PPG is to partner with UK airline brand and design consultancy Aerobrand to provide airline customers with a service that combines paint supply with livery design.

The partnership will enable customers to work closely with designers to create custom paint colours and give direct input on the design of their livery at PPG Livery Lab aircraft coatings and design facilities in Burbank, California, and Shildon, UK.

Customers will be able to visit a PPG Livery Lab aircraft coatings and design facility and work with PPG and Aerobrand technical experts to create their design “using the many colour and performance technologies available”, the companies said.

“Our partnership with Aerobrand will prove invaluable for our customers on many levels,” said PPG global director, coatings and sealants, aerospace Sam Millikin. “This direct collaboration between our colour formulators and Aerobrand’s outstanding livery design team offers airlines a creative solution that will increase the speed and reduce the cost of these services compared to obtaining them separately.”

Aerobrand’s chief executive officer David Hedley Noble commented: “We are extremely pleased to leverage our years of experience in aircraft livery design with PPG’s coatings expertise, and to work together in the lab. As we look to the future, there are many exciting new initiatives in the aerospace coatings world and this partnership with PPG enables us to offer our clients in-depth knowledge of these technologies and their real-world application.”

Other benefits of this collaboration include cost estimates with the paint volume requirement built in, which leads to reduced waste and cost savings, PPG noted.