Ethiopian Airlines is the country’s flag carrier. It belongs to Ethiopia’s government. The reputation of the company was severely damaged on 10 March 2019, when the company’s Boeing crashed killing 157 people.
Ethiopian Airlines is the company, which is wholly owned by the government of the country and was founded in December, 1945, with its first domestic flight on April 8, 1946. The first international flight was made only five years later, in 1951.
Ethiopian Airlines has been a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) since 1959 and a member of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) since 1968. Ethiopian Airlines joined the Star Alliance in December 2011.
Ethiopian Airlines operates passenger flights to 113 destinations and is the largest airline on the African continent.
What is Ethiopian Airlines?
Ethiopian Airlines is the largest airline in Africa, which year after year is recognized as the best carrier of the continent. Ethiopian Airlines offers more than 60 destinations in Africa with convenient connections at the new and modern Bole Airport, Addis Ababa.
The first logo of Ethiopian Airlines looked pretty simple yet elegant and bright. It was composed of two-leveled lettering in the uppercase, set in two levels, and a stylized emblem, forming up a wing of three colors, green, yellow, and red, repeating the national flag of Ethiopia. The typeface of the slightly italicized red inscription was custom and featured massive and elongated triangular serifs, which added both sharpness and stability to the logotype, balancing the “flying” character of the graphical part.
The colorful design of the Ethiopian Airlines logo creates a bright and happy impression. The word “Ethiopian,” which features a serif type, dominates the design. The initial is capitalized, while all the other letters are lowercase. Below, the name of the company is given in Ethiopian.
At the top right corner, there is a design looking like three feathers (red, yellow, and green).
The title case lettering from the primary badge of Ethiopian Airlines is set in a traditional serif typeface with the contours of the letters extended. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Pockota Light, or Blaak Thin, with some slight modifications of the characters.
As for the color palette of the Ethiopian Airlines visual identity, it is based on the combination of red, green and yellow, which are the colors of the stripes on the national flag of Ethiopia. According to the official description of the flag, Green there represents fertility, labor and development, yellow stands hope, justice and equality, and red symbolizes sacrifice and heroism in the name of freedom and equality.