With so many commercial airlines operating around the globe, it takes quite something to stand out. But the strong competition has resulted in some beautiful and innovative branding. From sleek designs that reflect company philosophies to bold colours and intricate designs inspired by national culture, we’ve rounded up the most beautiful planes that brighten up our skies.

Aeroflot was ranked as the world’s strongest airline brand in 2017 and its planes are certainly easy to spot. The fleet of 189-plus aircraft includes medium and long-haul planes with a white or silver body brightened by the signature colours of navy, orange and red, which swirl in a ribbon shape on the tail. The wings are also tipped with orange for a final flourish.

As the official airline of the Irish rugby team, Aer Lingus has previously displayed images of its national sports heroes on limited-edition planes. At any time of year, though, the airline’s signature green planes are easy to distinguish from others gracing the skies. Aer Lingus had a brand revamp in 2019, two decades since its last investment in new livery, with the familiar shamrock logo modernised with pronounced heart-shaped leaves and a tilt to represent dynamism.

This Quetzalcóatl 787-9 Dreamliner is named for an ancient Mexican deity who takes the form of a feathered serpent. The intricate, colourful design – the boldest in Aeromexico’s fleet and a proud symbol of Mexico’s national airline – took nine days to be painted on to the exterior. Other planes are painted handsomely in shades of blue and white with a Mexican flag.

You can’t miss Aircalin’s blooming lovely livery, with bold blues, oranges and yellows and intricate designs overlaid with hibiscus flowers. That is, if you happen to spy one of the planes on its limited routes between the South Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia and Brisbane, Paris, Sydney and Tokyo. The livery represents the natural beauty, biodiversity and culture of the overseas French territory.

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Air Canada rebranded for Canada’s 150th anniversary and the airline's 80th anniversary in 2017, giving its iconic maple leaf logo pride of place on the tail fin, sides and underbelly so it can be seen from pretty much any angle. It’s a sleek and stylish look with the revamped logo popping in red against a dark background and the name emblazoned on the sides.

Air Malta has long been known for its colourful planes and its fleet became even more striking after a rebrand in 2019. The current look continues to reflect the warmth and vibrancy of Maltese culture with a more stylish, geometric design and colour-blocking around the tail. The four A320ceo and four A320neo aircraft that make up the fleet all bear the blazing colours.

Proving that bold is sometimes best, especially when it comes to standing out in a high-flying field, Air New Zealand’s fleet has a striking, graphic design in black and white. It displays the shape of a fern (a national symbol) on the fuselage and the brand’s Koru logo, a reflection of Māori culture and a depiction of the hammerhead shark, on the tail fin. Most planes have a white body, although a small number are predominately black – and even more eye-catching.

Whether or not you consider this fleet of Star Wars aircraft owned by All Nippon Airways beautiful might depend on whether you’re a fan of the movie franchise. Japan’s largest airline teamed up with Disney to create the special planes in 2015 and they’re still used to transport lucky passengers to a galaxy far, far away. Or, at least, to a different part of the country or world.

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The four Boeing jets are certainly charming. They’re painted in honour of favourite characters including R2-D2, the droid BB-8 and C-3PO. They fly between Japanese cities Narita and Haneda and various cities in the US and Europe. The theme extends to the on-board experience too, with Star Wars movies to watch and announcements in droids’ voices.

American Airlines underwent a major rebrand in 2013, the first time in over 40 years, after its merger with US Airways. The current design remains beautifully simple yet is certainly sleeker and more striking, with a bold, colourful tail fin representing the US flag in a more abstract – yet still distinctive – style.

British Airways proves that simple classics can sometimes be best with a longstanding design that – aside from liveries for special occasions such as the London 2012 Olympics – hasn’t fundamentally changed since the company first took to the skies in 1919. The design remains a timeless combination of the British flag colours red, white and blue, with most of the design around the tail fin.

The British airline’s most recent limited redesign celebrates the launch of its Better World Sustainability programme, with a commitment to investment in sustainable aviation fuel and customers able to offset their carbon footprint by purchasing the fuel. In collaboration with Airbus, British Airways painted one of its fuel-efficient A320neos in shades of pale blue and turquoise (pictured).

Brussels Airlines began its Belgian Icons series of special liveries in 2015 and now operates a fleet of five, each intended to carry passengers for several years before being repainted. It includes Rackham, an Airbus A320 inspired by one of the most famous creations to come out of Belgium – Tintin. The plane’s design is inspired by the shark submarine from Tintin album Red Rackham’s Treasure.

The Tintin plane proved so popular that the airline recently had it painstakingly refreshed so Hergé’s characters can fly until 2026. The rear cabin walls also carry images from the album, which is available to read on board. Another beautiful aircraft in the fleet is Amare (pictured second from right), created in 2017 in collaboration with the festival Tomorrowland, usually held in the town of Boom between Antwerp and Brussels.

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China Airlines’ current livery was designed in collaboration with Airbus and recently tweaked with the airline name made much smaller. These are beautiful planes with interlaced shades of blue in Airbus’ classic pattern and a pretty tail fin design bearing the image of a red plum blossom.

In many ways EgyptAir has a relatively simple design, with a white livery emblazoned with the airline’s name and branding in blue. It’s the distinctive emblem, though, that makes it especially striking. The logo, covering the tail fin and sweeping near the nose, represents the sky-god Horus who takes the form of a falcon.

Etihad got its current, rather gorgeous, look after a major design refresh in 2014 and the airline’s fleet has been a star of the skies ever since. The livery features a striking mosaic-style pattern of warm, earthy tones known as ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’, which was inspired by the colours and landscape of the United Arab Emirates, from beaches and deserts to mountains.

