China Airlines unveils ‘Pikachu Jet’ airbus in famous anime colors

September 28, Taiwan’s flag carrier China Airlines introduced its Pikachu Jet CI, which became the island’s first Pokemon livery aircraft and is already recognized as the most colorful aircraft in China Airlines’ history. The unique livery was applied to an Airbus A321neo with registration number B-18101, which was also the first aircraft of this type delivered to the airline last November.

China Airlines took part in the Japanese company The Pokemon Company’s “Flying Pikachu Project”. In turn, The Pokemon Company developed a fuselage livery exclusively for the Taiwanese carrier. The livery, which features 11 Pokémon including Pikachu, took approximately three weeks to complete using 36 types of paint. Above the cockpit window is a hidden egg with Pikachu and Shaymin as if they were flying the plane.

China Airlines Chairman Su-Chien Xie noted the “considerable effort” made to create the airbus livery: “The Airbus A321neo selected for this livery is the latest new generation passenger aircraft to be introduced by China Airlines. Painting the livery was an international effort involving China Airlines maintenance engineers and Japanese paint experts all the way to Taiwan.”

On September 30, the carrier organized a one-day charity microtrip from Taoyuan to Taipei, after which 80 limited seats on the plane were sold out in nine minutes by fans of the Pokémon franchise. On October 2, Pikachu Jet CI made its first commercial flight on the Taipei-Tokyo route.

Nikolai Antipin