ITA Airways has thrown a spotlight on the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games with a striking new aircraft livery that transforms one of its Airbus A320s into a flying tribute to the upcoming event. Revealed in early February 2026, the special “Winter Games Milano Cortina” design blends national pride, Alpine scenery and athletic drama, and is already turning heads at European airports. For travelers and aviation enthusiasts alike, the aircraft has become both a symbol of Italy’s Olympic ambitions and a visible sign that the countdown to the Games is gathering pace.
A Flying Canvas for Milano Cortina 2026
The special livery, applied to an ITA Airways Airbus A320 registered EI-DSY, is dedicated to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games and conceived as a celebration of Italy’s role as host nation. While the aircraft continues to operate regular scheduled services, its outward appearance now serves as a mobile showcase for the Olympic spirit, carrying imagery of mountains, snow and winter sports across the airline’s European network.
Rather than abandoning its recognizable corporate identity, ITA Airways has retained its deep blue fuselage as the base of the design. The blue, long associated with Italy’s national sports teams and already central to the carrier’s branding, is reinterpreted as a clear, high-altitude sky stretching across the aircraft’s body. Against this background, snow-capped Alpine peaks rise along the fuselage, evoking both the Dolomites and the wider mountain landscapes that will frame many of the 2026 competitions.
Closer to the passenger windows, the composition comes alive with stylized athlete figures in dynamic poses: skiers carving downhill, snowboarders mid-jump, and skaters captured in the instant before a decisive turn. The artwork focuses on the split second that can define a sporting career, emphasizing the years of preparation, sacrifice and determination that precede each Olympic appearance. The result is a livery that feels both cinematic and intimate, inviting travelers to imagine the stories behind the silhouettes.
The Vision of Emiliano Ponzi
The creative force behind the livery is Italian visual artist and illustrator Emiliano Ponzi, a figure already familiar to followers of ITA Airways. Ponzi previously collaborated with the airline on its sustainability manifesto, and his style is known for bold color fields, clean lines and evocative storytelling. For the Winter Olympics project, he has translated that visual language into a large-scale composition that wraps around an entire aircraft, demanding meticulous planning to align artistic ambition with technical constraints.
Designing an aircraft livery is a complex exercise. The artwork must account for doors, windows, control surfaces and structural elements, all without compromising safety markings or adding unnecessary weight. In this case, Ponzi and the airline’s design teams have created a scheme that appears fluid and continuous from a distance, while also standing up to close-up scrutiny on the apron. The monochrome blue base and simplified silhouettes reduce visual clutter, allowing the scenes of mountains and motion to remain legible from gate lounges, taxiways and runway perimeters.
The choice of Ponzi as lead artist also reflects ITA Airways’ desire to foreground contemporary Italian creativity as part of its brand identity. Just as fashion designers and architects have long represented the country abroad, the airline is positioning artists and illustrators as cultural ambassadors in their own right. By putting Ponzi’s work onto an A320 that roams between major European hubs, the company effectively exports a piece of Italian visual culture with every takeoff and landing.
From National Carrier to Official Airline Sponsor
The unveiling of the Milano Cortina 2026 livery is the most visible outcome so far of a broader partnership between ITA Airways and the Games’ organizing committee. In 2025, the airline was confirmed as Official Airline Sponsor of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, formalizing a relationship that connects Italy’s reborn national carrier with the country’s most significant sporting event of the decade. The announcement was made during the inauguration of the Runway Lounge at Milan Linate Airport, underlining the strategic role that Lombardy’s main city will play as a gateway for international visitors.
For ITA Airways, the sponsorship represents a statement of intent. The company, which emerged in 2021 from the restructuring of Italy’s legacy flag carrier, has been working to define a fresh identity that is at once modern, sustainable and distinctly Italian. Aligning with Milano Cortina 2026 allows it to associate its brand with values such as excellence, fair play, inclusion and national pride. The airline’s leadership has emphasized that supporting the Games is also a way of reinforcing its bond with Italian sport, extending a tradition in which aircraft are dedicated to famed athletes who have carried the tricolore to victory on the world stage.
From the perspective of the organizing committee, the partnership offers crucial logistical and promotional support. ITA Airways will play a key role in carrying athletes, officials, media and fans to Italy, while its aircraft, marketing platforms and airport spaces act as powerful communication tools in the run-up to the opening ceremony. Each time the Milano Cortina livery appears at a foreign airport, it serves as a rolling billboard, reminding travelers that Italy is preparing to welcome the world to its winter venues.
Winter Sports Legends and Olympic Storytelling
The new A320 design joins a wider family of ITA Airways aircraft dedicated to Italian sporting icons, particularly those tied to winter disciplines. The carrier has already named aircraft after champions such as alpine skiers Gustav Thoeni and Alberto Tomba and speed skater Enrico Fabris, paying tribute to athletes who have contributed to Italy’s rich Olympic legacy. For the Winter Games cycle, this strategy has been extended with special stickers on selected aircraft that depict Olympic and Paralympic disciplines, again born from Ponzi’s illustrative hand.
By merging individual dedications with a broader Milano Cortina theme, ITA Airways creates a layered narrative. Passengers boarding an aircraft might see the name of a legendary athlete on the fuselage, glimpsing a direct link to Olympic history. On the Milano Cortina A320, they are also confronted with imagery that hints at the drama of the upcoming Games. The approach turns what could be a purely functional object into a storytelling medium, one that connects past glory with future competition in a single glance.
This narrative is further reinforced through the airline’s marketing campaigns and television commercials, which present travel as a journey toward personal achievement, whether athletic, professional or emotional. In these stories, the airplane is not just a vehicle but a stage where ambition and anticipation are visibly at play. The Milano Cortina livery, with its frozen moment of athletic focus, captures precisely that sense of a threshold moment, just before the starting gun or the first stride on fresh snow.
