A detailed overview of every UPS Airlines livery

In my opinion, the UPS livery is a masterclass in airline livery design. There have been three versions of it since 1988, each featuring the same basic color scheme while iterating on the best elements of the previous one.

It’s always been bold. Classy. And most importantly: unique. How many airline liveries can you name that proudly feature dark (1970’s) brown as confidently as this one does? 

UPS Airlines liveries through the years

UPS Arlines was formed in 1988 as a subsidiary of the United Parcel Service. It’s the successor to UPS Air Cargo – which launched operations way back in 1929. For this overview, I’m only focusing on the liveries of UPS Airlines (1988 onward).

The launch livery: 1988-2003

Just imagine the challenge facing the designers of this original livery. The United Parcel Service was known for its dark brown delivery trucks and uniforms – a color scheme which doesn’t exactly translate well to airline livery design.

• Brown was very much out of style in 1988.
• Darker colors (such as 1970s disco brown) absorb heat, which can be problematic for finicky aircraft control systems.
• Using any color other than brown would have been very much off brand.

The solution that the designers came up with is what I consider to be a “safe compromise.” 

• It was safe because contained very simple design elements which could be easily replicated from aircraft type to aircraft type.
• It was a compromise because they made “UPS brown” (R=35, G=2, B=0 – #230200) the secondary color rather than the primary. 

The vertical stabilizer was solid brown, and extended down into the fuselage to connect with that cheatline. The existing (beige) UPS package logo was placed in the center of the vertical stabilizer.

They played it safe with the main titles as well. “United Parcel Service” was spelled out in Helvetica bold (all black – not brown).

Finally, the very bottom of the fuselage was left exposed aluminum. It was a very clean (and classy) design IMHO.

The second livery: 2003-2014

To me, the most fascinating thing about the 2003 livery redesign was not only how modern it looked, but how subtly retro it was at the same time.

Retro you say? Absolutely! I mean, the brown and yellow color scheme is something we haven’t seen since the disco-era 1970s. It’s really hard for me not to give the designers credit for having the balls to plow ahead with a color palette like that in 2003. Totally hip, man!

The basic premise of the original 1988 livery remained intact. The vertical stabilizer was just as brown as the previous version, and it blended down into the fuselage. The all new UPS logo of the time was placed directly at the center of it – just like the previous version.

Instead of a linear brown cheatline running down the entire length of the fuselage, it was visually sliced in half (from front to back) with a brown arch. The brown and white sections were separated buy a gold stripe (R=220, G=146, B=35 – #DC9223).

The “United Parcel Service” titles were replaced by “Worldwide Services” in a thinner (but still black) font similar to Helvetica. Just beneath those main titles (and offset slightly to the right) were subtitles that spelled out “Synchronizing the world of commerce.”

The current livery: 2014-present

You know the saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Unless you can make it better. In that case, go for it. But don’t F it up!” That’s exactly what the United Parcel Service brand and marketing team did in 2014.

This was a very subtle update, with 3 changes that can be difficult to notice at first glance:

1. The “Synchronizing the world of commerce” subtitles were removed from the forward fuselage.
2. The gold color (of the stripe and the logo) was made brighter. The new color is R=249, G=184, B=9 (#F9B809).
3. The UPS logo was replaced with the updated version. It essentially the same graphic but without the gradient highlight.

Kudos to UPS on doubling down on the “1970s brown” thing! Other than Etihad’s new livery, I can’t think of any other airline using any shade of brown as its primary color. The Saudi Airlines livery is close – but it’s more baby poop tan than brown IMHO.

What others am I missing?