The Khabarovsk Airport Logo Is a Viral Sensation. It’s Also a Flying Bear. · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
A new logo designed for Khabarovsk Airport in Russia is creating a stir among the RuNet social media users. This might be because it features a flying bear.
Internet users discovered the new logo for Khabarovsk Airport (an international hub in the Russian Far East) by accident. While the airport's official website has no signs of redesign or logo updates, a few people spied the new logo in the sponsors row of a hockey championship website. Once you spotted it, it was hard to miss: the centerpiece of the logo is a white bear, soaring in the blue sky.
Официальный логотип аэропорта в Хабаровске. Не шутка. pic.twitter.com/XSdFtRn1E5
— Рустем Адагамов (@adagamov) January 28, 2015
The official logo of the airport in Khabarovsk. Not a joke.
The RuNet reacted as it usually does—with Photoshop.
Obviously. pic.twitter.com/jmslegE944
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) January 28, 2015
The bear is an iconic image for Russians, as the animal is often associated with the country itself. No wonder, then, that the variations on the new logo were endless.
“Watch out!”
Predictably, the first ‘shops’ of the logo included other stereotypical items often attributed to Russian culture, such as the ushanka winter hat, the balalaika, and, well, the vodka.
The vodka theme seemed especially popular.
“The Khabarovsk Duty Free.”
A few of the images played on athletic themes, suggesting a figure skating variation and a logo for the Khabarovsk circus.
“Khabarovsk Circus.”
Of course, some meme classics were revisited as well.
A variant in green below features a logo for the Makhachkala airport in Dagestan, with two bears dancing lezginka, a national dance. Russian ire for North Caucasians is often expressed in resentment for their public dances as crystallizations of their cultural differences and what Russians see as noisy public disturbances (somewhat ironic, as Russians are also quite fond of public singing and occasional dancing.)
pic.twitter.com/ZpgcjTTbps
— эчпочмак и комбикорм (@kocizum) January 28, 2015
Although mockery of the new logo was the prevailing tune on Russian social networks, some users actually found the new design appealing, so we're guessing it will probably bear the public relations fruit the airport had hoped for.
I don't care what anyone says, I LOVE the Khabarovsk Airport logo. He's adorable. He can fly. HANDS OFF THE BEAR. pic.twitter.com/cGU9xTA7lz
— Natalia Antonova (@NataliaAntonova) January 28, 2015