SKY WRITING

HOW AIRLINE LIVERIES GRAB ATTENTION, PROMOTE BRAND LOYALTY- AND EVEN AFFECT THE BOTTOM LINE

- STORY BY JACLYN TROP

IN 1890, a Turkish frigate sank in a typhoon on a goodwill voyage to Japan. The people of Kushimoto village in Wakayama Prefecture, where the ship ran aground, helped rescue the Turkish crew. Then, in 1985, an emergency Turkish Airlines flight returned the favor by helping evacuate 215 Japanese citizens stranded in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War.

This century of friendly relations between Turkey and Japan is recounted in Turkish elementary school textbooks—and through a special themed livery for Turkish Airlines. A livery tells the story of an airline and, for national carriers, illustrates the history of a country and its people, says Ahmet Olmustur, chief commercial officer for Turkish Airlines. "By carrying the Kushimoto story on our aircraft, we continue to weave cultural memory into our design language, honoring the past while connecting to the future."

ART IN MOTION

For more than a century, aircraft exteriors have served as billboards in the sky—mechanical messenger pigeons broadcasting an airline's values from 30,000 feet. From iconic liveries—think Pan Am's Blue Globe and TWA's Wings of Pride—to newer designs such as ANA's Pikachu Jet and Air New Zealand's homage to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, the fuselage functions as a highly visible branding tool. Painting a plane can also guarantee an enduring shelf life for one-off promotions: Alitalia's sleek silver Aluminium livery of the late 1990s, touting a new watch line from its compatriot Bulgari, lives on as one of aviation's most famous designs.

"A livery is a first impression," says Ariana Diaz, senior director of marketing for public air charter JSX. "It has to turn heads on the ramp, be instantly recognizable in the air, and still feel fresh years from now."