AER Lingus has unveiled a corporate image to be introduced over the next two years at a cost of about £8 million.
The central element of the redesign, launched at a reception in Dublin Airport yesterday morning, is a new look for the airline's famous shamrock logo.
The shamrock is a softer shade of green than its predecessor, has been slightly stretched, has acquired a stem and leans a little to the right.
Aer Lingus has more than 2,000 separate branded items and during the next two years each will be changed to sport the new logo. Signs and corporate literature have already been altered, while the interiors and exteriors of the company's 29 aircraft will be redecorated in rotation as planes are taken out of service for maintenance overhauls.
Ireland's literary heritage has also contributed to the airline's new identity. Twenty four passages of prose and poetry from 14 Irish writers feature heavily in the redesign.
These authors include W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Edna Doyle, Patrick Kavanagh and Aogan O'Rathaille.
Lines from James Connolly and Patrick Pearse are also used but, perhaps surprisingly, James Joyce is not among the chosen few.
The excerpts are woven into the fabric of seat covers, blankets and carpets and will also be printed on items such as menu cards and ticket holders. Some passages were chosen because of their suitability for certain elements within the Aer Lingus range of products.
Menu cards for example will be inscribed with Oscar Wilde's famous line "I can resist every thing except temptation." It is not yet known if one of Wilde's other well known quotes "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance" will be inscribed on the bathroom mirrors.
The first aircraft to be painted in the new livery, an Airbus A330, was on show at a breakfast reception for 500 invited guests held in the TEAM hangar at Dublin Airport. The newly fitted out aircraft, which will operate on the transatlantic route, later flew to Cork and Shannon for separate functions at both airports.
The design contract was awarded to the British company, Luxon Carra, which specialises in aircraft livery work. The exact fee paid to Luxon Carra has not been disclosed by Aer Lingus, but aviation industry sources said it was "a six figure sum".
The cost of implementing the new look is £8 million, but Aer Lingus said about half of that would have been incurred over the next two years had it kept its old image.
The Aer Lingus chief executive, Mr Gary McGann, said that the old image had served the company well for 20 years but was now "fragmented and tired and in need of revitalisation".
The new look "retains what is best and most representative of Aer Lingus, and introduces new elements that are fresh, relevant, distinctive and unique", he added.
While the new image was a major investment in the company's future, Mr McGann said, Aer Lingus would not forget "the perilous state" from which it has just emerged.
After the ceremonies at Dublin and Cork, the Aer Lingus Airbus returned to the transatlantic base at Shannon Airport where the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, performed a blessing ceremony.
He was assisted by Archdeacon James O'Boyle, representing the Bishop of Limerick, and the Shannon parish priest, Canon Brendan O'Donoghue.
