Why do Brussels Airlines operates 3 liveries to Accra? [Article]

Why does Brussels Airlines operate 3 liveries to Accra? [Article]

“This is the third time I’ve seen the new livery. It looks good beyond confusion”.

These are the words of Vanessa, traveling three times with Brussels Airlines and a regular user of Kotoka International Airport (KIA) when she arrived at the boarding gate to board a Brussels Airlines flight and saw the plane in a different color than what she knew.

Like Vanessa, many travelers may have passed through KIA, and if they hadn’t seen an airline crew in a familiar uniform, they would have doubted that they were on the right plane.

Some people like to travel, they just don’t care about the livery of the plane they go to, while others are particular about the type and some color of the plane that flies on the trip. Usually, when an airline operates an aircraft with an unfamiliar livery on a route that is already familiar with a certain livery, this can create excitement and curiosity.

What is the aircraft livery?

An aircraft livery is simply a unique design adopted by an airline for use on its aircraft as part of its brand or corporate identity. Designs can include logos, symbols, letters in specific fonts, among other design elements.

In addition to choosing a main livery that may be recognizable among the target market and the general public, airlines sometimes use special liveries to commemorate events, human characters, and various other things. For example, Qatar Airways even before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup several planes appeared in liveries to celebrate the biggest football competition.

The case of Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines is a member of the Lufthansa Group, together with Eurowings and others. In November 2022, it introduced a new logo along with a new livery as part of a new brand identity. The old livery uses the old logo of a dotted orange “b” sitting on a dark blue background on the tail of the aircraft, along with the airline name and logo on the fuselage. The new livery, however, uses a new logo, which is made of nine points of irregular size forming a square-like shape sitting on a white background on the tail together with the name of the airline on the body, among others.

Beyond these two liveries, Brussels Airlines has other specially-designed liveries on some other aircraft that may not appear on the African route due to the size of the aircraft and the efficiency that may make them unsuitable to operate.

Currently serving Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, as well as other destinations is a fleet of A330 aircraft that are mostly in the old or new Brussels livery and Eurowings livery.

Are still flying both old and new liveries

At the launch of the new brand identity last year, Wencke Lemmes, Head of Customer Experience, Product and Marketing at Brussels Airlines stated that “In order not to create waste and high production costs, our new brand identity will be implemented in a gradual approach. Our planes, for example, are not will be repainted before the painting date, so as not to waste money, resources, or paint. As a result, the repainting of the fleet will take several years. This also means that you will still bump into the “old” branding, because we are committed to using the resources until they run out or are already reach the expiration date.

Why Eurowings in Accra?

Brussels Airlines frequent flyers, unless flying in the old or new Brussels livery, may fly on a Eurowings livery.

Why do Eurowings aircraft keep appearing in Accra, when the airline does not serve this particular market, the fact is that aircraft with Eurowings livery are only operated for Eurowings by Brussels.

Also, as mentioned earlier, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings are subsidiaries of the same parent company; therefore, regardless of any agreement between the two companies, it is inappropriate for Brussels to operate the aircraft of the sister company as and when necessary.

Is it mandatory to fly in your livery?

Although airlines usually like to fly in liveries especially recognized as part of maintaining brand identity and, to count some marketing points, there is no clear-cut rule that mandates that the airline must always fly in known liveries. There are instances where an airline needs to increase its fleet with additional aircraft for one reason or another, which may require leasing one or more.

Beyond flying chartered aircraft that may be in another company’s livery, there are situations where chartered aircraft may not even come in a specific livery and may appear in all white. Regardless of the livery of the plane, provided it is registered and operated by an airline that has a license to fly on a certain route, the plane can be used for legal operations.

Controversy

When Brussels was first revealed the “b” logo, “b” which is formed by thirteen points, received negative feedback from the public especially in some geographical areas that interpret unlucky numbers. In the end, Brussels added an additional point which was the ‘new’ logo at the time because staying twelve (12) would not be an option because it was also opposed by people with strong religious beliefs who saw the number as having a link. to the twelve (12) disciples of Jesus.

Also, when launching their current brand identity, many aviation enthusiasts criticized Brussels Airlines for developing a logo similar to Croatia Airlines. However, as far as the story goes, for Brussels, the nine (9) dots of different sizes that make up the new logo represent the various customers, employees, and goals.

** Just for information, the above phenomenon may not be exclusive to Brussels Airlines operations on the BRU – ACC route.

The author, Mark Ofosu is an airline media relations consultant and author who shares his insights on the Ghanaian aviation industry. Email: [email protected]

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