Austrian Airlines Brand Refresh and New Livery

KLDC10 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:43 am

Austrian Airlines have once again updated their brand and livery. The new version includes a splash of red below the vertical stabilizer, white engines and billboard titles. I think it looks much smarter than the old version.

A photograph from Austrian Airlines on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AustrianAirlin ... 42/?type=3

And details from the Press Release here, with the main points copied and pasted below: https://www.austrianairlines.ag/Press/P ... g=en&mode=

- First visible sign: the new Boeing 777 OE-LPF at its first appearance in Vienna in May 2018
- Logo more easily and clearly recognizable on mobile devices and smart watches thanks to small adjustments
- The livery of the fleet will also be gradually adjusted as soon as a new painting is anyway needed for the respective aircraft.
- On balance, it will take about seven years until all Austrian Airlines aircraft will have the new livery. 18 out of a total of 82 aircraft in the airline’s fleet should feature the new livery when the summer flight schedule for 2019 takes effect.
- The typical Austrian salutation “Servus” will remain on the aircraft belly.

Seems like a similar process to that which Lufthansa just went through.

runway23 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:50 am

They really seem to have no clue what they are doing. They seem to want to break a record for the number of times one can change a livery.

devron · Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:50 am

Good god that took a while. The People that invented "My Austiran" got laid off I hope.

T1a · Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:54 am

You just beat me to it

I actually really like it, would have preferred if the red on the engines had stayed, but considering the hideous blue or the uninspired "myAustrian" I really think this a great improvement.

On a different note, I think the speed at which livery updates are brought out in this company also says something about the way it is being managed; it seem to lack continuity.

Greets,
T1a

KLDC10 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:00 am

T1a wrote:
On a different note, I think the speed at which livery updates are brought out in this company also says something about the way it is being managed; it seem to lack continuity.

This press release suggests that this most recent refresh was done in alignment with the principles of the recent Lufthansa brand update. Perhaps there has been some intervention to ensure that brands across the group are more consistent in their basic principles and application.

BR715 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:10 am

Not too shabby. Painted nacelles would have been nice but that clean red/white works much better than LH's approach, I'd say.

Embajador3 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:18 am

I am happy they finally got rid of that "My Austrian" livery...

holcakker · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:27 am

Nothing to write home about. However compared to the Lufthansa "livery": wunderbar!

debonair · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:33 am

Austrian is in a dire need to change the uniform of the staff, that should have priority!

Peeter · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:36 am

I thought they decided to drop ”myAustrian” altogether! I'm horrified to see it alive and well on the website…

oldannyboy · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:55 am

Nice livery, all in all, and given the times.
It actually looks like pure ART in comparison to the dark, sad, darthvaderish livery of LH....

nicholasjet · Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:02 am

There is a full story just gone up here:-

https://thedesignair.net/2018/04/20/my- ... re-brands/

Interesting to see TheDesignAir's comment about the sea of red tail fins now and how their rebrand might actually make it harder to differentiate.

vahancrazy · Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:50 am

Wow! I am surprised that it is so simple and still so good!

stratocruiser · Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:11 am

First reaction was "oh no, another Eurowhite scheme" but actually it's not bad!

Travelmanager · Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:44 am

From the Facebook post:
"Ready for a digital future: The Austrian Airlines logo got an update! Can you spot the subtle changes we made to be more dynamic in today‘s world?

Clearly not making big changes here. I just wonder if it is worth the 7 year livery mismatch between updated and yet to be updated planes.

zkojq · Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:03 am

The font is awful. I particularly hate how it says "AUSTRIAN" rather than "Austrian Airlines". AA does the same and that bothers me too. The only airline that really pulls off using the collective noun on their livery is Swiss.

IndianicWorld · Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:18 am

My memory may be failing me, but it seems to be very close to what they once had in the past in terms of overall look and feel.

I don’t hate it but I agree that the font doesn’t inspire.

OA940 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:31 am

The font is meh, but overall it's quite nice.

F27500 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:02 pm

Another all-white bore.

BWIAirport · Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:08 pm

Between the red tail and billboard red font, at first glance it looks just like Swiss

Newbiepilot · Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:19 pm

stratocruiser wrote:
First reaction was "oh no, another Eurowhite scheme" but actually it's not bad!

Just plain and cheap. Two color liveries are cheaper than three color liveries that most airlines use. Boeing and Airbus offer three color livery painting for free on new deliveries. Going down to two colors implies the decision was made to keep repainting costs low.

T1a · Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:18 pm

The font is awful. I particularly hate how it says "AUSTRIAN" rather than "Austrian Airlines". AA does the same and that bothers me too. The only airline that really pulls off using the collective noun on their livery is Swiss.

