35 Most Popular Airline Logos of the World,
Airline logos are a great example of visual corporate branding and an useful inspiration
resource to budding designers. But you don’t have to be a professional designer to have
an interest in airline logos. Many people enjoy playing quiz games in which they try
to guess as many popular airline logos as possible.
By browsing the airline logos in this article, you’ll probably notice some patterns. Many
logos feature traditional symbols and national colors. Airline companies love to use motifs
of flying and birds in their logos to send a message that you can travel quickly and
safely with them.
1. Qatar Airways, 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”.
2. Lufthansa, The original logo of Lufthansa airlines that
was adopted back in 1954 was redesigned in 2018. The new logo, although it looks identical
to the old one, has been reworked to give it a new, modern quality to sharpen their
impact on the industry. The airline’s iconic ‘flying crane’ symbol and the text itself
was made slimmer to fit the digital age. 3. EgyptAir
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.
4. Japan Airlines 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. 5. SriLankan Airlines
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. 6. Emirates
The Emirates logo was created by Negus & Negus Associates in 1985. It’s a simple red-on-white
logo with intricate Arabic lettering and the company’s name written in English below
it. The red color symbolizes prosperity, leadership, passion and self-confidence, while the white
stands for elegance, purity, and nobility. 7. Air Canada
Another combination of red and white, Air Canada’s logo was presented in October 2004
and designed by FutureBrand Worldwide. It contains an encircled maple leaf which is
universally recognizable as the national symbol of Canada.
8. Hawaiian Airlines The logo of Hawaiian Airlines is unique on
this list because it’s the only one that features a person instead of an animal or
an abstract plane. The logo, which you see above, is a slightly redesigned version of
the logo that was originally created by Lindon Leader in 2001. Although the logo still depicts
the “island girl” Pualani, the background now has a gradient, which looks really nice,
in my opinion. The airlines also tweaked the font to give it a new look.
9. Thai Airways 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.
10. American Airlines The new American Airlines logo was revealed
in January 2013 and designed by FutureBrand. It’s an abstraction of a flying eagle in
traditional American colors – red, blue and white. The logo was dubbed the “Flight
Symbol”, and it supposedly incorporates the elements from previous versions: an eagle,
a star and the letter “A”. Challenge yourself and try to see them all.
11. Air Asia Air Asia’s logo is a simple but very eye-catching
red badge with white letters. It was designed by Start Creative. Air Asia made a somewhat
ill-advised (albeit temporary) change to its logo in the wake of the flight disappearance
in December 2014. They changed the logo on their Facebook page to grey, which was badly
received by their social media audience who interpreted it as a sign of tragedy.
12. Air India Air India’s logo represents a red flying
swan with the wheel of Konark sun temple painted in orange on the swan’s spread-out wing.
The colors symbolize vigor and progress, and the Konark wheel is believed to be from the
chariot of the sun god. The logo was designed by DMA Branding in 2007.
Apart from the logo, Air India also has a mascot called the Maharajah, which was created
by Bobby Kooka and Umesh Rao in 1946 and recently modified to look less traditional and more
modern and hipster-ish. 13. Ethiopian
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. 14. Cathay Dragon
Cathay Dragon’s logo, as you can see, looks identical to Cathay Pacific’s logo. Unlike
Cathay Pacific’s logo, which is blue, Cathay Dragon has a red logo. It was created by branding
agency called Landor Associate, and it features the same “brushwing” symbol that represents
the wing of a bird. Cathay Dragon was previously known as Dragonair, and it’s logo featured
a red dragon. 15. Korean Air
The uninformed would say that Korean Air’s logo looks like the Pepsi logo. However, its
inspiration is purely traditional and much older than the USA itself, let alone Pepsi.
The symbol in the 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. 16. Swiss
Swiss International Air Lines, also known as just “SWISS”, has a simple logo designed
by Nose Design in 2011. It features a white cross on a red background, which is exactly
what the Swiss national flag looks like. The logo uses the Univers 65 Bold font distributed
by Linotype. 17. Air China
Air China’s logo contains the image of a phoenix drawn to resemble the acronym “VIP”.
It was designed by Han Meilin in 1988, and the current logo was made by Dongdao Design
in 2007. The logo is full of symbolism, with the phoenix standing for luck, beauty, harmony
and happiness, and the red color symbolizing enthusiasm and passion of the airline’s
workers. In 2011 the logo won the “Visual Expression Design” award at the Beijing
Design Week. 18. Aer Lingus
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.
