STARLUX’s AIRSORAYAMA project represents a unique collaboration with artist Hajime Sorayama, merging luxury, innovation, and authenticity, establishing an enduring livery that resonates with cultural relevance beyond typical airline marketing.
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Hawaiian Airlines recently revealed its new oneworld aircraft, albeit without the physical presence of the plane due to painting delays. The subtle addition of the Hawaiian phrase “Aloha a puni ka honua” signifies a cultural embrace that challenges traditional airline alliance designs, promoting authenticity while announcing alliance membership. This shift opens up broader discussions on how airlines can express identity through more than just aesthetics.
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Emirates recently showcased a bold display of national pride by adorning an Airbus A380 with the UAE flag, reinforcing unity amidst regional challenges. Alongside this initiative, the airline announced a significant staff bonus, reflecting its confidence and stability in a sensitive industry. While the design has its critiques, the message of resilience is clear.
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Peach Aviation celebrates its 15th anniversary with a rebrand that reflects maturity while retaining its playful identity. Collaborating with nendo, the new design incorporates Japanese culture, softer typography, and thoughtful details. The brand’s challenge lies in extending this identity into actual experiences, ensuring depth beyond aesthetics.
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Alaska Airlines has launched its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a new livery intended to reflect its global ambitions. However, the design draws comparisons to competitors and lacks distinctive branding, notably omitting the iconic Eskimo man face. Instead, it combines elements that other airlines offer, resulting in a muddled identity.
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Brussels Airlines celebrates a decade of special liveries with the latest design, “The Atomium,” honoring Belgium’s creativity and pride. Architect Thomas Faes won a competition to realize the concept, which involved significant collaboration and technical refinement. The aircraft’s interior thematically complements the exterior, enriching the passenger experience with historical insights.
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Korean Air has finally introduced a new brand, replacing the iconic baby blue livery that’s graced the skies since 1984. The livery and new brand comes as the airline starts its combination of Asiana into Korean Air. In an interesting, and perhaps baffling approach the airline’s planes will now sport the word “Korean”, instead of…
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A few months ago, I covered the new Riyadh Air livery, and how that in principal it’s one of the most elegant new liveries in the skies, but it the logotype on the fuselage was a little too dominant for an elegant, premium carrier. Well, it seems like they’ve listened, as not only their new…
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Beond is an interesting proposition. Through the hype and slightly clumsy press launch, there’s a glimmer of something quite adventurous that could actually work once the kinks are ironed out. Connecting via Dubai certainly doesn’t make for a luxurious experience from Europe to the Maldives, but it’s no different to how many already get there.…
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Now those with a good memory will notice that the announcement of Saudia’s new brand feels a little bit familiar. That’s for good reason. Saudia’s latest livery is actually a previous incarnation of the brand image from the 1980s. A time when futurism was based on a mix between brutalism and pixelated screen technology, which…
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It might have been a long time coming, infact, we’ve known about this rebrand for a while, but Eurowings Discover has finally broken free of its Eurowings shackles to become an airline in it’s own right. And yes, yet another airline in Lufthansa’s grand arsenal of airline brands. Pitched clearly as a competitor to rival…
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It seems we’re seeing a resurgence of colour in the aviation industry. While early 2000’s saw a wave of cost effective ‘Eurowhite’ liveries which were anything but inspiring, this month has seen not just Riyadh Air launch a bold new colourful look, but now JetBlue joins the ranks of refreshingly striking all-over liveries. Somewhat reminiscent…
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Riyadh Air, the new Saudi Arabian airline, headed up by veteran CEO Tony Douglas has just unveiled the first of two liveries that will adorn the airline’s fleet on Instagram earlier today. The airline has certainly decided to stand out with a bold, metallic purple look that will draw attention as it touches down to…
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Alaska Airlines has had a long-time relationship with the Alaskan Salmon, In fact, in 1932, the airline took its first flight between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, home of the world’s most extensive sockeye salmon run. Since then its constantly been a part of distributing salmon across the States, so celebrating this ironic Alaskan export makes…
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The update to a livery for an airline with a large fleet is a costly, and arduous undertaking. A dramatic shift in livery and brand can create inconsistency for years while a fleet is repainted, and too subtle a shift can be seen as folly. But sometimes the arrival of a new sub-fleet can bring…