The font is pretty close to the previous one, it just got a little bolder any way bigger, that's all. The font type probably is (almost) the same.

It hasn't said "Austrian Airlines" on the side for many years, now. And even in the more distant past it hasn't always said that.
1958 - 1972: Austrian Airlines / AUA
1972 - 1995: Austrian
1995 - 2003: Austrian Airlines
2003 - today: Austrian (with myAustrian on a few planes)

Just plain and cheap. Two color liveries are cheaper than three color liveries that most airlines use. Boeing and Airbus offer three color livery painting for free on new deliveries. Going down to two colors implies the decision was made to keep repainting costs low.

The current livery also has just two colors, red and white. So there is no reduction of colors compared to the previous scheme, ergo: doesn't save money.
It's more to align the designs of all three LH Group legacy carriers. Now LH, LX and OS all have white fuselage and engines, only their name in the front and a "house-color" tail.

Cheers,
T1a

Bhoy · Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:26 pm

IndianicWorld wrote:
My memory may be failing me, but it seems to be very close to what they once had in the past in terms of overall look and feel.

I don’t hate it but I agree that the font doesn’t inspire.

Also kind of reminded me at first glance of this...

LHUSA · Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:26 pm

I really like it!

Doesn't quite make up for LH's gaffe, but I will take this nice improvement of OS.

tonystan · Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:05 pm

It’s an improvement but it’s still utterly boring!

kaitak · Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:12 pm

I actually like it; I think it has a timeless quality about it. Reminds me a lot of Swiss - white fuselage, red titles and logo. As long as they keep it bright and clean (as LX does), then it should be a big plus.

Zoedyn · Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:16 pm

Well done, OS :thumbsup:

The new livery struck me as super stylish, with a glow of refreshing simplicity

N415XJ · Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:43 pm

Not bad at all! This is what the original rebrand should have looked like. "MyAustrian" aside, just taking off the blue seemed really lazy to me- they needed a truly refreshed look. While this isn't the most radical or interesting scheme in the world, it still looks smart despite being pretty simple. The only thing it needs is a little bit of color on the engines: I'd prefer them to be painted completely red but even a simple logo would do.

N14AZ · Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:14 pm

zkojq wrote:
The font is awful

I agree. Looks like the title of a conversative newspaper...

gzm · Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:26 pm

Bhoy wrote:
Also kind of reminded me at first glance of this...

You are right, it gave the picture of a medical prescription with four blue antibiotic pills.And I never understood that "Austrian arrows" idea but now that it is almost over, I can finally say that they have understood it themselves.Now, about the new livery, it is certainly an improvement but it follows the trend set by Delta,Aeromexico and Virgin,that is of a hood over the tail. It looks like those cones used at airports. It needs work.

T1a · Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:40 pm

You are right, it gave the picture of a medical prescription with four blue antibiotic pills.And I never understood that "Austrian arrows" idea but now that it is almost over, I can finally say that they have understood it themselves.Now, about the new livery, it is certainly an improvement but it follows the trend set by Delta,Aeromexico and Virgin,that is of a hood over the tail.A red riding hood.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you here, but "Austrian Arrows" had nothing to do with the livery, it was the regional brand prior to the "Tyrolean" + "Austrian" merger in 2012. Just like United has "United Express" or Air France has "HOP!". And actually the new livery reminds me most of the one that was used from 1972 - 1995 (picture below), billboard style font, white engines, lot's of red on the tail. The paint-scheme on the A340 above is not that old and still almost half the active OS fleet has that livery at the moment.

Cheers,
T1a

Sorry, can't get the picture to work, so here is the link:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Austrian ... 4w1w%3D%3D

MSPSXMFLIER · Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:27 pm

A vast improvement over the “my Austrian” livery. The font isn’t my first choice, it should be all caps and boldface, but it’s large and gets noticed.

NYCVIE · Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:35 pm

The font is terrible but I'm at least happy they're keeping the symbol on the tail. The font just looks very weird at that size and if they were going for something billboard styled a font similar to Swiss or American would have looked way better. I still don't think they should have changed the blue belly livery in the first place.

EddieDude · Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:59 pm

I like it but please paint the engine nacelles!!!

Swadian · Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:28 pm

I like it. Much better than the new LH trash. Would love to see it on a 763.

NYCVIE · Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:37 pm

Swadian wrote:
I like it. Much better than the new LH trash. Would love to see it on a 763.

I'm quite shocked that people think this is better than the new LH livery which I actually like. The font on this looks very odd and they should have kept the symbol on the fuselage.

deltadudejg · Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:58 pm

While it's not great, it could use a little touch of blue on the engines. I do like it a whole lot better then the My Austrian disaster.

shamrock350 · Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:57 pm

A slight improvement. I actually like the font, it's more interesting than the oversimplified fonts that so many airlines seem to be choosing these days. The tail is very nice and I like the red wing tips.

