Behind the scenes of the Air Tahiti brand

TheDesignAir often references how colourful, vibrant and culturally diverse the Pacific is, and why its given birth to some of the most vibrant and exciting airline brands, liveries and uniforms in the skies. We take a look at Air Tahiti, one of the bigger brands in the region, but often overlooked by its long-haul rival (and not to be confused with) Air Tahiti Nui. We speak with Moearii Darius, head of Marketing for the airline.

Thank you Moearii for spending the time with us. For those who might not have heard about your airline, can you tell us little bit about Air Tahiti?

Air Tahiti – the main carrier in Tahiti and her islands across French Polynesia – covers a network as vast as Europe and has been connecting Tahiti to the outer islands, for 65 years. Our airline has been following the paths of our Polynesian legendary heroes, like Maui, Hiro, Tafai, who used to fish islands with magic hooks a long time ago, in order to connect people.

The history of Air Tahiti is closely linked to the history of aviation in French Polynesia. The company started as RAI seaplanes, then became Air Polynesie, before finally becoming Air Tahiti in 1987 operating ATR turboprops.

In 2017, as part of the celebration of thirty years of partnership with the aeronautic manufacturer ATR as well as the company’s birthday happening the following year, Air Tahiti unveiled the first two liveries with traditional tattoos, which made Air Tahiti the first airline in the world bearing tattoos. Inspired by ancestral Polynesian motifs that were designed by the students of the CMA (French Polynesia School of Fine Arts) these new liveries incarnate a stronger and more contemporary expression of the airline’s Polynesian identity.

Air Tahiti is also involved in reducing it’s impact on the environment through many actions including supporting associations protecting endangered species or growing corals. It also aims at promoting Polynesian languages and cultures, as well as social actions for our local communities in Tahiti and the other archipelagoes. Air Tahiti, is connecting the islands and the people.

The tattoos are a pretty iconic look for your carrier, can you tell us a little bit more about the brand and look?

This work has been carried out with the collaboration of ADHETEC, global leader in aircraft marking. In 2023, as the airline turned 65 years old, the latest airplane in the fleet, Atanua, was entirely painted by ATR with Marquesas tattoo designs. Four aircraft now form the special “Tatau” livery fleet and the designs also distill down to inside the cabins too.

Through the choice of these patterns, the company sought to illustrate the essential link “Te Natira’a” that it embodies between the populations, the visitors, the islands and the different archipelagos. Our staff instill this ethos each day with our travelers, by offering them a warm and authentic welcome in accordance with the welcoming traditions specific to the Polynesian culture.

You operate in an exciting, culturally rich part of the world, how has that shaped your services and your brand ?

We operate in French Polynesia, a culturally rich and stunningly beautiful region, in the centre of the Pacific region. Air Tahiti communication is proudly influenced by traditional Polynesian culture, an aspect which can be seen through our storytelling. This storytelling is at the base of all the branding we did : liveries, cabin interiors, logo. We use traditions and make them contemporary using modern technology.

We also promote the traditions of the different archipelagoes that we serve : Society, Austral, Gambier, Tuamotu, Marquesas. Each one has a unique microculture across language, arts and crafts. Our service embraces the authenticity and warmth of Polynesian culture while connecting the scattered islands and its people.

For example, this design is an ancient pattern from tattoos and petroglyphs, meaning people holding hands, known as “the link”. It has been developed, as well as the rest of our designs, by the students of the CMA (French Polynesia School of Fine Arts) in Tahiti.

Your liveries look exciting, is each one unique ? Can you tell us a little bit about the motifs and what they represent ?

Air Tahiti has four different “Tatau” liveries and each one is unique. Ra’ireva and Te Anuanua aircraft wear Tahitian tattoos, Tapuata has Austral islands inspiration and the last, and most recent one, launched this year – Atanua – is Marquesan.

What was the process for coming up with this brand identity ? Did it take long ? How many people were involved ? How many versions were created etc… ? How does this design distill down to other parts of your passenger experience ? Such as your uniforms, check in counters, etc ?

For our rebranding we based our work on a storytelling inspired by an ancient legend and on our logo. A Polynesian anthropologist was involved. Work was ordered to the the CMA (French Polynesia School of Fine Arts). They did dozens of proposals for each aircraft.

Once the selection was done, we worked with Oxygen communication agency to prepare the files for ATR to validate them. Then for 3 aircraft, ADHETEC leader in sticker marking for airlines, was involved with our Maintenance Direction. And the last aircraft was the first one whose designs were painted by ATR in Toulouse.

All the company’s communication is the results of this storytelling. The identity of Air Tahiti is reflected through the Polynesian tattoos used in all our communication, services and which decorate our aircrafts. They are present in our advertising campaigns, on our cabin interiors, on our agencies, on our inflight products (pareo, bags, etc), etc.

For our uniforms, we use the white shirt and hook on the sleeves for the men. For ladies, we decided with the personnel that we would use many colours, as we feel, it shows the colour and the culture of Tahiti and the outer islands.

What does the future hold for Air Tahiti ? Could we see new aircraft anytime soon ? Maybe international flights ?

Today, our airline is 65 years, and we hope to keep this adventure extend as long as we can. We just received a brand new ATR72-600 aircraft with a special livery registered as F-ORVX and named “Atanua” which means ‘Rainbow’. It is the 12th ATR aircraft presently operated by Air Tahiti and the 35th ordered by our airline to ATR since 1987, and we hope that it continues to serve us well for many years to come.

www.airtahiti.com

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