Ryan Air: Rebranding

The old “new” Ryan Air

Owned and operated by the Ryan family, Arctic Transportation Services (ATS) is one of Alaska’s largest and oldest continuously-operating Bush air carriers. They are a successful business, but their name lacked resonance with its customers and stakeholders.

AadlandFlint conducted a communications audit for ATS and discovered that although the company had operated for ten years as ATS, they operated for the previous four decades as Ryan Air, a name with deep roots in Bush aviation since territorial days. AadlandFlint recommended they take advantage of the resonance and goodwill already associated with the family name by returning to the name Ryan Air. From there, AadlandFlint updated Ryan Air’s brand presence.

Their new logo depicts the “R” for Ryan and also symbolizes the bend in the Unalakleet river—part of their flight path. The name change took effect in January 2010 and included a roll-out of new marketing collateral and awareness ads.