Navigating Postcolonial Aeromobilities: An Introduction

This introductory chapter examines the complex relationship between colonial legacies and commercial aviation through the lens of national flagship airlines. Drawing on postcolonial frameworks and mobility studies, we analyze how airlines simultaneously reinforced and challenged colonial power structures while mediating cultural transitions in the post-independence era. Through case studies spanning continents and disciplines, we identify three key dimensions: how aeromobility both perpetuated imperial practices and enabled decolonial aspirations; how airlines crafted national identities through corporate branding, blending nationalist symbolism with imperial aesthetics; and how carriers deployed “heritage” as a cultural tool to shape global tourism imaginaries. Using TAP Air Portugal as a primary example, we demonstrate how national airlines served as powerful cultural mediators, embodying the tensions between colonial nostalgia and postcolonial reimagining. The chapter contributes to emerging scholarship on postcolonial aeromobilities by revealing how airlines became critical sites for negotiating national identity, cultural representation, and colonial memory in the aftermath of empire.