A History of Graphic Design: Chapter 91: Visual Communication in the Branding of Airlines

Chapter 91: Visual Communication in the Branding of Airlines

Airline branding occupies a distinctive position within the history and practice of visual communication. Few commercial brands are encountered under such unusual circumstances: an airline's identity is seen not only on advertisements, websites, tickets, and airport signage, but also on aircraft fuselages, boarding passes, uniforms, baggage tags, lounges, vehicles, and an extraordinary variety of digital interfaces. The logo and visual identity therefore become highly visible ambassadors of the company. They must function across radically different scales and environments while communicating, often within a fraction of a second, a sense of reliability, competence, movement, and contemporary relevance.

At its most fundamental level, visual communication in airline branding attempts to give visible form to qualities that passengers cannot directly observe before purchasing a ticket. Safety, technical competence, reliability, hospitality, punctuality, comfort, and organizational professionalism are largely intangible promises. A logo cannot demonstrate that an aircraft is safe, nor can a colour scheme guarantee good service. Nevertheless, visual identity contributes to the symbolic environment through which passengers form their expectations. Branding is therefore not a substitute for operational excellence; rather, it is the visual expression of an organization's attempt to establish credibility and differentiate itself within a highly competitive market.

Airlines, like banks and other institutions in which trust is central to the consumer relationship, have traditionally tended to be relatively conservative in their branding. This conservatism is understandable. When a passenger boards an aircraft, the company is asking for an unusually high degree of trust. Radical experimentation in visual identity can therefore carry greater risks than it might for a fashion label, restaurant, or entertainment company. As a consequence, airline branding has frequently displayed what might be described as a form of visual convergence or even a "herd mentality." Different companies repeatedly employ similar visual metaphors: stylized birds, wings, aircraft tails, stars, globes, horizons, aerodynamic curves, sweeping lines, and forms suggesting upward or forward movement.

This repetition is not entirely accidental. The aircraft itself provides an obvious vocabulary of visual metaphors. Wings suggest flight; upward movement suggests progress; curves suggest speed and aerodynamic efficiency; horizons evoke distance and exploration; and birds provide an ancient symbolic association with freedom. Yet the very familiarity of these metaphors creates a fundamental challenge for the designer. When dozens of competitors communicate essentially the same concepts through essentially the same symbols, the task is no longer simply to represent "flight." It is to create a distinctive visual language capable of occupying a recognizable position within an already crowded symbolic field.

Typography has followed a similar pattern. Sans-serif typefaces are particularly common because they generally offer clarity, legibility, and a contemporary appearance. They can be reproduced effectively on aircraft, airport signage, digital displays, mobile applications, and printed material. Yet the choice of typeface is never merely a technical decision. Its proportions, rhythm, weight, spacing, and relationship to the symbol contribute to the personality of the airline. A geometric sans serif may suggest technological sophistication, while a more humanist design can communicate warmth and accessibility. The designer must therefore reconcile functional legibility with symbolic character.

The same principle applies to colour. Blue and red have historically been prominent in airline identities, but the widespread claim that blue automatically communicates calm and trust while red necessarily communicates strength, energy, or courage should be treated with considerable caution. Colour psychology is neither universal nor mechanically predictable. The emotional meaning of a colour depends upon cultural context, surrounding colours, saturation, brightness, proportion, typography, imagery, and the circumstances in which the viewer encounters it.

Blue, for example, may indeed evoke calmness, stability, distance, or trust in particular contexts. Yet it can also suggest coldness, melancholy, remoteness, or even anxiety. Red may signify energy and vitality, but it can equally evoke danger, aggression, anger, passion, celebration, or urgency. Meaning is consequently produced through interaction rather than through the isolated presence of a particular colour.