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Pokemon characters certainly don’t seem scared of flying, after all, there have been multiple themed aircraft from the franchise over the years. The latest – and first to grace Taiwan – can be found on China Airlines aptly named “Pikachu Jet CI”. The design is fairly complex, and took no less than 21 days to…
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Condor revealed perhaps the bravest new livery and brand image today we’ve seen in a decade. Actively opting to shun its previous looks and celebrate its leisure market, the airline has adopted a bold new, deck chair and beach towel inspired (I kid you not) livery. No, it’s not April 1st, and we did have…
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Following ANA’s announcement that it was going to launch a new airline brand back in 2020, details have emerged today of how this brand will look. Dubbed ‘AirJapan’, ANA’s new carrier is “a new airline brand for medium-haul international routes.” Air Japan is actually just one part of ANA’s transformation of its business model to…
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Alaska Airlines isn’t shy of special liveries. In fact, its first ‘Salmon Thirty Salmon’ livery – which celebrated the airline’s involvement with the shipment of the precious and tasty cargo –was so popular it returned in 2012. While the airline isn’t the only US carrier to adorn their aircraft with marine life, with Southwest also…
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To be honest, we’re not really that sure why Icelandair has done this, but it has decided to update and refresh its once elegant brand, simplifying and stripping back originality. Instead opting for a low-cost looking approach with large billboard titles and basic graphic tails. What’s more baffling is how Icelandair have positioned the dramatic…
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You won’t be blamed if you’ve not heard of Northern Pacific, however in the past few days it’s been making some waves as it seemingly is starting to ramp up its operations. There’s discussion of a launch event in Anchorage later in the month, where we’ll get to understand a little bit more about this…
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Brands create identities to stand out, visually represent what they stand for and what they do. Simple brand images are the ones that work best, if we said golden arches, globally everyone would know we’re talking about McDonalds. A bitten apple, Apple. The list may be short, but iconic. Airlines also have to stand out…
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Emirates, the Premier Partner and Official Airline of Expo 2020 Dubai, has just revealed yet another bold head-turning A380 livery. This time, dedicated to further carrying the delayed global event’s messages worldwide. However, it’s not the first livery to support the Expo. Eagle eyes may have noticed a circular pattern on many of their fleet.…
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British Airways has just launched ‘BA Better World’, its new sustainability programme. While many airlines have already got active sustainability programmes, the airline said this marked a further commitment to put sustainability at the heart of its business. It has ambitions from reducing emissions and waste and positively contributing to the communities it serves, to creating a great place for people to…
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From the embers of Norwegian’s long-haul ambitions comes a new LCC determined to pick up where the now much smaller airline left off. Today saw the grand reveal of the carrier’s new brand image and livery, which will be sure to get investors excited prior to the anticipated Spring 2022 launch. “We strongly believe that…
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Hawaiian Airlines announced last week that unfortunately it will not restart its ‘Ohana by Hawaiian passenger service between Honolulu and Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i as well as its statewide ATR freighter cargo service. This draws a close to this unique daughter brand of Hawaiian Airlines, and with it, the striking livery designed by Sig Zane and son…
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Last week, Airbus opened its paint hangar doors in Mirabel and let us peek inside where the latest aircraft is being painted for Air Canada. Instead of the usual black and white ‘Raccoon mask’ livery that Air Canada is now sporting across its fleet, the airline has opted to nod to its history, revealing its…
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You may have headed to the Maldives recently, in a bid to escape the confines of constant lockdowns and an approaching Northern Hemisphere winter. With Maldives being one of the only destinations that has been open to tourism for many, its quickly shifted from the honeymoon destination of dreams to a must-visit for those just…
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For the foreseeable future, we’re going to be seeing fewer special liveries while airlines try to save cash and focus on a service return, so those rare few that do roll out will certainly garner some attention now. Qatar Airways is one of the first in this period to reveal a special livery, and naturally,…
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MEA doesn’t often feature on TheDesignAir, as it has slipped under the radar for a while with its older fleet and less-than-design approach to aviation. However it seems the airline has turned a corner and is featuring firmly on our radar now. While not as ‘bells and whistles’ as many other Middle Eastern carriers, it…
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