Will lonesome cowboy Lucky Luke ride the new Brussels Airlines plane?

Will Brussels Airlines again have a well-known Belgian comic book figure on the fuselage of one of their planes alongside Tintin? That might be lonesome cowboy Lucky Luke, the hero initially conceived by Morris, aka Maurice De Bevere.

He has been chosen, along with the Atomium, Cycling, Poppies, and Shrimp Fishermen, among the five most popular designs in the airline’s contest for a new typical Belgian theme. The winner will be announced in early November.

50,000 votes

Some 50,000 people voted for their favorite design for a newly painted Brussels Airlines plane. The five most popular designs are Lucky Luke, the Atomium iconic building dating back to the 1958 Word Expo in Brussels, professional cycling Belgians excel in, poppies, a reference to Flanders Fields in World War One, and the typical shrimp fishermen on horseback of the Belgian coast, a 500-year-old tradition but only kept as folklore today.

The airline received more than 900 designs for the competition. An internal jury chose 15 finalists, and the general public could vote for their favorite design.

“The design competition for the next Belgian Icon is alive and well,” said the airline after it received as many as 50,000 votes to choose the design. “This contest has challenged people to think about what makes us proud and who we are as a country. It’s nice to join that discussion.”

Jury decides

A jury will now choose a winner from the top five. That jury includes, among others, singer and Eurosong winner Sandra Kim, musician Alex Callier of Hooverphonic, cartoonist Philippe Geluck, and Michèle George, who won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games.

The winner will be announced on November 5th, and the plane will be presented to the general public in the spring of 2025.

Brussels Airlines currently has three Belgian Icons in its fleet: the Tintin plane ‘Rackham’, the Tomorrowland plane ‘Amare’, and the official plane of the Red Devils and Red Flames, ‘Trident’. Previous themed planes no longer fly and had decorations featuring Magritte, the Smurfs, and Pieter Bruegel, the Elder.