The histories of major airlines provide compelling evidence against simplistic colour formulas. Lufthansa's familiar identity, for example, historically combined a dark blue crane with a yellow field, producing a distinctive visual language quite different from the stereotypical red-and-blue airline palette. Alitalia's identity drew heavily upon the colours associated with the Italian national visual tradition, while Aer Lingus has long incorporated green, connecting the airline's identity with Ireland. The successful histories of such airlines demonstrate that there is no universal colour combination capable of communicating safety, comfort, or reliability. These qualities emerge from the coherence and cultural resonance of the complete identity system.

Nor is the proposition that red and blue necessarily "balance each other well" an adequate principle of design. Colours do not automatically achieve harmony simply because they are conventionally associated with particular psychological meanings. Their effectiveness depends upon proportion, value, saturation, spatial relationship, typography, imagery, and the overall composition. A poorly designed red-and-blue identity remains poorly designed. Conversely, a carefully constructed identity using an unconventional palette can achieve remarkable memorability and distinction.

The artistic quality of a logo is therefore not a superficial matter. Elegance, proportion, balance, rhythm, simplicity, originality, and visual coherence are fundamental components of effective communication. A logo that is visually confused, poorly proportioned, or stylistically inconsistent can undermine the credibility of the organization it represents. This is particularly important in aviation because the passenger cannot independently verify many of the qualities promised by the airline before the journey begins. The visual identity becomes one of the first available signals from which expectations are formed.

This does not mean that passengers consciously reason, "The logo is elegant, therefore the aircraft is safe." The relationship is subtler. Branding operates through cumulative impressions. A coherent identity suggests organizational discipline; consistency suggests attention to detail; legibility suggests competence; and visual refinement can contribute to an overall perception of professionalism. Conversely, careless visual communication can generate doubt. The logo is consequently part of a much larger system of trust.

Competition, Liberalisation, and the Transformation of Air Transport

The importance of airline branding has increased alongside the transformation of the aviation industry itself. Over the past several decades, liberalisation, deregulation, technological change, globalization, and the emergence of new business models have substantially altered the structure of air transport. The traditional dominance of national flag carriers has been challenged by private airlines, low-cost carriers, regional operators, international alliances, and increasingly complex networks of cooperation and competition.

Liberalisation has generally increased competitive pressure and created incentives for airlines to differentiate themselves through price, routes, schedules, technology, customer experience, and brand identity. At the same time, mergers, acquisitions, code-sharing agreements, strategic alliances, and the consolidation of airline groups have created increasingly complex corporate structures. In such an environment, visual identity becomes an important instrument for maintaining a recognizable relationship between the corporation and the passenger.

The aircraft itself functions as perhaps the largest moving billboard in the world. An airline's livery can be recognized from a considerable distance, long before the passenger can read the company's name. At an airport, therefore, the tail fin, fuselage markings, colours, and logo participate in an enormous visual conversation among competing carriers. The successful identity must achieve something quite difficult: it must be sufficiently distinctive to be recognized immediately while remaining sufficiently simple to survive reproduction at every scale.

Safety, Service, and the Passenger's Expectations

From the demand side, passengers traditionally place particular emphasis on three broad considerations: safety, affordability, and quality of service. Their relative importance varies according to the passenger, the purpose of travel, income, route, and market conditions, but together they constitute the central foundations of the airline value proposition.

Safety occupies a special position because air travel involves an unusually high degree of dependence upon professional systems, technology, regulation, maintenance, and human competence. Commercial aviation has developed an exceptionally strong safety record, and statistical comparisons generally demonstrate that scheduled commercial flying is far safer, per passenger-distance travelled, than private automobile travel. Yet statistical safety does not eliminate the psychological significance of aviation disasters.

Aviation accidents and incidents possess a distinctive social and psychological impact because they are highly concentrated, visually dramatic, and widely reported. Events such as the destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, which killed all 298 people aboard, demonstrated not only the vulnerability of civil aviation but also the extent to which aviation can become entangled in geopolitical conflict. Other disasters and disappearances have similarly reminded the public that statistical safety does not eliminate catastrophic risk. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, for example, became one of the most consequential mysteries in modern aviation and profoundly affected public perceptions of air travel.

