Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

Southwest Airlines on Monday unveiled a new logo amid a brand overhaul that includes a new look for its aircraft. The new "Heart" paint scheme will be the carrier's first new livery since it introduced its current "Canyon Blue" look in 2001.

The new logo and look aren't only for Southwest's fleet of Boeing 737s. The carrier also rolled out a new-look website Monday morning, and says the new branding will go up at its airports nationwide.

The branding overhaul comes amid a year of change for Southwest. The airline is close to wrapping up its merger with AirTran, which Southwest acquired in 2011. The final AirTran flight will take place in December, and Southwest will then need to finish repainting the remaining AirTran 737s that it plans to absorb into its fleet.

Southwest also began its first-ever international service in July and is set to roll out a raft of new long-distance flights from its "home airport" at Dallas Love Field. Currently, such flights are restricted by the "Wright Amendment," but a compromise paved the way for the phase-out of those distance restrictions in October of this year.

"With all these exciting changes happening, we thought it was time for a new visual expression of our brand — one that marries our past to our present and sets the course for where we're headed in the future," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly says in a statement announcing the new look.

Southwest's special aircraft liveries — such as its numerous state-themed paint jobs — will continue to fly in the carrier's fleet.

Regardless, Southwest likely will have company in announcing a new look for its planes.

Frontier Airlines, another U.S. low-cost carrier, is widely expected do the same tomorrow. That airline, known for its wildlife-themed aircraft paint schemes, has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday morning.

Frontier has been revamping its brand as it morphs from a traditional low-cost carrier into an "ultra low-cost carrier" that mimics the bare-bones, no-frills model pioneered in the USA by Spirit and Allegiant airlines.