In my country one of the most iconic airlines is Vueling. Its logo is a smily cloud and it represents modernity because it is always speaking (like in the comics) a languague that mixes english, spanish, french and deutch. It gives a fresh image to the company and for extension to its customers, who can feel younger and cooler. Personally, as a customer, I choose one flying company for its prices and if the flight goes directly to my destination. A smily cloud or a flying bird or whatever that can be used as a logo doesn't give me any extra message to prefer to fly with that or that other company.
Oriol.