For an airline, therefore, safety cannot be reduced to a marketing message. It must be embedded in organizational culture, maintenance practices, pilot training, engineering standards, operational procedures, emergency preparedness, and regulatory compliance. Advertising can promise safety, but only sustained operational performance can establish it. Indeed, the strongest airline brands are ultimately constructed not by advertising agencies but by thousands of employees whose daily decisions determine whether the promises represented by the brand are credible.

Service quality operates according to a similar principle. Passengers evaluate an airline through numerous encounters: booking, check-in, baggage handling, airport assistance, boarding, cabin service, food, seating, entertainment, communication during delays, and the resolution of problems. Each interaction either confirms or contradicts the identity communicated by the brand.

Consequently, airline branding should not be understood simply as the creation of a logo. The logo is the visible tip of a much larger organizational system. The strongest identities emerge when there is congruence between what an airline says, what it looks like, and what it does.

The Economics of Affordability and the Problem of "Calculated Misery"

Price introduces another difficult dimension into airline branding. It is entirely rational for consumers to expect higher-quality products and services to command higher prices. At the same time, consumers naturally seek the lowest price consistent with the level of quality they require. Producers, for their part, have a legitimate interest in controlling costs and improving productivity through technological innovation, better management, efficient logistics, and economies of scale.

The problem arises when cost reduction ceases to mean efficiency and instead becomes a deliberate degradation of the basic consumer experience.

Some airline business models have been criticized for what might be called "calculated misery": making the basic product sufficiently uncomfortable, inconvenient, or restrictive that passengers are encouraged to purchase additional services to escape the discomfort. Fees for baggage, seat selection, priority boarding, food, greater legroom, flexibility, and other services can create a highly segmented product in which the advertised base fare represents only the beginning of the actual transaction.

There is an important economic distinction here. Unbundling can be efficient when it allows consumers to pay only for the services they value. A passenger travelling for a short period with hand luggage may genuinely prefer a lower fare without checked baggage or a meal. But the strategy becomes questionable when an airline deliberately reduces the quality of its basic service primarily to make paid upgrades appear attractive.

Such a strategy may be profitable, but its sustainability depends upon the competitive environment. If customers repeatedly experience frustration, they may eventually shift their loyalty to competitors offering a better balance between price and service. Moreover, digital platforms have made comparison easier. Passengers can now compare fares, reviews, punctuality, baggage policies, seating arrangements, and ancillary charges with a degree of transparency that was previously unavailable.

The long-term strategic lesson is therefore straightforward: cost leadership is not synonymous with customer degradation. An airline can reduce costs through better aircraft utilization, digitalization, operational efficiency, fuel management, predictive maintenance, streamlined distribution, and intelligent scheduling without necessarily making the passenger experience deliberately unpleasant.

Branding becomes particularly powerful at this point because a brand is ultimately a promise of expected value. If an airline's visual identity communicates elegance, confidence, hospitality, and sophistication while the actual passenger experience communicates inconvenience and indifference, the contradiction eventually weakens the brand. No logo can permanently conceal an organizational failure.

From Logo to Total Visual Experience

Modern airline branding must consequently be understood as a total visual communication system rather than as an isolated logo. The logo establishes the core symbol, but its meaning is reinforced through the livery, typography, colour palette, aircraft interiors, uniforms, airport environments, websites, mobile applications, advertising photography, boarding documents, signage, social-media communication, and even the design of the passenger's digital journey.

The most successful airline identities establish a visual grammar in which all of these elements appear to belong to the same organization. Repetition creates familiarity, while carefully controlled variation prevents monotony. The identity must also remain adaptable because airlines operate simultaneously in physical and digital environments. A symbol that looks impressive on an aircraft tail must also remain recognizable as a small icon on a smartphone screen.

