Brussels Airlines has partnered with music festival Tomorrowland to design the world’s first AR-optimised plane, which tells a story when scanned. Jess Hipgrave reports
New to Brussels Airlines‘ “Belgian Icons” fleet is an A320neo Airbus that features a livery design embedded with augmented reality – a world first.
The plane has been created in collaboration with Antwerp-based music festival, Tomorrowland, and is named “Amare” after the Tomorrowland bird icon that stars in the livery design.
The exterior of the plane displays a huge, futuristic image bird image, which “comes to life” when scanned through specific social media channels, such as TikTok and Instagram. 
Twin branding is echoed inside the aircraft on headrests and stowaway lockers, complemented by mood lighting and an immersive sound system that provides augmented storytelling whenever the bird image is scanned.
The Belgian Icons fleet was conceived to showcase the best of Belgium and making flying more enjoyable for passengers.
Amare is an aircraft that symbolises “unity” and the idea of transcending space and time, reflecting the festival’s spirit of bringing people from all over the world together through music.
Both Brussels Airlines and Tomorrowland recognise the environmental impact air travel has and have made efforts to become more responsible.
The A320neo emits 50 per cent less noise and emits up to 20 per cent less CO2 than its forerunners, in a bid to reduce Tomorrowland’s and Brussels Airline’s ecological impact. 
CEO of Brussels Airlines, Dorothea von Boxberg, says: “We have many things in common (with Tomorrowland) such as the passion to explore the world and connecting cultures, but also the awareness of our environmental footprint and our willingness to take the necessary steps to reduce our impact.”
This summer, almost 47,000 festivalgoers will travel to Tomorrowland Belgium via its Global Journey travel packages, in association with Brussels Airlines.
These include an all-inclusive experience with transportation (flight, bus, train), accommodation (DreamVille, B&B, hotel) and festival tickets.
In another nod to sustainability, all Global Journey Packages that Brussel Airlines and Tomorrowland tickets that sell together will be deemed “Green Fares“.
These compensate flight emissions with 20 per cent Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and an 80 per cent investment into qualitative CO2-reducing programmes.
Brussels Airlines and Tomorrowland have also signed an agreement to invest in the purchase of SAF to compensate the total carbon emissions of all party flights that will be operated.