◈ flynas — Character design

Captain Firnas

An original pilot character we created for flynas (طيران ناس) — a full character system with model sheets, facial‑expression studies, a kids’ magazine, branded merchandise, playful social campaigns and a live brand mascot that flew across every touchpoint — from the cabin to the gate.

Client

In collaboration with

01The character

An original pilot mascot built for flynas from the ground up — model sheets, expressions and a full personality system.

Captain Firnas character model sheet — Character model sheet — poses & expressions

Captain Firnas concept art and character exploration — Concept art & character exploration

Captain Firnas facial expression sheet — Facial‑expression studies

Signature render — in the cockpit

02Brought to life

From the page to the cabin — Captain Firnas showed up in print, on merchandise and in person.

Captain Firnas kids magazine, Issue 1, Summer 2019 — Kids’ magazine — Issue 1, 2019

flynas branded cups with Captain Firnas — Branded merchandise — cups

Captain Firnas event mascot costume — Event mascot — live

03On every channel

Firnas didn’t stay on the model sheet — the character carried flynas’s social storytelling, from a Ramadan quiz game to a kids’ hygiene campaign.

Fawazeer Firnas — flynas Ramadan quiz social media post — Fawazeer Firnas — Ramadan quiz game

Captain Firnas kids hand-washing awareness social media post — “Hi Kids” — hygiene campaign

04Meeting the travelers

Then the character stepped off the screen. As a life‑size mascot, Captain Firnas welcomed passengers at the gate, marked new routes and saluted the next generation of flyers.

Captain Firnas mascot marking the Riyadh–Kuwait route launch at the airport — Route launch — Riyadh–Kuwait, Nov 2021

Captain Firnas mascot welcoming guests on board flynas — “Welcome on board” — guest activation

With the flight crew — brand event

Captain Firnas mascot saluting with schoolchildren — School visit — a salute to future pilots

Captain Firnas mascot handing a small gift to a young traveler at the airport

A little gift at the gate — the character, in real life

05The marketer’s read — why this brief mattered

A character built for the “next generation” wasn’t decoration — it sat on top of a real strategic pillar. Saudi aviation is scaling faster than almost anywhere on earth, and the talent to fly it has to be grown at home. Captain Firnas speaks to exactly the kids who fill that gap.

The name is the strategy in one word. Captain Firnas is a nod to Abbas ibn Firnas — the 9th-century polymath of Córdoba credited with the first documented human attempt at flight, roughly a thousand years before the Wright Brothers. A homegrown Arab aviation pioneer, chosen for an airline that is building the region’s next generation of pilots.

330M

Saudi Arabia’s 2030 target for yearly air passengers — Saudi Aviation Strategy

~35,000

Forecast global pilot shortfall by the end of the decade

100%

flynas co-pilot roles filled by Saudi nationals since 2019 — its “Future Pilots” programme

Context sources: GACA — Saudi Aviation Strategy · OAG · flynas “Future Pilots” (SPA)

06The stage — the reach a character performs on

To be clear: these are flynas’s brand numbers, not results we claim for the campaign — they’re the stage Captain Firnas performs on. A character that appears at the gate, on the magazine and across social is riding one of the fastest-growing low-cost networks in the world.

flynas passengers carried, per year (millions)

11.2M

14.7M

15.8M

202320242025

Source: Arab News (2023–24) · Aviation Business ME (2025)

15.8M

Passengers carried in 2025

Destinations worldwide

All-Airbus aircraft

156

Routes across 38 countries

Source: Aviation Business ME — flynas 2025 network

07Why a character compounds — the evidence

Why build an owned character instead of renting a celebrity? Because the industry data is unusually consistent: brand characters make advertising work harder, and the effect grows the longer you run them. That is the case for treating Captain Firnas as a long-term asset, not a one-off.

Long-term campaigns: gains with a brand character vs without (System1)

39.2%

29.7%

34.2%

26.2%

Market-share gainProfit gain

With a brand characterWithout

Source: System1 Group

+37%

More likely to grow market share when a campaign uses a mascot

+30%

More likely to grow profit

3.8★

Avg. ad-strength for character-led ads vs 2.7★ celebrity-led

Evidence: System1 · Adweek · The Grocer / Kantar

One character, everywhere flynas flies — from the model sheet, to the screen, to a smile at the gate.

What this included

01Original character design
02Model & expression sheets
03Kids’ magazine (print)
04Branded merchandise
05Social media campaigns
06Live brand mascot

Let’s talk it through,
in person.

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Captain Firnas

Let’s talk it through,in person.

Let’s talk it through,
in person.