This requirement has strengthened the importance of simplicity. As airline identities increasingly appear on digital platforms, logos must work at very small sizes and under imperfect viewing conditions. Excessive detail can disappear, while overly generic simplification can destroy individuality. The designer must therefore negotiate a delicate balance between simplicity and distinctiveness.

Ultimately, the visual communication of an airline should accomplish three things simultaneously. It should identify the company, differentiate it from competitors, and create an appropriate emotional and intellectual association with the organization. But the most sophisticated branding goes one step further: it creates an expectation that the organization's actual performance must continually validate.

The airline logo is therefore much more than a decorative mark placed upon the tail of an aircraft. It is a compact visual statement about identity, aspiration, competence, and trust. Its effectiveness depends not on the fashionable use of a particular colour or symbol, but on the intelligence with which form, typography, colour, symbolism, corporate strategy, and customer experience are integrated.

In the end, the credibility of an airline's visual identity is inseparable from the credibility of the organization itself. A beautiful logo cannot make an unsafe airline safe, just as an attractive colour scheme cannot compensate indefinitely for poor service. But when thoughtful design is supported by operational excellence, visual communication becomes extraordinarily powerful. The logo then ceases to be merely a sign identifying an airline and becomes a visual shorthand for the accumulated experiences, expectations, and reputation of the institution it represents.

Four liveries adorned Alaska’s jets from 1972 until 1976 – a totem pole, to represent the native culture of Southeast Alaska; a gold miner, to represent the booming gold rush days in Alaska; Russian spires, to represent early Russian heritage in the state of Alaska; and a native Alaskan adorned in a traditional qulittaq (parka with ruff) to represent the Arctic region and its people. Indigenous Alaskans in the Arctic, traditionally of Inupiat or Yupik descent, commonly refer to themselves as Eskimo. In 1976, the company adopted the Eskimo tail fleet-wide, and updated the face to be less stern. The adoption of the four-logo scheme was a bold move for an airline in 1972, and a drastically different look for the 50-year old company.

AeroMexico's logo Eagle Knight emblem, inspired by the ancient culture of the country symbolizing courage, leadership, and fearlessness . The Eagle Knights were an elite class of Aztec warriors, known for their fearlessness and heroism. The logo has been rebranded and modernized.

Air Canada, founded in 1937 as Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), a name it kept using until about fifty years ago when the current name was adopted. Air Canada was originally the French name for the airline, used in conjunction with the TCA moniker for several years until the latter was dropped in 1964. Air Canada contracted Stewart Morrison Roberts (later known as Stewart & Morrison), to develop a modern identity draped in the national colours, red and white. The logo, an encircled maple leaf was designed by Hans Kleefeld, a German-born graphic designer who was creative director at SMR at the time. The logo has been redesigned couple of times, first in 1993 by Diefenbach Elkins who would later become part of Futurebrand who created the current version in 2004.

Russian national carrier Aeroflot founded in Soviet era in 1923, and it has kept its distinctive hammer and sickle logo from that era . Its current livery of red, blue and white however is replaced for blue, orange and silver, with a stylish Russian flag draped across the tail. The company is reluctant to rebrand its 70-year old hammer and sickle symbol. "This is an old Russian brand, which everyone associates with Aeroflot. This logo is so harmonious that is has proved difficult to replace," Aeroflot's deputy director general, Lev Koshlyakov, told the French news agency AFP.

Established in 1946 Alitalia is the flag carrier and national airline of Italy. Alitalia introduced a new logo and livery in 2015 designed by Landor, the same company that designed its identity in 1969. In its press release Landor stated:

By increasing the number of primary colour tones used on the logo’s palette, the modernised livery now portrays greater depth and richness. Inspired in part by the striking lines on Formula 1 racing cars, striations have been added to the red triangular interior of the Alitalia “A,” creating a pinstripe effect which reflects exclusivity, attention to detail, and a strong focus on design.

