40 Most Popular Airline Logos in the World

Airline logos are a great example of visual corporate branding and a useful inspiration resource for 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. In this article, we have listed the 40 most popular Airline logos to get you going.

Most Popular Airline Logos of the World

When creating a unique and beautiful logo, you need to select the right font. Below are some articles where we have curated beautiful fonts. Don’t forget to check them out after reading this article.

With that out of the way, let’s get to our list of popular airline logos!

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 which 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 its impact on the industry. The airline’s iconic ‘flying crane’ symbol and the text itself were made slimmer to fit the digital age.

3. EgyptAir

EgyptAir’s logo is inspired by 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 the 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 or well-received. Japan Airlines decided to revert to the old design in 2011, and it’s still in use today.

5. SriLankan Airlines

Sri Lankan 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 Yantra. 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 recognized 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 the 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

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 a branding agency called Landor Associate, and it features the same “brushing” symbol that represents the wing of a bird. Cathay Dragon was previously known as Dragonair, and its 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 the 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. The new logo was promoted on social media with the hashtags #NewIberia and #NeuvalIberia.

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 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 its 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

Malaysian Airlines, originally known as Malaysia Airlines 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 from Homa, the Persian mythological griffin.

34. Garuda Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia’s logo hasn’t changed in years. Much like a lot of other airlines on 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

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.

36. PNG Air

The last airline on the list has the fanciest logo of them all. It’s based in New Guinea, a large island from the continent of Australia. The logo was introduced in 2015 when the brand started taking off (quite literally!). The logo is a depiction of ancient patterns that were designed to reflect the nation’s diversity. I really love how the traditional icons from around the country were incorporated to put together an unusual and striking design.

37. Hainan Airlines

Founded in 1993, Hainan Airlines’ logo is unique in its own right. What makes this logo stand out is the combination of many notable elements like the wings of the golden Gauda (a mythological bird that’s quite popular in China) and its golden horn as well as the auspicious clouds. Due to these different elements coupled with a timeless design, the logo has got cult status.

38. Vietnam Airlines

Introduced in 2002, Vietnam Airlines’ golden lotus logo is one of the most loved airlines logos in the world. Though the design may look quite simple, it has acquired a legendary status in Vietnam. One thing that can be learned from the popularity of this logo is that even if the symbol is age-old, it can make an impact provided the design has got a modern twist.

39. Malaysia Airlines

Sporting a modern-looking design, Malaysia Airlines makes its presence felt with ease. The logo has taken inspiration from the 1971 original logo. The way bulan aka moon kite faces from left to right and features a bit longer tails than its predecessor. The wordmark has also got a refresh with a new typeface and the word “airlines” is now displayed in the lowercase. Going by the popularity, the latest look appears more striking than the previous.

40. SriLankan Airlines

Another airline’s logo that has found a safe spot in this extensive roundup is from Sri Lankan Airlines. Launched in 1979, it’s by far the largest airline in Sri Lanka. As for the design, it sports a colorful peacock and its name has been written in a beautiful typeface. Inspired by a mythical creature called Dandu Monara Yantra in the country, the logo has struck an appealing chord with the natives.

Popular Airline Logos to Get Inspired

That ends our article on the best airline logos that you can get inspired from. Check out these logos and use the design language that speaks to you. Remember to not blatantly copy any logo. These are here just to inspire you.

This article was first published here.

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