Strategic Airlines to rebrand itself

Computer generated image of an A320 in Air Australia livery.

(Strategic Airlines) 

Brisbane-based Strategic Airlines announced Friday it will be renamed Air Australia later this year.

The carrier said last month it would launch flights from Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu Dec. 14 after receiving approval from US Dept. of Transportation (ATW Daily News, Aug. 15). Those flights will be operated by Airbus A330s with 30 business-class seats and 244 in economy.

Launched in 1991 as an aircraft broker, the airline obtained its own AOC in 2009 as a charter operator. It now operates scheduled passenger service on routes including MEL-Phuket, Brisbane-HKT, BNE-Bali, BNE-Port Hedland and Perth-Derby. Domestic MEL-BNE flights will commence from December.

The new image and livery was designed by CumminsRoss in Australia. According to executive director Sean Cummins, the task was as much about design as it was about communication.

"The challenge was to convey a modern Australian aviation product, for a company with its own heritage and an instant sense of familiarity and likeability," Cummins said. "Green is our key color with a hint of gold and subtle silver-grey representing gum trees, koalas and gray kangaroos." He noted that the Air Australia symbol is a "stylized boomerang, the most striking icon of flight in the Australian lexicon. Because of the company's strong history as a defense force charter company we have also incorporated the rising sun, also a strong Australian symbol also found on the Australian Army badge."

In addition to rights to fly to the US, Strategic has also gained approval to operate services between Australia and China. "We are now assessing potential opportunities and working on all regulatory requirements with China regulators," the airline stated.

(Geoffrey Thomas - Air Transport World)