Air Canada unveils new retro look, with black on planes and uniforms

Air Canada has unveiled a new twist on an old look for its planes and uniforms for staff, adding black to its iconic red-and-white colour scheme.

The airline introduced the makeover at events in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver on Thursday.

All the airline's 300 planes will soon resemble the Boeing 787s that were on display at the events. The tail, engines and undersides are black, but the red maple leaf icon will be on the fin.

The new look of the planes were designed by international design firm Winkreative, headed by Canadian entrepreneur Tyler Brûlé.

It marks a return to the airline's look 24 years ago, when its maple leaf in a circle logo — known by the French term for a hockey puck, the rondelle — was replaced with just a maple leaf.

The Air Canada lettering on the side of the plane will also now be in black. Currently, it's red. 

Staff will get new uniforms incorporating the black. In the airline's last redesign more than a decade ago, the uniforms incorporated a dark blue along with red lettering and icons. Now the base colour will be black or grey with red lettering and the maple leaf.

The staff uniforms are by Canadian designer Christopher Bates.

The first three aircraft sporting this new livery will enter service immediately. The rest of the fleet will be converted in due course.

The airline is in the midst of upgrading its fleet. It recently acquired 23 new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with 14 more planned by 2019, and is also buying at least 45 C Series jets from Bombardier.

All those planes will come with the airline's new colour scheme.