of 8 to 11 days of uninterrupted work (24 hours)
• Hangar that exceeds the size of a soccer field
• About 260 liters of paint

Steps to paint an airplane

The process of painting the fuselage of an airplane involves several operations that not only serve to make the plane beautiful, but special paints are applied that withstand extreme conditions such as wind friction, cold or extreme heat and provide an improvement in aerodynamics which allows fuel savings.

1. First, the aircraft is cleaned with pressurized hot water to remove any dirt and debris left in the fuselage.
2. To remove paint layers, you can use hand sanding or the use of special solvents, such as stripping, which requires protection and professional masking to protect the rest of the aircraft and the hangar, since they are very aggressive products. If there are still parts with layers of paint, they are removed manually by sanding.                  
3. The plane is cleaned again and masking is carried out for painting, applying plastic and technical tape to the areas of the fuselage that are not to be painted: windows, engines, gaskets, ...
4. Color coats are applied with the highly pigmented Base Coat component that allows a single coat of color to be applied. In the process of applying more than one color, the different areas are covered with masking plastics (this is called positive or negative masking).
5. The drying process usually takes 1 to 2 hours, which favors shortening the finishing time. Previously, it took up to 15 hours for the paint to dry in the fuselage.
6. The marks and identifications of the plane are painted, also using masking tapes to protect the already painted areas.
7. Subsequently, the transparent layer, or Clear Coat, is applied, which contributes to greater protection of colors, enhances the brightness of the aircraft and repels dirt and water, which facilitates the subsequent cleaning of the aircraft.

Not all companies manually paint planes. There are occasions, such as when the plane leaves the factory, that robots are used to perform the complete painting of the fuselage.

We leave you the time-lapse video that lasts 2 minutes and shows how a Virgin Airlines plane is painted.