The logo of the cargo airline ABX Air is almost explicit about the type of company to which it belongs.
ABX Air is an air cargo carrier founded in the early 1980s in Ohio under the name Airborne Express. Today, the company provides a full range of scheduled and charter cargo services and operates throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.The airline was formed in 1980 after the takeover by Airborne Freight of Midwest Air Charter.
Today the main customer of ABX Air is the international express delivery company DHL, as can be seen by the ABX aircraft painted in yellow and red, as in the corporate style of DHL.
What is ABX Air?
ABX Air is the name of an American air carrier, which was established in 1980 as Airborne Express. Today the airline has a fleet of 20 aircraft and works mainly with DHL, having most of the planes colored in the DHL yellow and red palette.
The original logo of the air carrier was designed in 1980 and featured the initial name of the company, Airborne Express, written in two levels in bold geometric capitals of a modern stencil sans-serif font. The heavy black inscription was accompanied by three black parallel horizontal lines at the bottom of the badge. The lines were cut diagonally, creating a sharp image, resembling the wing, and evoking a sense of motion and speed.
After the first redesign, the Airborne Express badge got a new color palette, with intense scarlet-red shades added to the composition. The typeface of the lettering remained the same, but the wordmark got smaller in size, with the geometric underline enlarged and elongated. This version of the logo was used by the company until 2003 when it was finally renamed ABX Air.
The redesign of 2003 kept the black and red color palette of the previous version, but completely changed the style of the lettering, using a smooth slanted typeface, and accompanying the wordmark with an emblem — the black silhouette of a plane flying on the left from the stylized red “A”, which was significantly enlarged compared to other characters on the badge.
In 2021 the logo of the ABX Air company became strict and geometric. The lettering is now set in the capitals of one size, executed in a clean and minimalistic sans-serif font. On its left, the wordmark is complemented by an emblem, with the red “A” from the previous badge, and the dark silhouette of a plane, drawn on a light-gray and white slanted trapezoid, resembling the tail of an airplane.
In the ABX Air logo, the wordmark seamlessly merges with the pictorial part featuring an aircraft. Moreover, the initial “A” is not only a letter but it is also part of the emblem as it shows the runway trip below the aircraft.
While the other glyphs are not as unique as the initial, they also look distinctive. The most important part is that they look as if they are affected by the air streams produced by the aircraft. The glyphs are tilted to the right, and the difference in the width of the strokes also contributes to the impression of being affected by some force coming from the aircraft.
However, this effect is not exaggerated, so the ABX Air logo remains perfectly legible.
ABX Air, Inc., formerly Airborne Express, is a cargo airline flying cargo routes in the US and around the world. The main customer is DHL. Also, the company offers ACMI freight services as well as flight support services and training.
ABX Air is based near the City of Wilmington, Ohio, US. It was founded in 1980 and has around 40 airplanes.
The bold yet simple lettering from the primary ABX Air badge is set in a minimalistic geometric sans-serif font with slanted uppercase characters. The closest typefaces to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Arial Pro Extra Bold Italic, or Sublime Extra Bold Italic.
As for the color palette of the ABX Air visual identity, it is based on a combination of light gray, red, and white for the emblem, and dark gray, almost black, for the lettering. This scheme looks very professional and bright and represents a reliable and confident company at its best.