New logo: Hop!

The Air France Group owns three regional airlines – Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair – that are about to be united under one banner to communicate a clearer offer. As revealed yesterday, January 28, the combined airline will be named Hop!. It will commence operations on March 31 with 530 flights per day using 98 aircraft. The new brand was developed by Brandimage, who have been Air France's partner for several years.

The name should evoke speed, ease and agility. The logo is a simple red wordmark with a slanted exclamation mark. The latter is said symbolise and aircraft taking off, but it also evokes a sense of metaphorical takeoffs. It will also be part of the tailfin decoration. There's also a prominent "by Air France" alongside the fuselage that endorses the brand.
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New logo: American Airlines

This morning, local time, American Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the United States, and the world, unveiled a new livery and corporate identity.

The new identity was designed by FutureBrand and is part of an ongoing effort to modernise the airline. It preserves the colours of the American flag, but replaces the polished metal from the previous livery with silver paint. In 2011, the airline ordered a large amount of new aircraft, made from composite materials that meant the polished metal look had to be abandoned.

American Airlines has also been given a new icon that embodies its name, called the "flight symbol". As previous symbols, it includes a soaring eagle, but the new one also has a star and a stylised letter A. The tailfin features and interpretation of the American flag.

From the standpoint of graphic design history, this marks the end of one of the final great corporate identities from the 1960s. Designed by Massimo Vignelli and featuring a Helvetica wordmark and polished "silver bird" livery, this corporate identity had remained essentially unchanged since its introduction in 1968, more than four decades ago.
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New logo: FastJet

FastJet is a new airline that provides low cost flights across Africa, due to commence flights from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, later this month. Its activities are based on an existing airline called Fly540, a brand that is expected to be replaced by FastJet over time. Yesterday, November 5, FastJet launched its first proper corporate identity programme, created by London-based SomeOne, who also developed advertising in cooperation with AccessLeoBurnett in Nairobi.

Most noticeably, the airline has been given a mascot and spokesperson in the form of an African Grey Parrot. He is present wherever possible, from the tailfin on the plane livery to boarding passes, as well as bags of nuts. Naturally, grey is one of the primary colours, in addition to yellow and orange.
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