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Read the press release here.

Giant JetBlue Sign Lights Up Long Island City Skyline

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | August 30, 2012 1:23pm

LONG ISLAND CITY — The Long Island City skyline just got brighter.

The massive JetBlue sign atop the building's headquarters was lit during a ceremony Wednesday evening, joining other iconic signs on the Queens waterfront, including a bright red Pepsi-Cola sign at Gantry Plaza State Park.

Several elected officials turned out for the ceremony, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

"New York City's iconic skyline is a little brighter tonight, thanks to the success of JetBlue," said Bloomberg, who flipped the switch along with JetBlue President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Barger.

"It's a great day for a company when it sees its name written in lights at the center of the global economy, and the new sign announces loud and clear that Long Island City is a world-class place to do business and create jobs."

With 1,000 employees in Long Island City, JetBlue has become one of the largest employers in the neighborhood. It moved its headquarters earlier this year from Forest Hills to the historic seven-story Brewster Building at 27-01 Queens Plaza North.

"We are proud to have our brand illuminated in the New York City skyline," said Barger. "It is not only about doing business here, it is about being engrained in the community and bringing a little bit of New York with us everywhere we go."

The airline said it wanted its massive LED sign to be as memorable as the other eye-catching signs in the area, such as Pepsi-Cola, IDCNY and Silvercup Studios, and had designed it to have a similar look — individually letters mounted on a frame.

The "J" is the tallest letter on the sign, which is blue during the day and glows bright white at night, measuring 25 feet and 4 inches.

A time-lapse video of the construction of the sign - built by the Going Sign Company of Plainview, N.Y. - can be watched here.