Norwegian Air Put a Ponytail on a Boeing 737 for the World Cup. Erling Haaland Is Taking It to Court.

The airline that paints famous Scandinavians on its tail fins is being sued by Norway’s star striker, over a picture that never showed his face.

Erling Haaland and his company, York Promotions Ltd, have sued Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. The claim is a breach of Norway’s Marketing Control Act, and the case is listed at Oslo District Court as an ordinary civil dispute.

The trigger was a World Cup post showing a Norwegian jet with a blonde ponytail edited onto it, captioned “We’ve never looked more Norwegian.” The first step is a one-hour planning meeting by video on Friday, October 9.

One Deleted Post and the Words “Distinctive Signs”

During the 2026 World Cup, Norwegian posted the image on Instagram, and it was also shared on TikTok. One Mile at a Time describes the aircraft as one of the airline’s Boeing 737s, the only type in Norwegian’s mainline fleet.

The post never named Haaland, and it used no photo of his face or body. It did not need to. Norway was at its first World Cup since 1998, Haaland was its star, and the ponytail was his signature.

Norwegian later deleted the post. On September 30, TV 2, relaying a report by VG, revealed that Haaland’s lawyer had filed suit.

“The case concerns Norwegian’s unlawful exploitation of Haaland’s distinctive signs in its marketing of flight tickets,” wrote Thomas Hagen of the law firm Schjødt, in Norwegian. That phrase is the whole argument. Haaland’s side is not claiming a stolen photo. It is claiming that a hairstyle can identify a person as surely as a face.

Norwegian’s press officer, Eivind Hammer Myhre, told Dagbladet the airline found the lawsuit incomprehensible. He described the posts as a few spontaneous ones based on social media trends, said it was a shame the cheering had been met with a lawsuit, and said Norwegian hoped for a sensible dialogue.

The 2009 Case That Cost an Olympic Bid 80,000 Kroner

Norwegian courts have been here before, though never with a ponytail. On December 10, 2009, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled 4 to 1 for American snowboarder Andy Finch against Tromsø 2018 AS, the company bidding to bring the Winter Olympics to the Arctic city.

Tromsø 2018 had put a photo of Finch in mid-air on the cover of its 28-page bid prospectus. It had bought that picture and six others from a press photographer for 3,720 kroner in total, and never asked Finch.

The court ordered Tromsø 2018 to pay Finch and the event organizer 80,000 kroner for the use, plus 890,000 kroner in legal costs. The majority leaned on Norway’s long-standing protection of a person’s right to their own image, and stressed that the use was commercial.

Tore Lunde, a marketing and intellectual property law professor at the University of Bergen, believes Haaland’s claim may succeed, and the Finch ruling is the precedent his side can point to, according to Simple Flying.

But the Finch case was about a photograph. Haaland’s is about a hairstyle. What he is claiming has not been made public, and Norwegian declined to say whether it includes a sum of money.

An Airline Built on Famous Faces

What makes this case stranger is the airline. Norwegian’s whole brand is a gallery of famous people. Its tail fin heroes are portraits of historical figures painted on the vertical stabilizer of each jet, and the airline has flown them since at least the early 2000s.

The roster runs from the explorer Fridtjof Nansen to the writer Ludvig Holberg and the figure skater Sonja Henie. In 2022 Norwegian began repainting them as modern red, white and blue illustrations. In the airline’s own words, its heroes “pushed many boundaries, lived an accomplished life” and helped shape national identity.

A tail fin hero is a formal announcement, and painting one is the same work that goes into any aircraft livery. When Norwegian named England’s 1966 World Cup captain Bobby Moore a tail fin hero in April 2017, its announcement quoted his widow, Stephanie Moore, and tied the tribute to the Bobby Moore Fund.

The ponytail post had none of that. It was an edited image built for a feed, and Haaland’s side says it used his likeness without permission or a payment. That is the gap the lawsuit tests: whether an airline that celebrates famous faces on its tails can borrow a living star’s look for an ad without paying.

Norwegian was not alone. VG found that Wendy’s, HelloFresh and Crocs Europe all posted Haaland jokes during the tournament, from dyed red hair to spring-onion hair. VG knew of no deal between Haaland and any of them. Hagen would not say whether anyone else has been or will be sued.

What Happens in Oslo on Friday

Friday’s hearing is procedural. Oslo District Court has set aside 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. for a planning meeting by video, where the judge and both sides map out the case. No ruling is expected from it.

The opposing argument already has a public voice. VG commentator Astrid Meland wrote that Haaland “does not have exclusive rights to a hairstyle,” and that the hair went viral long ago. She also wrote that Team Haaland can still get paid, because of what Norwegian is: “They are a commercial airline. They are not on Instagram to cheer for Norway.”

Meanwhile the jets keep flying. Norwegian operates an all-Boeing 737 fleet, mostly the Boeing 737-800, alongside newer 737 MAX 8s. Many of them still carry a painted face on the tail.

Norwegian has flown dozens of famous faces that way. The court now decides whether it owes anything for the one hairstyle it borrowed.