In 1992, as ANA was celebrating 500.000.000 passengers carried since its foundation, employees raised the idea of organising a countrywide competition among junior high school students to find the best special scheme design for the next 747-400 Domestic to be delivered. The contest started in December 1992 and 12-year old girl Yukie Ogaki (who is now a designer) won with this design based on a whale. Her idea was to paint a whale that was eager to fly in the immensity of the sky.
The livery was applied before the delivery of JA8963 at the Boeing factories in Seattle in August 1993. Marine Jumbo landed for the first time in Tokyo-Haneda on September 2, 1993. Revenue service started on September 12 with a first visit to Sapporo. The airline published the anticipated assigned routes of the aircraft in its timetable so it could be seen by as many people as possible. The aircraft became an attraction at every airport it visited. Onboard sales of related products was also strong, and at a time when domestic demand was relatively weak, this aircraft was cited as a factor that helped ANA increase its passenger numbers. Marine Jumbo also proved to be a very highly successful PR ambassador for the airline until its retirement. This aircraft made history as the first real special livery on a 747 and paved the way for many logojets at ANA and competitor JAL. Note the design was different on the two sides of the fuselage.
With the success of the "Marine Jumbo" design and in order to reach smaller airports that could not welcome the 747, All Nippon decided to paint a 767 in a similar scheme. Marine Jumbo Junior, a brand new 767, was delivered to ANA on December 4, 1993. The 767 made its first revenue flight on December 13 between Haneda and Toyama. While the plans initially called for both planes to be repainted in January 1995, the process was delayed because ANA needed extra capacity in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake after which some Shinkansen services were interrupted. The scheme was finally retired on May 31, 1995. A commemorating plate was added at the entrance of the cabin of both aircraft. Although it has not been used since, Marine Jumbo is a registered trademark of ANA.
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