Rolling out Illinois One

So it was back to the office today after a week of working in Asia last week. It wasn't too bad today and for that I was grateful. I was only in the office until 2PM as I had to drive down to Chicagoland's other airport, the hole that is Midway, for an event at the Southwest Airlines facility.

Turns out it was for the unveiling of their 12th special livery - this time it's "Illinois One."

There was a lot of the usual Southwest goofiness displayed but also a tremendous sense of pride by the hundreds of employees that were there. It was cool to be a guest at the rollout and to see the plane. It was a stunningly beautiful day here - the long-forgotten sun was out and the skies were a wonderful blue. So it made for a cool backdrop when the hangar doors were rolled back, revealing the new plane. Southwest's CEO, Gary Kelly, and their President, an extremely matronly Colleen Barret, were there, as well Southwest's legendary founder, Herb Kelleher. Bono gets a quieter reception than this man!

Governor Blagejovich and Mayor Daley were there too. I was hoping for a cagematch between those two but it didn't happen. Blagejovich was roundly booed when he was introduced. He really is an ineffective governor and Daley really can't stand him. And you know, you really don't want to cross Daley. I mean, this is Chicago politics after all...