American Airlines unveils its new logo and look

The familiar red, white and blue stripes along the side of the fuselage are gone, replaced by a new logo and “American” in large letters on the silver body. Red and blue horizontal bars are emblazoned on the tail.

“We thought it was time to update the look — it's been 40 years,” Thomas Horton, CEO of American's parent, AMR Corp., said in an interview.

The new livery was painted on a Boeing 777-300 that was flown into Fort Worth, Texas, overnight and was to be shown to the public later Thursday. The plane goes into service Jan. 31.

American expects about one-third of its fleet, or roughly 200 planes, will sport the new look by the end of the year with the rest to be repainted within five years. The makeover will extend to airport signs, self-help kiosks and American's website.

American declined to say how much the “rebranding” campaign will cost.

Horton said planning for the redesign began in the summer of 2011, when American announced it would buy hundreds of new planes from Boeing and Airbus, many of which will be made of composite material that can't easily be painted in American's traditional polished-aluminum look.