Although EVA Air has sadly now retired its fleet of Hello Kitty aircraft, the usual livery is still striking. The Taiwanese international airline's planes have a distinctive green underbelly and tail fin shot through with a swirl of orange and its recognisable globe logo.

The majority of Fiji Airways’ livery is pretty simple, with the name printed near the nose in a large, graphic font and the rest otherwise mostly plain white. And that just makes the tail fin stand out all the more. It’s earthy, intricate and beautiful in shades of brown, black and white, and features several Pacific tribal patterns and emblems with roots in Fijian heritage.

FinnAir takes its appearance pretty seriously, as evidenced by the airline’s ongoing collaboration with chic Finnish design house Marimekko, which started in 2012. Two of its aircraft wear famous patterns: one dressed in the company’s spotty Kivet pattern and the other sporting Unikko, characterised by large poppies. The design house also supplies the fleet with cabin textiles and tableware.

Gulf Air’s fleet is a masterclass in simple elegance. These glamorous planes are white with gilded detailing in the jet engines, fonts and tail fin, which proudly displays the airline’s falcon logo. Gold has always featured, although the aircraft were once much more colourful and had stripes of red and green from nose to tail. People can sometimes still spot the old look – a few of its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner planes were repainted with the vintage design ahead of the carrier's 70th anniversary in 2020.

Hawaiian Airlines' standard livery displays the beloved icon of its brand. Pualani, or ‘flower of the sky’, gazes forwards from the purple tail fin. Beyond her, a silver maile lei garland with woven pakalana flowers wraps around the fuselage in a beautiful expression of the aloha spirit.

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Icelandair launched its Northern Lights-themed livery in 2015 as part of a campaign to encourage travellers to take a stopover in Iceland. Unsurprisingly, the design has proved popular. Now part of the fleet, the Hekla Aurora Boeing 757 wears the blue and green swirls of the aurora borealis across its body, while a LED mood lighting system on board recreates the effect in the main cabin.

Other special livery designs include the Icelandic flag, launched in 2018 to celebrate 100 years of sovereignty, and an aircraft (pictured) painted in homage to Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the highlight of one of Iceland’s most awe-inspiring national parks. Icelandair has also overhauled its ‘everyday’ livery with a simpler, more stylish design, a larger logo and tail fins that come in six different colours, due to roll out from 2022.

Since Norwegian Air first took to the skies, the airline has always honoured iconic figures on the tails of its aircraft. Many are Norwegian nationals, although the main thing they have in common is that they’re inspirational in some way. Those to be honoured with a tail fin portrait include Jane Austen, Roald Dahl, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson, Freddie Mercury and Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie (pictured).

Qantas’ everyday look is a simple yet striking white body emblazoned with the distinctive kangaroo logo on the tail fin. The current design dates from 2016, though a jumping marsupial has featured since the 1940s. Even more eye-catching, though, is the airline’s Flying Art Series, with a small fleet decorated with art representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and stories. Pictured is the Dreamliner Emily Kame Kngwarreye, a Boeing 787-9 whose design is based on a 1991 painting by late Northern Territory artist, Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

Dallas-based airline Southwest marked its 50th anniversary in June 2021 and celebrated by painting a number of its aircraft with liveries inspired by state flags. Representing the destinations the low-cost airline serves, the intricate designs include a bold ochre and red paint job for New Mexico and the pelican of the Louisiana state flag. There's also a homage to Walt Disney World (pictured). The airline’s usual get-up is also pretty eye-catching with bold hues of blue, red and yellow.

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Thai Airways doesn’t need one-off designs or limited-edition liveries to stand out. The airline’s everyday get-up is pretty special as it is. The most distinctive feature is the use of the brand’s signature purple, striped across the fuselage and tail fin, and used for the logo near the front. Its motif, designed to evoke an orchid and the fluidity of Thai silk, was designed in 1975 and given a modern refresh in 2005.

Vietnam’s national carrier bucks the trend for mostly white liveries and instead goes for a beautiful teal colour that extends from nose to tail. It’s perfectly complemented by the gilded accents, which brighten a stripe around the underbelly and the airline’s logo – a lotus flower. The combination makes it one of the loveliest fleets around.

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Virgin Atlantic's strong brand is instantly recognisable thanks to the bold combination of red and white. The planes used to feature an image of a Varga Girl, inspired by pictures by Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas. Since 2019 the airline has scrapped the pin-up mascot and replaced it with a series of diverse people representing the spirit of modern Britain. They’re so small you have to squint to make them out (pictured is ‘Red Velvet’, near the nose of the plane) but that just adds to the plane-spotting fun.

Air Tahiti Nui, international carrier for the islands of French Polynesia, has a fleet of aircraft almost as beautiful as the scenery it flies through. Instead of settling on plain wording and block colours, it brings something different to the red, white and blue hues with intricate swirling patterns, representing the islands’ flora and fauna. The latest design was unveiled on the 787-9 Dreamliner in 2018.

Alaska Airlines’ simple yet striking branding with fresh hues of blue, grey, green and white will be a familiar sight for anyone who’s travelled in North America, and the company rebranded with a sleeker design in 2016. The distinctive logo, which shows the face of an indigenous man, was also refreshed and fills the tails of the planes. The majority of panes in the fleet – including the new 737-9 MAX aircraft, launched in March 2021 – stick to this signature design.

The airline, based in Seattle, Washington, also has an array of beautiful commemorative aircraft displaying one-off designs, including planes honouring military personnel, the Hawaii-inspired ‘Spirit of the Islands’ and even one painted with the likeness of a salmon. It also has Disney-themed planes, boldly displaying the livery of characters including Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the cast of the Toy Story movies.

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