Pokémon Airplanes

Returning to the subject of Pokémon vehicles, the subtopic of Pokémon airplanes as I've described it in the previous post might seem uninteresting, but it's actually quite the contrary. These are still fascinating to behold, especially for any fan of Pokémon, even in the way I've described them, which remains true. Therefore, I've decided to spearhead the relevant bits and put them in a post to highlight their fascinating quality.

The Pokémon airplanes, each known formally as a "Pokémon Jet", are passenger planes that feature fuselages that are decorated with liveries of Pokémon images from head to tail. Many of these are (or actually were) operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA), or in the case of one, a subsidiary of it. Besides being decorated on the outside, though, these airplanes also feature a total Pokémon experience inside with included paraphernalia for passengers to enjoy. It has to be clear that the experience is intended to be full.

Many of the airplanes are passenger planes for the domestic market, although in one case it was one that could serve international routes. The first planes featured the first generation, then up to the second, up to the third, and up to the fifth, and they were also intended to tie in with the movies of the respective generations. None of these liveries appear on the planes anymore, and the planes that used to have them were themselves retired. Recently, though, Solaseed Air, the subsidiary as mentioned above, unveiled an Exeggutor-themed plane with both forms, and even the species became representative of the airline.

Evidently, the Pokémon airplanes are quite popular. They drove passenger numbers for the airline, certainly because Pokémon itself is quite popular. The new Exeggutor plane is fairly recent, but it may become viable as well in this regard. It is of note that the airline industry isn't doing well at the moment because of current conditions, but when the time comes to recover, the new Exeggutor plane might help with things, even a little bit, just like earlier Pokémon airplanes did in general.

With the Pokémon airplanes, the fascination is really there. Passengers get a unique Pokémon experience, and the airlines get a boost of things (hopefully so for the latest iteration of these airplanes). Appearance-wise, they still do resemble an itasha more so than a full-blown Pokémon transformation of a plane, but that seems to be irrelevant considering the interest they arouse for all parties, including fans like me.

One year ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 4/25/2020

Two years ago: The World Is All Here

Three years ago: I'll Be... The One

Four years ago: Shuffling in Alola