From Apron to Instagram: A Livery Designed to Be Shared
The impact of a special livery today is measured not only in on-site impressions at airports but also in the volume of attention it generates online. In this respect, ITA Airways’ Winter Games A320 has quickly gained traction. Spotters have photographed the aircraft in Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and other European cities, with images circulating widely on social media. Each new post reinforces the association between the airline and the Milano Cortina 2026 branding, effectively creating a networked audience that spans multiple countries.
The design itself lends well to digital sharing. The contrast between the deep blue fuselage and the pale Alpine peaks remains striking even in smartphone snapshots taken through terminal windows. The athlete silhouettes, while minimalist, are distinctive enough to be recognized at a distance, ensuring that the aircraft’s Olympic connection is clear even in compressed social media images. For an airline seeking to elevate its profile beyond Italy’s borders, this form of organic, user-generated promotion is especially valuable.
Critically, the aircraft is not reserved for ceremonial routes or one-off flights. According to recent operational schedules, the EI-DSY A320 has been deployed across a mix of business and leisure markets, including routes such as Paris to Rome, Rome to Amsterdam and Rome to Athens. This regular rotation increases the odds that travelers from across Europe will encounter the special livery in everyday travel settings, grounding the Olympic narrative in ordinary journeys as well as in headline events.
Global Trend: Airlines Painting the Olympic Story
ITA Airways’ initiative fits into a broader global trend of airlines using special liveries to celebrate their role in the Olympic and Paralympic movement. As the 2026 Winter Games approach, several carriers have unveiled designs linked to national teams or to Milano Cortina itself, turning the skies into an unofficial extension of the host city’s branding. These aircraft serve as moving emblems of support, carrying athletes to competition and transporting fans who are physically and emotionally invested in the result.
In North America, airlines have presented special paint schemes honoring their partnerships with national Olympic committees and highlighting the athletes they carry. In Canada, a dedicated livery on a widebody jet features images of Olympians and Paralympians, while in the United States a major carrier has introduced a long-haul aircraft adorned with Team USA imagery and subtle references to the 2026 Games. Together with ITA Airways’ Milan-focused artwork, these designs illustrate how aviation has become an integral part of Olympic storytelling, linking training bases, qualifying events and final venues in a cohesive visual narrative.
For travelers, this proliferation of Olympic-themed aircraft adds an element of surprise to the journey. Spotting a special livery at the gate can create an instant sense of occasion, even on a routine business trip. For airlines and sponsors, it represents an opportunity to translate corporate commitments into something tangible and emotionally resonant. In the case of ITA Airways, the Milano Cortina livery acts as a high-visibility pledge that the company intends to be more than just a transport provider; it positions the airline as an enthusiastic host, ready to welcome athletes and visitors to Italy’s winter playgrounds.
Boosting Tourism and Regional Visibility
The Milano Cortina livery also has clear implications for tourism promotion. The imagery of snow-covered peaks and winter athletes invites passengers to imagine themselves not only as spectators at the Games but as participants in a broader Alpine experience. For many international visitors, the Winter Olympics serve as an introduction to regions they might otherwise have overlooked. By putting those landscapes front and center on its aircraft, ITA Airways subtly markets the mountains of Lombardy and Veneto as destinations in their own right.
Italian tourism officials and local authorities are keenly aware of the opportunity. The 2026 Games are expected to attract substantial numbers of visitors, stimulate investment in infrastructure and reinforce Italy’s reputation as a year-round destination. Air connectivity will be central to realizing that potential, with key gateways such as Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate and Venice playing vital roles in distributing guests to the competition venues and surrounding resorts. A specially painted aircraft that regularly shuttles between major European cities and these hubs can serve as an ambassador well before travelers pick up their ski passes or settle into mountain hotels.
For TheTraveler.org readers, this development offers a preview of how the Games are likely to reshape travel patterns in northern Italy. As Milano Cortina 2026 draws nearer, additional capacity, new routes and more tailored experiences for winter sports enthusiasts are expected to emerge. ITA Airways’ visual commitment through the new livery is one of the earliest and most visible signs that Italy is not only organizing a sports mega-event, but actively inviting the world to explore its high-altitude landscapes and cultural heritage.
A Preview of the Journey Ahead
Seen from the terminal window, the ITA Airways Winter Games A320 is a simple yet potent image: a blue fuselage, white mountains, athletes caught in motion. Behind that image lies a complex story of national ambition, brand strategy and creative collaboration. The airline has tasked a leading Italian illustrator with giving visual form to the values of Milano Cortina 2026, and the result now takes off and lands multiple times a day, carrying ordinary passengers on business and leisure trips that intersect, at least symbolically, with the extraordinary journey of Olympic competition.
As the calendar advances toward the opening ceremony, more elements of the partnership between ITA Airways and Milano Cortina 2026 will come into focus, from promotional campaigns to passenger contests that offer tickets to Olympic and Paralympic events. For now, the special A320 serves as a kind of airborne prologue, signaling that Italy’s preparations have moved from plans on paper to experiences in the real world. Every time the aircraft appears on a departure board or taxiway, it reminds onlookers that the Games are not an abstract future promise, but an imminent rendezvous.
For travelers planning a trip to Italy in the months ahead, there is an added layer of intrigue: the chance encounter with a livery that crystallizes the spirit of the upcoming Winter Games. Whether glimpsed from a terminal café in Paris, during boarding in Amsterdam or while stepping off a flight in Rome or Athens, the Milano Cortina aircraft is a visual invitation to be part of a wider story. It is a promise that when the flame is lit in 2026, Italy’s national airline will already have been carrying the Olympic dream across European skies for many months, one flight and one fascinated gaze at a time.