To signal the arrival of the Jet-Age for North Central Airlines, the airline's long time image designer, Karl Brocken, came up with this fresh new look for the brand new Douglas DC-9-31 series aircraft. The modern geometric feather design was continued, but the main cheat line color changed from red to aqua. This color also happened to be the favorite of Charlotte Westberg, long time secretary to President and Chairman, Hal Carr. Gold and navy blue remained as supporting colors for the new livery, which was also used on the newly converted Convair 580 turboprops.

It was decided to eliminate the gold trim due to the cost and difficulty in maintaining the color. This simplified livery was applied starting in 1972 to the DC-9-31 models and Convair 580's. All DC-9-51 models were delivered with this scheme starting with Ship 851 (N760NC) in April of 1976 (shown above). Except for a few experimental color schemes in 1978-79 (below), this was the livery used by all North Central aircraft until July of 1979 when the airline purchased Southern Airways to form Republic.