Updated 3/11/25: Following the initial ‘leak’, Korean Air officially revealed their new livery, and presented new photos. I updated this post accordingly. There also appears to be a special website dedicated to the new brand.

Korean Air has for years been in the process of acquiring its competitor, Asian Airlines. Recently, that acquisition was finally closed, following approval from the EU and US aviation authorities. Soon after, Korean Air unveiled a new cabin design showing sleek, new business class cabins that appear to be a very nice upgrade from the Apex Suites that Korean traditionally has had on many of its international long haul fleet.

Well, now there is an update: Korean Air is also apparently getting a new livery! The very first airplane in the new livery, with registration code HL8515, was recently seen around Seoul after flying in from Busan. Note that an official announcement has not been made at the time of writing.

1. New blues, no red: Korean’s new livery
2. Bold or boring?
3. Summary

New blues, no red: Korean’s new livery

Korean Air has always had a livery with a light blue upper half, a grey stripe, and a white belly, with the Korean blue/red yin and yang on the tail and ‘Korean Air’ in blue over the front windows. It is an instantly recognizable livery, though I realize not everybody particularly liked the blue, which was also carried forward into the passenger cabin in a way that, frankly, feels a little dated. For refernce, this is it:

And then, find below jun.aviation‘s reveal on instagram: Boeing 787-10 HL8515 in its new, blue livery:

Given that this is a photo at night, it’s not easy to see what the exact colors are, but it appears that the light blue has been replaced by a darker shade of blue, the grey stripe has disappeared, as is the blue/red yin/yang on the tail. The latter has been replaced by something of a black monogram of the original. Finally, the ‘Korean Air’ lettering along the front has been replaced by a black-only, larger, more modern text that simply reads ‘Korean’.

Korean Air has subsequently officially announced the new livery, sharing some pictures of the recently-painted aircraft:

This picture now clearly showcases the new shade of blue with a silver/white belly, with the big KOREAN and yin/yang symbol on the tail in a darker shade of blue. Supposedly, ‘pearl’ effects applied throughout the fuselage make the livery look shiny, or sparkly, for a ‘modern and sleek look’.

Bold or boring?

I’ve seen the new livery described as bold and modern. While I would certainly agree that it’s ‘modern’, I don’t find it to be particularly bold. ‘Boring’ seems more appropriate to me. The truth is that every other airline and then some has a livery kind of like this. The blue has been slightly altered, and instead of applying it with a straight edge along the fuselage, it ahs a bit of wave. It reminds me a little of TUI:

Or perhaps KLM, in its latest iteration where the blue slopes down a little bit along the nose, and then up a little around the tail:

With the cool and sleek new cabin that Korean Air had recently unveiled and put into service, I was curious to see whether that interior design would somehow be reflected in the overall branding of the merged airlines and its livery. After all, the blues of the current/old livery were also continued inside the cabin. But, that doesn’t seem to be really the case. Whereas the cabin features neutral but elegant grays, the new livery doesn’t seem to take over those color palettes in the slightest.

Summary

So, Korean has revealed a new livery (or rather, we saw their plane taxiing around Seoul with a new livery, but haven’t seen a formal announcement yet), which is something of a modern take on the old livery. However, I wish that Korean had come with something a bit more exciting than this. it strikes me as a rather forgettable livery. I understand that the newly merged Korean/Asiana airline needs to find some unity in its branding, but given the sleek and modern redesign of Korean Air’s new cabins, I had hoped that the livery would similarly represent an elegant and interesting new update.

What do you think of Korean’s new livery? Let me know in the comments!