In 2013 American Airlines rebranded after 40 years. The previous logo, designed by Massimo Vignelli , was replaced by the Flight Symbol, a red and blue eagle crossed with a wing. And every plane will be tagged with a high-velocity abstraction of the American flag on its tail. The reason for rebranding was that AA had ordered 550 new planes, many of which had composite bodies that could not be polished with the mirror shine of the airline's previous fleet.

“What are the things that are relevant from all over the world about America?” Rob Friedman, VP of marketing asked the design team. The old identity was slightly skewed to a more powerful American image. “Technology. Entertainment. Progress. These things people really feel are American attributes,” Futurebrand’s Chief Creative Officer Sven Seger later answers. “We didn’t make this up. It’s from people all over the world. (...) The old identity was slightly skewed to a more powerful American image. We needed to move it to, we call it ‘American spirit.’ What’s the side of America people really, really love,” According to Seger: “People have huge love for the eagle, but not necessarily the eagle in the downward position potentially attacking someone.” So AA kept the eagle, but it ditched the talons and transformed it into the Flight Symbol. It’s both a bird and a wing. But instead of being focused on the hunt, it’s focused on the fligh.

KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. or Royal Dutch Airlines), is founded in 1919. At its establishment, KLM adopted the so-called “finch logo” designed by architect Dirk Roosenburg. It was a winged shield that bore the intertwined letters K, L and M, as well as a crown, reflecting KLM’s royal designation. In 1958, a growing insight prompted the KLM Design Department to research how a greater recognisability could be achieved. This resulted in a recommendation to design a new logo that was more easily readable and could be incorporated into a house style.Their current logo is designed in 1961 and was slightly updated in 1991 by F.H.K. Henrion, a renowned German graphic designer, who turned the image of the crown “inside-out”, with an underlined four dots beneath a cross replacing the old mage of a traditional crown.

After the Iran National Airline was registered as a national company, it officially started under the acronym "HOMA," made by combining initial letters of the Persian phrase. For both brevity and clarity, Iran National Airline changed to IranAir. To choose the logo, a logo competition announcement appeared in Kayhan and Ettelaat newspapers in 1961. Judges came from the College of Fine Arts.

Inspired by an image atop one of the columns at Persepolis, a young Iranian's sketched the competition's winning image. Edward Zohrabian was only 22 when he drew the well enduring logo of the Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran by drawing upon a series of ancient Iranian motifs. His most significant inspiration was Homa, the Persian mythological griffin, which can be found in prosperous Persepolis and described in the books of R. Grishman, the famous French archeologist who specialized in ancient Iran.

The griffin atop the Persepolis column has three distinct characteristics: an eagle's head, a cow's ears and a horse's mane. Without legs, according to some accounts, the griffin never rests, living its entire life flying invisibly high above the earth, and never alighting on the ground. The color offered by the designer was turquoise.

The French national carrier, Air France was formed in 1933 from the merger of various airlines. The company adopted the logo of Air Orient, a hippocampe ailé (winged sea-horse), which has served as the icon for Air France and its parent company on and off through the years. Since then, Air France has become one of the biggest and most recognized airlines in the world. Air France launched a new, updated logo in 2009. The new logo shows the airline’s name written as one word in navy blue, with light and elegant typography with a read flourish to the right. The new identity, replacing its last update since 1975, was designed by Brandimage.

The Air India logo designed by Arnab Roy for DMA Branding is a red coloured flying swan with the 'Konark Chakra' in orange, placed inside it. The flying swan has been morphed from Air India's characteristic logo, 'The Centaur', whereas the 'Konark Chakra' is reminiscent of Indian's emblem. The new logo features prominently on the tail of the aircraft. While the aircraft is ivory in colour, the base retains the red streak of Air India. Running parallel to each other are the orange and red speed lines from front door to the rear door, subtly signifying the individual identities merged into one. The brand name 'Air India' runs across the tail of the aircraft

