AGILE, Natural, and Melodic are the new brand presence concept of the Austrian Airlines Group.

Austrian - Austrian arrows, operated by Tyrolean- Lauda Air, launched its new logo on Wednesday.

"Our new market presence is another milestone in the history of the Austrian Airlines Group. It is all the more noteworthy for the fact that it provides the foundation for a series of marketing offensives and dynamic changes," said Austrian Airlines Group chief executive officer Vagn Soerensen, at the presentation of the company's exciting new brand presence.

"We have analysed the operational and human strengths and values of our companies in detail, and produced a clear and dynamic new presence. At the same time, we have striven to preserve our recognition value and the positive image the company has built up worldwide over the past four decades," he said.

He added that the timing of this facelift could not be better, as clarity of customer perception is currently a key factor in the beleaguered industry.

"We have conceived our new brand architecture in such a way that it can evolve gradually, giving us broad scope for its future application," he said.

After the economic turnaround of the Austrian Airlines Group was successfully achieved in 2002, the ongoing company plan also provided for the brand portfolio to be reorganised.

The company immediately set about designing this key project, originally intended to bring the regional traffic segment, which represents a section of scheduled services, closer to the Austrian Airlines mainline brand in an effort to focus the Group's brand strengths. A project team consisting of experts from the three Group airlines and Landor, the renowned British airline branding agency, was created to meet the rebranding challenge. It was essential not merely to retain the operational, psychological and human strengths and specifics of the individual companies, but to build even further upon these qualities by creating an entirely new brand architecture.

The Chief Commercial Officer of the Austrian Airlines Group, Josef Burger, made the following comment on the branding process: "Strong, unique brands help differentiate a product from the competition. They give the Austrian Airlines Group a new, more tangible relevance for various target groups, and increase the loyalty and identification of existing customers."

Soerensen described the fundamental importance of the entire process as something, which is not simply about a new logo and appearance. "It is a new foundation, which we will use to present numerous innovations in the near future," he said.

"Today is the beginning of an exciting new epoch for the Austrian Airlines Group, when it will continue to assert itself as an Austrian showpiece company," he said.