19. Iberia 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.
20. Mexicana The logo of Mexicana was designed by a Danish
agency called Design:Success in 2008. The blue symbol represents an eagle and reflects
stability and consistency. The typeface is a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters,
which gives the logo an eye-catching appearance. 21. Ryanair
Ryanair’s logo dates back to 1987. After some changes over the years, today it features
a yellow symbol and bold, white letters. The symbol is a combination of an angel and a
harp, which is one of the traditional Irish instruments and an important part of the culture.
22. Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines introduced this logo in 2010
as a part of a great company redesign conducted by Priestmangoode. The logo is simple and
effective, and it combines red, white and blue for a very professional look.
23. British Airways British Airways still has the famous “Speedmarque”
logo which was designed by Newell & Sorrell in 1997 and inspired by the old “Speedbird”
symbol used by British air forces before the World War II. The logo comprises the airline
company name written in blue letters and a red- and blue-colored ribbon shape above them.
24. AeroMexico The AeroMexico logo was created in 1994. It
depicts the head of an Aztec eagle warrior, also called cuāuhtli. In the Aztec society,
eagles were considered symbols of the Sun, and eagle warriors were among the most respected
and fearsome members of the army. The airlines say that the Eagle Knight emblem in their
logo is inspired by the ancient culture of Mexico.
25. Delta Airlines The Delta Airlines logo, also known as “the
widget logo”, was designed by Lippincott Mercer and introduced in April 2007. It’s
a red triangle that evokes the Greek letter “D” (“delta”) and while simple, it
looks three-dimensional thanks to clever positioning and shading of its elements.
26. Jet Airways Jet Airways’ logo is called the “Flying
Sun”, and it was designed by K. V. Sridhar in 1992. It represents an airplane’s tail
leaving speed lines with the Sun in the background. The first time this logo was painted on an
aircraft, a mistake was made and the logo was inverted on the tail.
27. Qantas Qantas uses a kangaroo symbol that was inspired
by the Australian one-penny coin. It first appeared in January 1947. The current version
of the logo, also called “The Flying Kangaroo”, was created by Hans Hulsbosch in July 2007.
28. Southwest Southwest Airlines’ logo is still fresh
– the 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. 29. US Airways
The logo for US Airways was designed by Luxon Carrá and Deskey Associates, and in 2005
the company adopted grey as their representative color. The logo is a monochrome interpretation
of the US national flag. 30. Aerolineas Argentinas
Another famous airline logo on this list is yet another to rely on a bird to represent
the concept of flight. 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. 31. Singapore Airlines
The Singapore Airline’s logo depicts a bird that’s inspired by a silver kris, a dagger
from Southeast Asia prominently featured in the region’s myth and folklore. The logo
is said to be designed by a US-based insignia company, and it was selected from 200 proposals
during SQ’s early days. 32. Malaysian Airlines
The Malaysian Airlines, originally known as Malaysia Airline System, revised its logo
in 2013. The red-and-blue Kelantan kite, which was briefly removed in 2012, returned in 2013
to mark the airline’s entry into the Oneworld airline alliance. If you’ll look closely,
the words ‘Malaysia’ and ‘airlines’ are written in a similar font as that found
in Singapore Airlines’ logo. 33. IranAir
After the Iran National Airline was registered as a national company (and the name was changed
to IranAir), a competition was announced in Kayhan and Ettelaat newspapers in 1961 in
search of a new logo. The logo which is currently being used by the airline was created by a
young Iranian who won the competition. He took inspiration of Homa, the Persian mythological
griffin. 34. Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia’s logo hasn’t changed in years. Much like a lot of other airlines
in the list, Garuda Indonesia has also chosen a flying object (a bird, in this case) as
its motif. Despite Ga lot of tinkering, the logo itself has remained virtually unchanged.
The current design, in my opinion, looks a lot cleaner and has a modern look.
35. Air New Zealand The Air New Zealand’s logo is the Māori
symbol for a ‘Koru’ that signifies new life, growth and strength, and peace. The
symbol of ‘Koru’ is an integral part of Māori art, carving, and tattoos.
Did we miss your favorite airline logo? Tell us about other interesting airline logos in
the comments.