American Airlines livery and "A*A"?

Question

Most of the skin is polished, and some sections of the body, tail (usually the whole tail except for patches seen on the classic 707s, 727s and DC-10s), winds and engines are painted light grey. I've noticed fading and peeling on some planes, so my question is: for the striped cheatline, the "American" titles and the "A*A" markings, are those painted also, or are they decals/stickers?

LONG LIVE THE AA MD-11!!!!!

Answer 1

I just would add something cause am convinced by answerer no1. It was adopted long ago on our airline that no paint as it greatly reduces weight but since our country is surrounded by oceans well salt breeze hastens corrosion in aircraft skin of alum. alloy so later on we repaint our aircraft fleet again.

But AA does it so amazingly beautiful.

Answer 2

The grey parts and the stripe and AA logo are the only paint of the fuselage, the shiny silver sections have a clear coat protectant, but the paint was excluded to save weight and burn less fuel.

Answer 3

They gray areas are non metallic probably in most cases some type of composite like the vertical stabilizer on the A-300.  I'm wondering what AA will do if they ever order the 787. The raw fuselage is usually seen at the factory to be black.  I'm not sure what the final raw finish will look like.  I've always liked the unpainted look of AA planes and I'm predicting if the 787 has an outer layer the airline will opt for a silver metallic color to match the rest of their fleet.  Time will tell.

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I agree, the MD-11 is awesome.

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