2008 marked nearly 14 years that Leading Edge had been painting Northwest Airlines. Over this period hundreds of aircraft were
painted by Leading Edge through the old livery known as the “Bowling Shoe” to the new silver mica that debuted in 2006. In mid-2008 painting of the fleet was halted as negotiations for a merger with Delta became serious and in December 2008, Leading Edge got the call that would launch the most aggressive livery transition in commercial aviation history. The task: transform the entire Northwest fleet to Delta colors by early 2010—an aggressive goal that many in the industry deemed impossible, even for the world’s largest aircraft painting company.
“When Delta came to us just over a year ago, it was probably the single biggest and most aggressive piece of business that we, and the industry, had ever seen,” said Dave Patterson, Executive Vice President, Leading Edge. “To achieve that kind of volume within that short of a time frame is virtually unheard of. To take on that challenge with an already solid list of bookings takes a lot of commitment, creativity and capacity—capacity that only Leading Edge could handle.”
Working closely with the Delta team, Leading Edge stepped into high gear configuring its facilities for this aggressive program and began the monumental task of converting over 350 Northwest aircraft to Delta colors. The logistics of spooling up the facilities, employees, and the sheer volume of materials required to flow every day was a huge undertaking. Utilizing the company’s 16 bay capacity for narrow bodies and three wide body hangars including a hangar in Malaysia, the project operated around the clock, working through all holidays 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Leading Edge base customers, as well as the Delta project, operated per plan and on schedule for 14 months.
“It certainly was a test for us, but we successfully transformed the entire fleet in just 14 months without compromising our ability to service our existing customer base,” said Patterson.
For a time-lapse perspective of how Leading Edge painted the aircraft, visit www.leadingedgecorp.com/deltavideo
“Although this merger was conceived in the boardroom, in many ways it was born here in our hangars as a steady stream of NWA emerged with freshly-painted Delta schemes,” said Mike Manclark, CEO, Leading Edge. “This is an achievement unrivaled in the aircraft painting industry. It’s been hard work but we are proud of ourselves for the performance on this project.” With the help and assistance of the amazing coordination of the Delta team this project achieved a feat that may never be repeated.
