If United Airlines turned the skies "friendly", then EVA Air has now made them "cute." Taiwan's second-largest carrier, EVA Air, and Japan's Sanrio, have collaborated for the second time to bring us Hello Kitty branded air travel. The two companies launched the first generation of Hello Kitty jets in 2005, but that fleet was disbanded in 2009, after its licensing agreement expired.
Then last year, they launched the first of the new fleet, the Hello Kitty 'Magic Stars' Airbus. Soon after, two more brand-new A330-300 aircrafts, The Hello Kitty 'Loves Apples' and the Hello Kitty 'Around The World' jets joined the Magic Stars Jet. Each has 30 Premium Laurel seats and 279 economy seats, an increase of 57 seats over the airline’s A330-200 jets. Magic Stars Jet flies to Sapporo and Guam, Apple Jet flies to Seoul and Fukuoka with the Global Jet serving Hong Kong and Tokyo.
White with the exception of green tails and the EVA logo, the aircraft are giant airborne canvases for Hello Kitty and her friends.
Hello Kitty Magic Stars Jet:
Hello Kitty Around The World Jet:
Hello Kitty Loves Apples Jet:
The cute exterior graphics on the jets are only a small part of the enormous branding project. From the actual boarding gate in Taiwan's airport to the ticket kiosks, everything related to the experience is branded with the cute mouthless cartoon kitty.
above: Even the gate at the airport is entirely Hello Kitty-ed out.
above: new Hello Kitty Kiosks for Eva Air tickets and boarding passes
Flight attendants, headrests, in flight programming and pillows all have the popular Sanrio character upon them in some manner:
All the meals, regardless of class or jet, are branded with Hello Kitty:
On board the plane over 100 in-flight items are specially designed with the Hello Kitty motif - including headrest covers, tissues, paper cups, utensils, milk bottles, snacks, soap dispensers, hand lotion, meals, ice cream, flight attendant aprons... even the barf bags.
above: Attendant aprons, ice cream, snacks and branded barf bags
above: The soaps and lotions on the flights are branded Hello Kitty
above: Hello Kitty branded menus, food trays, chopstix and utensils
above: Hello Kitty branded luggage tags, tickets and boarding passes
Passengers can also purchase limited edition duty-free products, such as Hello Kitty-shaped pasta, miniature plane models, and the flight attendant Hello Kitty aprons.
above: Sanrio duty free store in Madrid airport.
above: Models of EVA Air's Hello Kitty Fleet are available for purchase in their online store
Fans can check Hello Kitty Jet flight schedules, details of the latest travel packages and more on the dedicated website (in Chinese, Korean and Japanese only).
They can also download Hello Kitty Jet wallpaper and keep up-to-date on availability of Hello Kitty duty-free items. As a special bonus, the website features The Story of Logojets video about the origin of EVA’s popular Hello Kitty Jets.
EVA Air Hello Kitty
images and info courtesy of EVA air, limcorp and CNNgo