In 1930s Swissair did not have standardised Logos, but rather many different ones. They also were not always swissair, but wore different titles such as Swiss air Lines, Switzerland etc. In the 1940's it started having a standard logo of Swiss Air Lines on its Airoplanes. In the early 1950s Ruedi Bircher designed the Swissair Arrow with a new font. In the mid 1950's Swissair changed it's Arrow logo. The Word 'Swissair' was no longer in the arrow but separate and the arrow was all-red. In 1981 Swissair turned 50 and gave itself an new, more modern logo and livery, but the company was not so strict about the logo and many different variants appeared. With the formation of the SAirGroup a new logo was created in 1997. However, in 2001 the SAirGroup logo and the Name of the company were formally changed back to Swissair Group.

The original Kangaroo symbol appearing on Qantas aircraft was adapted from the Australian one penny coin. This design was used subsequently by Trans Australia Airlines (later Australian Airlines) as part of its emblem and now features as the centrepiece of the roundel adopted by the Royal Australian Air Force in 1956. It later became part of the insignia of all Australia's Armed Services. The winged kangaroo symbol was created by Sydney designer Gert Sellheim, and first appeared in January 1947 which was later placed in a circle. In June 1984 Qantas unveiled an updated logo conceived by Tony Lunn of the Lunn Design Group, Sydney.

The Flying Kangaroo lost its wings once again and was refined to a more slender, stylised presentation. A logo created for the airline's 75th anniversary year was added to all Qantas jet aircraft in 1995. Designed by Ken Cato, it brought together the Flying Kangaroo symbol and the words '75 years' to mark Qantas' contribution to civil aviation. In July 2007, Qantas unveiled a new interpretation of its iconic logo, designed to reflect the changing structure of the airline's new generation aircraft, and keeping with Qantas' increasing focus on contemporary design for its in-flight and on-the-ground products. Designed by Hans Hulsbosch of Hulsbosch Communications, the new Flying Kangaroo is sleeker and more contoured than previous versions.

A new corporate identity for Garuda Indonesia was revealed on 23 July 2009. The rebrand was done by Landor Associates, who had also created the previous 1985 identity. The key design element is a revitalized rendering of the country's national emblem, the Garuda eagle, represented by a stylized feather or “nature's wing.”

Designed in 2006, the logo of Qatar Airways features a burgundy oryx on a grey background. Oryx is the national animal of Qatar, and its color in the logo matches the color of Qatar’s flag. The name of the airline is written in English, while the Arabic letters spell out the word “Al Qataria”

The original Lufthansa logo – a flying stylized crane in a circle was created by Otto Firle in 1918. It was officially adopted as the Lufthansa logo in 1954, when Otto "Otl" Aicher and students from his Gruppe E5 at the influential Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (Ulm design school), which he co-founded, redrew the crane logo, added the yellow, and introduced the use of lowercase Helvetica Bold as the airline's font. Aicher's design is widely regarded as one of the great airline graphic identities. Disegno magazine described it as "one of the 20th century's most successful and long-lasting corporate rebranding exercises." The blue flying crane on a yellow background made for a stark and dramatic contrast invoking the feeling “free as a bird”.

As part of its rebranding project on 7th February 2018, Lufthansa overhauled its livery, and changed the background of its iconic 100-year-old logo from yellow to blue . The redesign, spearheaded by Lufthansa in-house designer Ronald Wild, and it was the first major change to the world's oldest airline logo in over 50 years. The new image was not well received. Aviation writer Enrique Perrella described it as "bland and pointless", while industrial designer Clemens Weisshaar speaking to Dezeen, described the new livery as "a design belly flop of epic dimensions". "The new Lufthansa identity seems to ignore [Aicher's] legacy," said Weisshaar, "It opts for a corporate blue that comes straight out of a late capitalist nightmare." Weisshaar compared the new livery to that of a "dodgy insurance company" or "a failed bank". "What we'll miss most is one of the most beautiful liveries in the skies, with this unbelievably elegant grey underbody," he added.

