Branding of Airports in India
Friday, April 11, 2008
Some airports in the world like Dubai International airport, Melbourne airport etc. have branded themselves with their own identities.
I guess the trend has caught on in India with new airports built in Hyderabad and Bangalore. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad has already started functioning and the Bangalore International Airport would start functioning from May 11, 2008.
As far as I know, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai was the first Indian airport to take initiative on branding. Ray and Keshavan, the premiere design consultancy in India, created the identity for CSIA. It inserted the letters CSIA into a feather form.
This looks like a traditional logo with no frills. The type treatment is very usual and the design seems to have not concentrated on the type.
GMR roped in Ray and Keshavan for creating a brand identity for its new international airport at Hyderabad. 
The logo seems to retain GMR’s original logo elements and colors. I feel that the placement and the red and yellow elements in the logo are clearly of the M in GMR’s logo. The only difference is in the transparency and brightness of the colors. I like the type used. All the colors in GMR’s logo are intact in the airport’s logo (even the blue for the type Rajiv Gandhi International Airport). I presume that this must have been included by GMR in the creative brief to Ray and Keshavan.
The Bengaluru International Airport too has a similar logo. I guess this should also be the work of Ray and Keshavan.
The transparency used in the logo and the type treatment are very similar to the RGIA logo. Also, I see a similarity in the color used for the type – Bengaluru and the one used in the RGIA logo printed in Hindu Business Line. Anyhow, I feel the logos make the two airports related in some way!
The identity being used in Bengaluru International Airport (Image from BIAL’s website)
I feel that RGIA’s identity is secondary as GMR is trying to brand the airport more with its own logo but I like the way BIAL has used the identity as a primary one. It’s widely used throughout the assets to identify the airport. But, in the RGIA’s website, you can see the GMR logo prominently than the airport logo.
Bengaluru International Airport Official Website
Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Official Website
Update: Even Indira Gandhi International Airport has a similar branding as of RGIA. Read it here.
Entry Filed under: Brand Identity, Branding, Case Study, Design, Logo Design, Marketing, Rebranding. Tags: airport branding, bengaluru, Branding, Design, hyderabad, identity, indian airports.
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1.
shake | Friday, April 11, 2008 at 10:48 am
I feel the word “Bengaluru” is not easy to pronounce. This somehow doesnt give an urbane image to the International Airport.
2.
Saawan | Friday, April 11, 2008 at 11:09 am
The name Bengaluru is being largely ignored as people still call the city by the name Bangalore. It might be Karnataka Govt’s move to popularize the name ‘Bengaluru’.