Take off with Hertz
- Official christening of an Airbus A320 in Hertz special livery at Düsseldorf Airport
- Highlight as part of Hertz’ 100th anniversary
- Strategic partnership between Eurowings and Hertz with commitment to the air traffic location Düsseldorf
- First destination of the newly-christened aircraft: London – the European headquarters of Hertz
From now on, car rental company Hertz will be taking off with Eurowings. Yesterday, an Airbus A320 in the Hertz special livery was christened in hangar 7 at Düsseldorf Airport. Oliver Wagner, Eurowings CCO, and Vincent Gillet, Vice President Marketing International at Hertz, celebrated the official christening during a formal ceremony attended by many guests of honour and employees from both companies. As champagne was poured over the aircraft, the “Hertz plane” was then symbolically incorporated into the Eurowings fleet in Düsseldorf.
Eurowings has been working on a strategic collaboration with its partner Hertz since March 2018. To celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary, Hertz had decided to go for a special livery on a Eurowings Airbus A320. Following the ceremonial act, the first destination in regular service for the newly christened Hertz plane was London where the car rental company’s headquarters are located.
“The new Airbus A320 in special livery is the perfect flying ambassador for our successful partnership with Hertz. At the same time, the christening is our clear commitment to the air traffic location Düsseldorf and the Rhine-Ruhr region,” said Oliver Wagner, Eurowings CCO. “North Rhine-Westphalia depends on the best connections to Europe and the world. And as the leading point-to-point carrier, this is exactly what we offer with our more than 700 direct flights a week out of Düsseldorf. We wish the “Hertz plane” always happy landings!”
Vincent Gillet, Vice President Marketing International at Hertz, said, “The new Airbus A320 with Hertz special livery is a unique ambassador for our strategic partnership with Eurowings and our joint focus on customer excellence. For a year now, the airline’s passengers have been benefitting internationally from our attractive car rental offers and our fast services from rental car booking to vehicle return. The Hertz plane from Eurowings makes this partnership between our two companies internationally visible both on the ground and in the air.”
Nine days of demanding painting work on the Hertz Airbus A320
The distinctive design of the Eurowings aircraft with the Hertz look had presented the painters with a formidable challenge. They managed it with thorough preparation and by working closely with designers, graphic artists, paint specialists, technicians, painters and engineers during the nine-day layover at the East Midlands Airport (Nottingham/UK) where at times up to 20 people were working on the aircraft simultaneously.
The new livery of the Hertz plane took around 250 kg of paint. This was special paint applied in a single coat that nevertheless gave the aircraft an especially high-gloss appearance. The paint has a lot to accomplish. During operation, it not only has to protect the aircraft’s outer skin from corrosion due to wind, weather, kerosene and hydraulic fluid, it also has to brave the severe temperature fluctuations on the ground and in flight (approx. +30 /-60 °C) and the surface stresses due to changes in the pressurised cabin while cruising.
On the day of the roll-out, it was not only the painters but also the plane spotters who were impressed. Even before the aircraft landed at its home base in Düsseldorf, the first photos of the special livery, taken from the airport fence in Nottingham, could be seen on the Internet.
12 February 2019
