That Thing We Wouldn’t Dare Mention

Low-cost, South African airline Kulula Air entertains passengers with whimsical, pre-flight safety presentations and tongue-in-cheek airplane graphics. The planes’ graphics are the airline’s signature lime green, with quirky descriptors identifying various parts of the plane. The planes were introduced in 2010.

Kulula, a subsidiary of Comair, is known among airlines for its irreverent humor. Flight attendants are encouraged to enliven in-flight commentary; one passenger reported this arrival announcement: “We’d like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you’ll think of Kulula Airways.”

The company also named itself “Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What” last year in an ad referencing the 2010 FIFA World Cup. When FIFA responded unfavorably, Kulula changed the text to read “Not Next Year, Not Last Year, But Somewhere In Between,” and added notes explaining that graphic elements of the ad were not soccer references, calling the event “that thing we wouldn’t dare mention.”