For science fiction fans worldwide, today marks Star Wars Day, celebrated on May 4th every year to informally commemorate the movies. The date has been chosen as it sounds like "may the force be with you," a key catchphrase from the films. With this in mind, let's check out which carriers have had Star Wars liveries.

United Airlines

As seen in the featured image at the top of the article, United Airlines has used one of its Boeing 737-800s to advertise the popular movie franchise. According to ATDB.aero, the aircraft (N36272) received its special livery in November 2019. This coincided with the launch of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker the following month.

What made this livery all the more special was the fact that it was different on each side. Indeed, the right of the aircraft had a red winglet, while the one on the left was blue. These represent the film's two opposing factions, whose spacecraft are also seen on their respective sides of the plane. The 737, which was originally delivered to Continental Airlines in 2001, wore the livery until February this year.

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The blue side of the special livery. Photo: United Airlines

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LATAM

LATAM, specifically its Brazilian division, is another example of a carrier that launched a Star Wars-themed livery in 2019. This particular color scheme was applied in September of that year to a Boeing 777-300ER registered as PT-MUA.

Instead of advertising a particular film in the franchise, it functions as a moving billboard for the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge area at both Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The design features the iconic and distinctive stormtrooper's helmet, which can be seen on its tail and nose.

LATAM Brasil Boeing 777-32W(ER) PT-MUA
PT-MUA continues to wear its Star Wars-themed livery today. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

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ANA

Japanese carrier ANA, known in full as All Nippon Airways, actually had three aircraft with Star Wars-based paint jobs in its fleet until fairly recently. This came to an end earlier this year when it removed JA789A, a 12-year-old Boeing 777-300ER whose livery resembled the astromech droid BB-8, from its fleet.

Nonetheless, two Star Wars-liveried jets remain in ANA's fleet today, with these also resembling some of the franchise's most iconic droids. For instance, JA743A is a Boeing 777-200ER whose yellow livery pays tribute to the polyglot C-3PO. Meanwhile, the paint job seen on JA-873A, a Boeing 787-9, is based on R2-D2.

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ANA has close ties to the Star Wars franchise. Photo: Getty Images

Virgin Atlantic

As we saw earlier, the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at two Disney theme parks in the US prompted LATAM to devise a special livery to commemorate the matter. As it happens, the South American giant was not the only carrier to have had such an idea. Indeed, Virgin Atlantic also marked the opening with a 747 livery.

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747
G-VLIP ended its career wearing the Star Wars livery. Photo: Adam Moreira via Wikimedia Commons

As seen in the photograph above, this was applied to a Boeing 747-400 registered as G-VLIP, and featured the iconic 'Millenium Falcon' spacecraft. Funnily enough, Star Wars wasn't the first film franchise promoted by the aircraft, as it also previously wore a Harry Potter livery. The double-decker aircraft was retired in 2020.

Which of these liveries is your favorite? Have you ever flown on any of these special aircraft? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!