A couple of days ago we showed you what it takes to custom-paint an aircraft with the WestJet “Magic Plane”. And it got me thinking back to my aviation side, and one question kept coming back up: with all of the mergers, acquisitions, and shifts in ownership of aircraft, have you ever given thought to what it takes to repaint an aircraft? I hadn’t…and I’ve seen the initial paint process, itself a very daunting task that takes a team of skilled painters working around the clock at least four days to complete.

Virgin Australia has been rebranding from it’s original “Virgin Blue” since 2012, and just finished the painting of the last 737-800 in the fleet that still had the “Virgin Blue” livery. During the eleven-day process, the old paint was chemically stripped, the body was prepped, and over 70 gallons of fresh paint were shot. Watching the old paint melt off of the 737 reminds me of the ending of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for some reason. The entire process was filmed and compressed down into two minutes for your viewing pleasure.

(Courtesy: Jalopnik/Flight Club)