Russian carrier Yamal Airlines, headquartered near the Arctic Circle, has unveiled a new livery on an Airbus A320 twinjet.
The colour scheme features a ‘ice floe’ representation of a polar bear on the fin looking up to Polaris, the star in the constellation Ursa Minor which is associated with the North Pole.
Yamal has shown off the livery on RA-73694, a former EasyJet airframe, powered by International Aero Engines V2500 engines.
It was transferred to the Russian registry after being retained by the Russian government when sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.
The aircraft carried out its first flight in the new scheme on 22 November, operating from Moscow Domodedovo to Novy Urengoy, says the airline.
It states that the bear and the star are symbols of “reliability, navigation and connection with the region”.
But Yamal says the rebranding strategy is taking a “differentiated approach to different aircraft types” – it operates Yakovlev Superjet 100s, but has opted for only “minimal changes” on these models.
Yamal says it plans to complete the fleet transformation in 2027. “The new livery is not only a modern visual image but also a symbol of the service and reliability standards we offer our passengers,” says chief executive Artem Lobachev.