I still prefer the old light blue and red livery, that stood out for me.

TheLark · Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:11 pm

A few months ago I flew on Austrian, I forget where, and afterwards completed an online customer satisfaction survey. The last question was something like "Do you have any suggestions what we can do to further improve customer satisfaction?" I answered "Get rid of myAustrian completely, not only from the livery."

325i · Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:16 pm

Greetings Folks, good one Austrian,suggested a change on another thread some time ago.
Cannot believe they took any notice but the result is acceptable.
Now to be rebuked again by some fellow a Netter's , SQ need to join the 21st Centuary!
Cheers 325i.

VC10er · Sat Apr 21, 2018 1:49 pm

Hmmm, I wonder if Landor was involved as they did the first big redesign- creating the flying arrow and light blue. The “scheme” as everyone outside the branding industry uses was inspired by the fresh Australian spring, red flowers, blue sky and green grass in the lounge- happy approachable and done intentionally to distance Australian from Lufthansa- but that was many, many years ago.

Loew · Sat Apr 21, 2018 3:02 pm

I have to say I still consider the 2005 Landor livery for Austrian to be the greatest, both outside and inside, however this one is also quite good, modern, clean and fresh. The titles doesn´t work with the rest of the livery for me, but still this is a huge improvement from the "myaustrian" livery.

VC10er · Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:58 am

Apologies: spellcheck changed my Austrian to Australian.

The final approved brand driver boards for the 2005 were truly fantastic- totally fresh approach to airline branding. I don’t know how much of the physical execution of the idea came to fruition- I’ve never flown Austrian. I loved it, many didn’t at the time, it was polarizing as I recall. But polarizing is a good thing- beats trying to please everyone and turning out idea-less and vanilla.
While I don’t think think new livery is bad, but it’s sameness to so many red & white tails (as demonstrated) is accurate. It’s less distinctive. I prefer the sky blue belly and engines, the contrast with the red was memorable because it was unique. Eg: purple and orange for FedEx. Not 2 colors one would often put together, but the effect is great branding that’s already time tested.

SpaceshipDC10 · Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:44 am

BWIAirport wrote:
Between the red tail and billboard red font, at first glance it looks just like Swiss

Oh no, it's much better than Swiss both thanks to the rear end design and the fact it doesn't yell at you AUSTRIAN. Also OS red looks better to me.

Cointrin330 · Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:18 pm

Rebrands like this are expensive and time consuming and Austrian has done this a few times in less than 10 years. Seems a bit wasteful, but this is a nice one, in my opinion. MyAustrian was just terrible. Flew them once, in 2014, from VIE to JFK on a refurbished 777. Was a great flight though a touch cramped in Economy, as I think Austrian was among the first to go 10 across on the 777.

bluesky73 · Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:55 pm

I remember reaction of on Anet with the “MyAustrian” rebrand few years back - it was a real step back for the OS brand. This is an improvement on the “MyAustrian”.
I still thinks a JMC style belly (now defunct Uk airline) in dark grey would complement well and slight change to font. Needs an arrow by brow, nose or nacille. I think engine nacille probably best. I need to learn photo shop.
Agree that the crew uniform needs changing - wow that is a lot of red!

DDR · Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:14 pm

I like it. It's simple but classy. Not a huge fan of billboard titles but this one, like Swiss, seems to work. Everyone knows it is an airline so need to add "Airlines" to the fuselage.

NG263 · Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:40 pm

I really like the new livery, the tail design looks modern and in general way better than the old one. They should have used the guys who did the concept for this livery to create the new LH colours aswell. Would have ended better...

PeterB · Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:32 pm

The newest member of the Austrian Airlines fleet (OE-LPF) was painted in the new livery and is considered a "special livery".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=905rE418Mac

For me, this is not a special livery but rather a cheap copy of the SWISS faces livery.
In addition, look at the right front cargo door. Did they run out of color?

SpaceshipDC10 · Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:50 pm

PeterB wrote:
The newest member of the Austrian Airlines fleet (OE-LPF) was painted in the new livery and is considered a "special livery".

It's both a new livery and a special one with the added 60 and large human silhouettes.

PeterB wrote:
For me, this is not a special livery but rather a cheap copy of the SWISS faces livery.

I disagree with you. Had they done it like Swiss, some here would have cried foul. I prefer this one to LX's employees because it's not made only of red and white, and numbers (60), it's more stylish. Also it's for the airline's 60th anniversary, not "just" the delivery of another airplane.

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