Air Canada is ringing in the new year by celebrating the 60th birthday of its rondelle logo. The logo first appeared on January 1, 1965 as part of the rebrand from Trans Canada Air Lines to Air Canada. The rebranded carrier wanted a new logo and thus the maple leaf inside of a circle was born. In the 60 years since, the rondelle has become synonymous with Air Canada at airports around the world.
While airline logos aren’t really the focus of this blog, it popped up in my inbox and I thought it was interesting. I also have Canada on the brain as we were supposed to ring in the new year in Toronto before part of the crew got sick and forced us to cancel.
The emblem was designed by the firm of Stewart, Morrison and Roberts, which was, at the time, one of Canada’s leading brand consultants. It fell to the firm’s creative director, Hans Kleefeld, who helped design logos for other major global brands.
Several different versions of the logo were presented to Air Canada leadership. In the summer of 1964, what would become Air Canada’s iconic stylized Maple Leaf surrounded by an open circle which starts at the stem of the leaf, was accepted as the airline’s new identity. It was first publicly revealed in October of 1964, and has since been modernized twice, once in 1993 and the current version in 2004.
Michael Rousseau, President and CEO of Air Canada, had this to say about the rondelle logo:
“Customers routinely tell us that no matter where they are in the world, as soon as they see the rondelle on an aircraft tail, they feel they are already at home. We take the responsibility of representing home to Canadians seriously, and we are immensely proud of the enduring longevity of such an iconic symbol.”
Summary
The Air Canada rondelle logo, and the Air Canada brand turns 60 today. The Canadian flag carrier was rebranded from Trans Canada Air Lines to Air Canada on January 1, 2025 and its iconic logo has been traversing the skies ever since.
(Image courtesy Lorenz von Schimonsky)
