Airlines work inside a narrow colour space. Strong primaries, deep blues, a few reds, and the occasional gold. Here is a curated reference of twenty five major airline palettes, with observations about what each colour is doing.

These values are approximations based on public brand appearances. Treat them as study material for your own design work, not as authoritative brand guidelines.

Deep blues, the default

  • American Airlines, #0078D2. Friendly primary blue.
  • Delta Air Lines, #003366. Navy, authoritative.
  • United Airlines, #002244. Almost black blue.
  • British Airways, #075AAA. Classic royal blue.
  • Lufthansa, #05164D. Dark blue, gold accent yellow.
  • Pakistan International Airlines, #00502C. The outlier, deep green.

Reds that mean premium

  • Emirates, #D71A21. Red, crisp, paired with gold trim.
  • Turkish Airlines, #C8102E. Deep red, heritage.
  • Qantas, #E40000. Lively red with white.
  • Air India, #E31E24. Bright red, rebrand era.
  • Virgin Atlantic, #E10A0A. Virgin red, loud.
  • Swiss International, #C8102E. Matches the Swiss flag.

Greens and earth tones

  • Saudia, #006241. Deep green, heritage.
  • Cathay Pacific, #006564. Teal green.
  • Aer Lingus, #006847. Ireland green.
  • Ethiopian Airlines, #006A4D. Forest green.
  • Qatar Airways, #5C0F32. Maroon, distinctive.

Purples, oranges, and outliers

  • Hawaiian Airlines, #4B0076. Deep purple, unique.
  • Thai Airways, #6C1C7C. Purple with gold.
  • easyJet, #FF6600. Orange, budget signal.
  • KLM, #00A1DE. Sky blue, friendly.
  • Vueling, #FECB00. Yellow, Mediterranean.
  • Spirit Airlines, #FFEB00. Bright yellow, budget.

Gold and accent colours

Many premium carriers use gold as a secondary. Emirates, Etihad, and Thai all use gold detailing. Gold reads as premium on dark backgrounds and is hard to get wrong on printed materials.

  • Etihad Airways, gold #BD8B13 on navy #003D5B.
  • Singapore Airlines, yellow accent #F7A600 on blue.

Lessons from the palettes

A few patterns show up across the industry.

  • Saturation stays in the middle band. Airlines rarely use neon or pastel.
  • Primaries do most of the work. Secondary colours are small accents.
  • Red and deep blue dominate because they print well and sit well on white uniforms.
  • The logo mark and the cabin interior usually share a single hue.

Try these colors on a sample ticket

Pick an airline in the builder and see its brand color applied to the itinerary.

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How to use this reference

If you are building a fictional airline for a portfolio piece, scan this list, pick a palette that is uncommon in your region, and make it your own. If you are writing about a real airline, confirm the current brand colours against their most recent annual report, as airlines do refresh palettes every few years.

For a deeper breakdown of how these colours appear on boarding passes and itineraries, read ticket UI case studies. For how to use them in a portfolio piece, see designing a boarding pass for your UX portfolio.