EgyptAir’s logo is inspired by the ancient Egyptian mythology, from which it draws the image of Horus, or rather his head. Usually depicted as a man’s body with a falcon’s head, Horus was known as the god of sun, or “Sky god”, so it makes sense that he’s part of an airline logo. EgyptAir has been using this logo since July 2008.

The logo of Japan Airlines (JAL) was designed in 1958 by Jerry Huff. Called “tsurumaru” (“crane circle”), the logo represents a Japanese crane with extended wings. The red color of the logo symbolizes happiness. The idea for the logo came from Japanese tradition, which views the crane as a symbol of long life, prosperity and good health. In the myth of the crane, it is said that the bird can fly high and very long without getting tired, which makes it a perfect symbol for an airline company. However, in 2002 a new, completely different logo was revealed, and it wasn’t very popular nor well-received. Japan Airlines decided to revert to the old design in 2011, and it’s still in use today.

Created by Lindon Leader in 2001, the Hawaiian logo depicts the “island girl” Pualani, also called “Flower of the Sky”. It represents Hawaiian island heritage and the strength, spirit and confidence of its peopl.

The star that 80 years ago was the symbol of Brazil's Varig airline changed color. The almost golden yellow gave way to the orange of its new parent, Gol, that in March 2007 acquired the company. "It was an appropriate change that translates a bit of Gol's management. The star's gold was a bit of extravagance, which does not fit into Gol's policy, "said Fred Gelli, creative director at Tátil Design, a specialist in brands.

Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S/A is a Brazilian carrier based in Barueri, a suburb of São Paulo. After the merger with TRIP Linhas Aéreas, Azul tweaked its logo, making the "u" a lighter shade of blue, in a nod to the TRIP logo, which had a differently-colored "i".

British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), the new state airline, was formed in April 1940 and operated wartime services under the control of the Air Ministry. In 1946, London Airport was opened officially. A new corporate identity, designed by Landor Associates, was unveiled in December 1984 and in 1986 the airline’s longhaul services moved into the newly-built Terminal 4 at Heathrow. The privatisation of British Airways was completed in 1987 under the leadership of Chairman Lord King. In 1988 BA was merged with Gatwick-based British Caledonian Airways. Designed by Newell & Sorell, 1997 (since merged with Interbrand). “The BA ribbon is a distant echo of the Speedbird symbol first used by Imperial Airways in 1932 and then by BOAC.” Quoted from Logo, by Michael Evamy,

The current Emirates logo (above) is actually a subtle revision of the original, created by Negus & Negus, which consists of the name written in sacred Arabic calligraphic lettering. The word mark in English is a bespoke type, aiming to suggest a personal, yet corporate image.

The Ethiopian Airlines has had this logo since the branding campaign called “Vision 2010”, when they also introduced the new motto: “The New Spirit of Africa”. The logo contains English and Amharic text, and the color scheme (red, green, yellow) corresponds to the colors of the Ethiopian flag.

Aer Lingus is an Irish airline company with a logo that dates back to 1938, when the original shamrock symbol was designed by Robert Logan. Shamrock (young clover) is generally considered to be the Irish national symbol, and it’s connected to the legend of Saint Patrick who used a clover to explain the Holy Trinity to the non-Christian Irish people. The current logo of Aer Lingus was created in 1996, and because of its slanted look it’s often called “The Drunken Shamrock”, which invokes the Irish drinking stereotype.

The Thai Airways logo was created by Interbrand and presented in April 2005. It features a colorful ornament, in which the pink part represents a magnolia blossom. The logo gained some unwanted media attention in September 2013, when after a runway accident in Bangkok the airport workers painted over the logo on a damaged plane in an attempt to protect the reputation of Thai Airways.

