Malaysia Airlines A380

Beauty in the East

Landor created a new identity that gave Malaysia Airlines’ A380 service brand a stunning contemporary look, while remaining true to its Malaysian heritage.

Background

As the flag carrier for Malaysia and one of the most awarded airlines in the world, Malaysia Airlines is both a national emblem and a global power. Coming off a year of record losses and also introducing the world’s largest passenger airliner, the Airbus A380, to its fleet, the carrier embarked on a new brand identity for the A380 service to signal change and capture contemporary and premium association.

Challenge

To work its way back to profitability, Malaysia Airlines unveiled a series of plans, one of which was to utilize the A380 service on the lucrative Kuala Lumpur–London route. Its vision was to imbue the brand with touches of both luxury and Malaysian hospitality. Landor was engaged to develop a positioning and visual identity system to ensure the carrier capitalized on its new asset. Our challenge was to elevate the A380 brand while preserving its unique Malaysian charm.

Solution

Landor developed an identity based on the brand’s unmistakable wau bulan (moon kite, one of Malaysia’s national symbols). The wau(traditional Malaysian kite) represents all that the A380 service aspires to be—elegant, beautiful, and truly Malaysian. The red and blue colors of the emblem were replaced with three blue color tones, giving it a more contemporary look and feel. The wau was flipped to allow the new brand to differentiate itself from the rest of the fleet. Other brand applications were also aligned to the new look, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.
In the face of increasing competition in the South East Asia region, Malaysia Airlines’ A380 service seeks to capitalize on its unique heritage, setting itself apart from competitors and capture a slice of this lucrative market.