- What the Freedom One aircraft means to Southwest Airlines
- How the aircraft was painted and what it represents
- tracking the aircraft across the world
On June 18th, 2021, Southwest Airlines celebrated 50 years of giving customers the freedom to fly by unveiling the Freedom One Aircraft, a tribute to our nation, and our military. This aircraft features 50 stars and 13 stripes on it to represent the flag for the USA, and this is the first Boeing 737-800 aircraft with this unique paint scheme. When Freedom One first departed the airport and headed for Dallas, TX, the pilots and flight attendants were all employees of Southwest that had served in the military. “Freedom is the essence of our country, and giving America the freedom to fly is the essence of our Company. With 50 stars on the flag and 50 years of LUV, we dedicate our anniversary to Freedom,” Southwest Chairman and CEO, Gary Kelly said.
The paint job took about 14 days to paint, 10 people were working on it during all shifts. The crew used over 60 gallons of paint and primer to paint this aircraft, using 15 different paint colors. A very cool feature about this aircraft is that the paint job has 50 stars and 13 red and white stripes wrapped around the aircraft, just like our national flag. Just to show how big this aircraft is, each star is 40 inches x 40 inches, and there are 50 of these stars. Freedom One is aircraft W500NR if you’d like to track its travel across the country
