Emirates Officially Reveals New Look Livery After Images Were Leaked a Day Early

Dubai-based Emirates officially revealed a new-look aircraft livery on Thursday after images of the refreshed paint job were leaked a day early. The latest iteration of the iconic Emirates livery is only the third time in the airline’s history that the design has been altered.

The most eye-catching part of the new look is the tailfin which now features a dynamic and flowing 3D effect artwork of the national flag of the United Arab Emirates.

The ‘signature’ gold Emirates lettering adorning the fuselage has also been made bolder and supersized by 32.5% compared to the previous version, which had been flying since 1999.

In addition, the wingtips have been painted red with the Emirates logo in Arabic calligraphy set against the background in white. Finally, Emirates has also taken the opportunity to drop its website address from the livery design.

In 1985, Emirates unveiled its first livery design ahead of the airline’s launch and, until now, it had only ever been changed once before – that was during the 1999 Dubai Airshow to celebrate the delivery of the first Boeing 777-300 into the Emirates fleet.

On this occasion, there’s no big event to celebrate the launch of the new livery and the first Airbus A380 that had been painted in the design is set to fly to Munich on March 17 after spending a week in the paintshop at Dubai International Airport.

“Aircraft livery is the most instantly recognisable brand real estate for any airline,” commented Emirates’ President Sir Tim Clark. “It’s a visual representation of our unique identity, something we wear proudly, and display in all the cities we fly to around the world.”

“We’re refreshing our livery to keep it modern, without losing the key elements of our identity such as the UAE flag on our tailfin and the Arabic calligraphy,” Clark continued.

By the end of 2023, Emirates will have painted 24 aircraft in the new livery, and all new aircraft deliveries will comes with the latest design. This includes the first Airbus A350 aircraft to join Emirates – which is now slated to enter service in August 2024.