Southwest Dedicates New Heart Logo to Unhappy Workers

Southwest Airlines unveiled a new corporate logo and paint scheme for its planes, part of a freshening designed around big changes this year at the carrier. The re-branding comes as Southwest is about to complete its integration of AirTran Airways and to launch flights nationwide from its home base at Dallas Love Field; the airline dedicated its new three-colored heart logo to its employees, a not-so-subtle pitch to its increasingly disgruntled workforce.

This is the first update to Southwest’s “canyon blue” livery since January 2001, when the airline ditched the gold-and-orange color scheme that dated to its days as a Texas intrastate carrier. The new paint job moves “Southwest” from the tail of its 737s to the main cabin, with a new font and a different shade of blue that dominates the fuselage. The tail and winglets will feature stripes of red, yellow, and silver, retaining three colors that have been prominent in the past. Southwest is also painting a large heart on the belly. Airline employees will get new uniforms and the in-flight magazine, a relaunch. (One suggested tag line that Southwest rejected: “We’re 43 years old, we’re from Dallas, it’s time for a facelift.”)