Southwest Airlines "Sports Illustrated One"

Southwest Airlines unveiled a temporary plane, “SI One,” at New York’s LaGuardia airport this morning in conjunction with the release of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. This plane, N922, is wrapped with a temporary decal featuring the cover model from the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

This partnership with Sports Illustrated gives Southwest unparalleled publicity to the millions of potential Customers living in the largest media market in the world. And it reinforces Southwest Airlines’ Fun-LUVing Attitude to millions of consumers and sports fans from coast to coast. We certainly would have regretted it if the opportunity to be associated with the largest selling magazine issue in the world had instead gone to one of our competitors in the New York market.

As we prepare to begin service to New York’s LaGuardia airport this year, we needed a monumental publicity event to create buzz and awareness in this market. New York is one of the most saturated media markets in the world, and the event to unveil SI One shows New Yorkers and potential Customers that Southwest Airlines is not a “typical” airline. This project is an opportunity to let Customers know we are coming to New York, remind them that Southwest is FUN, daring, and ready to serve, and that we take our business seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

(Southwest Airlines)