Air New Zealand originated in 1940 as Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), a flying boat company operating trans-Tasman flights between New Zealand and Australia. TEAL became wholly owned by the New Zealand government in 1965, whereupon it was renamed Air New Zealand. In late 2011, type designer Kris Sowersby was approached by Designworks to work on a new logotype for Air New Zealand. He was contracted to draw new letterforms to complement the iconic koru logo. Designworks had been working closely with Air New Zealand to smartly and iteratively re-brand and re-position the airline across all aspects of their business, from terminals to in-flight teacups

Dan Reisinger, the Yugoslav-born designer, designed the original logo for El Al in 1971. The classic logo interweaves the El Al name in Hebrew and English with the Israeli national flag. Reisinger, received the Israel Prize for Design, was angry that his work is being tampered with as El AL decided to rebrand.

SriLankan Airlines’ logo features a stylized, colorful peacock and an unconventional but elegant typeface. It was revealed as a part of a major rebranding project in 1999. According to Sri Lankan folk tales, a flying machine similar to a peacock once existed, and it was called the Dandu Monara Yanthra. It’s possible that this mythical creature inspired the airline logo. However, a more realistic explanation would be the fact that peacocks are a native species in Sri Lanka.

Air China is the flag carrier and one of the major airlines of the People’s Republic of China, that was established on 1988. The Air China logo consists of an abstract phoenix pattern, also the artistic transfiguration of the word “VIP”. The logo was designed by Chinese artist Han Meilin.

In 1995, China Airlines of Taiwan introduced the ‘plum blossom’ logo along with a new corporate identity.

Iberia got a new logo in 2013, when Interbrand redesigned the old one and introduced a custom typeface. They used red and yellow, which are the colors of the Spanish flag, to convey the energy of the Spanish character.

Aerolineas Argentinas has had this logo since June 2010, and it was designed by FutureBrand. It uses the Neo Sans typeface, and the stylized bird is actually a condor; a bird typically found in Argentina. The blue color is reminiscent of the Argentinian flag.

The red dragon, the traditional Chinese symbol of nobility and power was inspired by a legend of the dragon which traveled from Northern China to Hong Kong and created mountains in its path. The logo was created in 1993 with the help of Hong Kong’s Polytechnic School of Design for Dragonair of Hong Kong.

The Korean Air’s logo is called Taegeuk, and it stands for the “ultimate reality from which everything is derived”. It’s also a part of the South Korean flag. Korean Air’s logo was designed in 1984.

Southwest Airlines’ logo rebranding was done in September 2014, and the logo was developed in cooperation with GSD&M, Lippincott, VML, Razorfish, and Camelot Communications. It uses a custom font called “Southwest Sans”, created by Monotype. The new logo features the traditional heart symbol that was used in old Southwest logos. However, now it’s more colorful and modern with blue, red and bright orange stripes

Air Madagascar is the Société Nationale Malgache de Transports Aériens, Société Anonyme. The airline was formed in 1947 to feed into flights by Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux and Air France, and upon the independence of Madagascar, it became the national airline. Initially operating services on domestic routes, the airline saw expansion in the late 1960s and 1970s, when it began international flights to destinations such as France and South Africa. Air Madagascar logo, is based on the traveller's palm (Ravenala madagascariensis), which due to its striking shape and various use, quickly became Madagascar’s heraldic plant. Since 1922, the Ravenala adorns Madagascar’s official seal with its stylized palm leaves. And since the sixties, the silhouette turns up again in the logo of the national airline, Air Madagascar.

With the minor refreshment to the symbol in 2003, James Hogan, president and chief executive of Gulf Air, praised the revitalised falcon logomark: “The restyled falcon, which remains the focal point of our new corporate identity, communicates a synthesis of bold, modern entrepreneurial principles and traditional Arabian values, through what we believe is a powerful and prominent icon for a new era.”

Originally registered as Air Berlin USA, the company was founded in 1978 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Lelco, an American agricultural enterprise head quartered in Oregon. The company got a new logo in January 2008. The airline planned to rebrand with, a stylized image of a bear on the tail, in red against a black and gold background - a clearly West German airline. However, after filing for insolvency, the company ceased operations on October 27, 2017 .