Interesting liveries are nothing new, and one-off airline paint schemes are often used to showcase something special about an airline, event or destination. Icelandair’s stunning Hekla Aurora Boeing 757 livery showcases the country’s view of the Northern Lights. Condor’s bold, vertical striped livery reflects the sun, sea and sand at the carrier’s vacation destinations, and numerous airlines paint their aircraft in Pride liveries to celebrate Pride month. Aircraft wearing these unique liveries are firm flight tracking favorites on Flightradar24 and stand out in the skies against aircraft which are mostly painted white.
In recent years we have seen the emergence of a new player in the special livery market – the QR code. The QR code presents an opportunity to use these bold liveries to contribute to marketing objectives, and it could be argued that the codes have only become more prevalent since the Covid-19 pandemic. Let’s take a look at three recent airline liveries that featured QR codes.
1. Sun Express (XQ)
The earliest example of an airliner featuring a QR code we could find is this SunExpress (XQ) livery (photographed in 2014). It featured two small QR codes on the front and aft fuselage. As of August 2023, these link to the SunExpress homepage.
2. Azores Airlines (S4)
A selection of the Azores Airlines (S4) A321neo fleet appear to have worn variations of this livery alongside the words ‘Breathe’, ‘Wonder’ and ‘Magical’. The aircraft wearing the livery are CS-TSG, CS-TSF and CS-TSH. The other two A321neo aircraft in the fleet feature a similar livery without the QR code. As of August 2023, the QR code links to the airline’s 2020 flight safety video. Have you spotted these aircraft recently? Let us know on twitter.
3. Airbus (AIB)
The most recent (and arguably the boldest) use of a QR code on a commercial aircraft is the livery applied to Airbus (AIB) A321XLR test aircraft, F-WWAB. The QR code links to a special page on the Airbus website featuring news and facts about the XLR program and A320 family. The A321XLR made its official debut at the 2023 Paris Air Show where we gained exclusive, behind the scenes access to its flying display. It recently received a notable order from Icelandair.
Why don’t more airlines use QR codes in their liveries?
Whilst we can’t be sure why QR codes aren’t a more common feature in the skies, we can make several assumptions.
- QR codes point to a specific location – they are ideal to support specific marketing campaigns, but no campaign lasts forever. The code might become obsolete once the marketing activity has finished.
- It costs money to repaint the aircraft – with commercial interests being second only to safety for airlines, the cost of adding or updating QR codes might not be worth the investment for some operators.
- Can anyone scan it? – think about it, most of us are not close to aircraft often enough to get pictures. When we are, we are rarely at a convenient 90 degree angle to perfectly capture a QR code.
These factors suggest that QR codes are less likely to proliferate airline liveries for the time being, but they remain useful tools to showcase special aircraft such as the Airbus A321XLR at public and private events.
What do you think? Will we see more QR codes appearing on commercial aircraft? Join the conversation and let us know on twitter.
Cover photo: Paulo Brito, JetPhotos.
