Painting a Boeing 747-400 in 4 minutes
A time-lapse of a Virgin Atlantic 747-400 being repainted.
A time-lapse by Johnson Banks showing a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 being repainted, compressed into four minutes.
The original film is still online at Vimeo: Virgin Atlantic plane livery time-lapse movie by Johnson Banks.
Why aircraft get repainted
Not usually because the airline changed its logo. Paint is a protective coating before it is a livery: it shields aluminium from corrosion, ultraviolet light and the constant thermal cycling between a hot ramp and −55 °C at cruise altitude.
Livery paint degrades. It chalks, fades and eventually stops protecting the metal underneath, so aircraft are stripped and repainted on a cycle measured in years — typically alongside a heavy maintenance check, when the aircraft is out of service anyway and the panels are open.
A rebrand simply gets scheduled to coincide with a repaint that was going to happen regardless.
Related
More in Blog
Blog
News and notes about the Boeing 747 — retirements, deliveries, special liveries, engine milestones and unusual operations.
Air Force One slips again, and the cracks behind it
A Pentagon report puts the VC-25B cabin behind schedule, with hundreds of airframe repairs outstanding and delivery now expected in 2028.
Cosmic Girl's third career: launching hypersonic vehicles
The 747 that launched satellites for Virgin Orbit is now Stratolaunch's Spirit of Mojave, air-launching the Talon-A hypersonic testbed.
Lufthansa to sell two 747-8s and retire more 747-400s
The largest passenger 747 operator is thinning its fleet — but says the 747-8 stays core to long-haul into the 2030s.
How many 747s are still flying?
Around 85 passenger 747s and close to 300 in cargo, charter and government service — and why that ratio is the aircraft's whole late story.
Qatar 747-8 enters service as Air Force One
The Boeing 747-8 given to the United States by Qatar flew its first presidential mission on 1 July 2026, designated the VC-25B Bridge.
