Jet tails

Working in the airline industry for twenty years now,  I have been fortunate to see many cities in the world.   My working day begins and ends in airports.  And at all these terminals and runways, I always notice the various airline logos and designs.   Here are some samples of some that I like. 

I will start with the one I was hired to work for as air crew.  Canadian Airlines had just changed its aircraft livery when I started working with them.  They had a great modern design of the Canada goose, its wings and body on the tail with its long neck forward on the fuselage.  Unfortunately,  it was short lived as we merged with Air Canada a year later,  the airline I have been working for ever since.  In the last twenty years, Air Canada had also gone through two versions of the maple leaf on its tail before recently using its classic maple leaf rondelle logo,  a simple and effective red on black. 

I had been flying to London Heathrow my first few years,  one of the largest world hubs where almost every airline flies to.   I thought that British Airways "ethnic tails" were brilliant.  They had dozens of different tails,  designed by artists from many of the world destinations they flew to.  The Brits however derided them  and the pressure to have their flag or a British emblem return to their livery gave way to what they have now,  a sort of boring slice of a wavy Union Jack flag.   Here are some examples of those tails.

Chinese calligraphy   (Hong Kong)

Islamic geometric design  (Egypt)

A  Ndebele traditional design (South Africa)

Japanese cranes from renowned artist Matazo Kayama

A Pacific North West First Nation's design (British Columbia) 

Gothic theme (Germany)

"Chelsea Rose"  (UK) 

Aboriginal Art  (Australia) 

Many of the "legacy airlines"  those carriers that have been around since commercial aviation took off,  have had many incarnations of their logos and designs over the years.  While many have updated their image (American Airlines,  Delta,  United)    Some have always kept their  classic design. (Air France, KLM,  Lufthansa, Alitalia)  Some like JAL,  have returned to their original logo which appeared in the fifties.  Then there are the many low cost carriers that have appeared and, in many cases, folded.  Their colours and designs are often bolder and, sometimes,  over-the-top.

Hawaiian airlines

United Airlines, which not long ago bought and merged with Continental,
used the latter's tail logo of a graphic globe.

Air New Zealand's Maori 'koru' a stylized fern leaf opening as well as a more obvious fern leaf.

Dragon Air,  a subsidiary of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific.

China Eastern's graphic bird,   Quantas' flying kangaroo and Cathay's calligraphic arrow,

An older image of Egypt Air's Horus,  the falcon God of the ancient Egyptians. 

Lufthansa has recently changed their traditional bird in a circle from yellow to black,
a move criticized by many.

I've always liked this image of Alaskan Airline's "Eskimo" as he is still called.

Fiji Airways' fairly recent identity is of traditional Masi patterns.

Nice colour and lotus flower from Vietnam Airlines.

Air Caraibes (French West Indies) and American Airlines.

South African's  coloured graphic based on their relatively new flag. 

Singapore Airlines' stylized bird (behind Air China's fuselage)

An Aztec reference for Aero Mexico' s tail. 

I like Eva Air's simple navigational star, taken from their parent company,  Evergreen in Taipei.

Interesting image of a horse (is it flying?)  a central figure in  Mongolian culture  therefore  now on its airline. 

Jin Air,  a South Korean low cost carrier.

Thai Airways 

Nice polar bear logo from Canadian North

The Middle Eastern states have great graphics for their airlines.  Gulf Air.

Etihad's new livery

Volaris. A Mexican low cost carrier. 

Myanmar Airlines

Awesome logos from Indonesian low cost carriers: Mandala, Sriwijaya and Lion Air. 

'Vistara' an Indian low cost carrier.

Air Tahiti Nui's ubiquitous 'tiare' flower.