Dubai’s Emirates reveals new signature livery and here’s why it ‘pops’

The distinctive livery of the world’s largest international airline, Emirates, has undergone a refresh, incorporating bold changes to the tailfin and wingtips.

Sir Tim Clark, president Emirates Airline said: “Aircraft livery is the most instantly recognisable brand real estate for any airline. It’s a visual representation of our unique identity, something we wear proudly, and display in all the cities we fly to around the world.

“We’re refreshing our livery to keep it modern, without losing the key elements of our identity such as the UAE flag on our tailfin and the Arabic calligraphy.”

In this latest design, the UAE flag on the Emirates tailfin is much more dynamic and flowing with a 3D effect artwork, and the wingtips have been painted red with the Emirates logo in Arabic calligraphy “popping” out in reverse white.

Passengers onboard with a window view will see the UAE flag colours painted on the wingtips facing the fuselage.

Here’s what you’ll notice

The signature gold “Emirates” lettering across the main body in English and Arabic is bolder, and 32.5 per cent larger. On the aircraft belly, the carrier has retained its iconic red branding which it introduced in 2005.  The website URL has been dropped from the design.

This is the third iteration of the carrier’s official aircraft brand colours.

The original livery unveiled with the airline’s launch in 1985 had its first refresh 14 years later, with the delivery of its first Boeing 777-300 at the 1999 Dubai Airshow.

Emirates aircraft with the new livery

The first aircraft to sport the newest livery is A6-EOE, an Airbus A380, which has rolled out of Emirates Engineering this week after its makeover.

The livery’s first deployment will be on an aircraft bound for Munich on March 17, as flight EK51.

The new livery will be gradually applied across the rest of the existing Emirates fleet with 24 aircraft, including 17 Boeing 777s, expected to sport the refreshed livery by the end of 2023. 

All new aircraft, from the first Airbus A350 entering the fleet in August 2024 will be delivered in this new livery.

Emirates’ original livery in 1985 was designed by UK design company Negus & Negus.

All of the airline’s subsequent aircraft colours were created by its in-house design team.

Over the years, Emirates’ numerous colourful and eye-catching aircraft livery have included bespoke designs to drive sponsorship brand association, and for special occasions such as the UAE’s 50^th Jubilee livery, and Expo 2020 Dubai.

Out with the old; in with the new! Say hello to our first new aircraft livery refresh in 14 years. What do you think? pic.twitter.com/LaoZPQQgKX

— Emirates (@emirates) March 16, 2023

Boosting operations across it network

The carrier recently announced it has boosted operations by 31 per cent (total available seat kilometres) since the start of its financial year and has further plans to ramp up seat capacity in its latest published northern summer schedule starting March 26.

Time-Lapse video for the @emirates‘s third iteration of its main brand identity. pic.twitter.com/A92virakoC

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) March 20, 2023

In the past months, the airline has planned and executed the rapid growth of its network operations – reintroducing services to five cities; launching flights to one new destination (Tel Aviv), adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes, and continuing the roll-out of service enhancements in the air and on the ground.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates to ramp up flight frequencies to more than 15 destinations

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ CCO said: “Emirates continues to expand its global network and deploy its capacity to meet travel demand across the world.

“Our financial year started relatively quietly as we held back our ramp-up until the planned northern runway rehabilitation program at Dubai International airport was completed in June. From July 2022 onwards, it’s been non-stop expansion.”

In other news, earlier this month, the Dubai-based carrier and Philippine Airlines signed an interline agreement to boost connectivity for passengers of both air carriers to new points on each other’s networks via Manila and Dubai, using a single ticket and one baggage policy.

Read: Emirates, Philippine Airlines codeshare offers travellers access to these destinations