Celebrity livery featured aircraft, the Moneki Neko (fortune cat) of airlines

• TPB was adopted to examine the effects of celebrity-themed jet on purchase intention.
• Both direct effect and mediating effect of celebrity worship on TPB are proved.
• Celebrity worship positively influences attitude, PBC, and purchase intention.
• Both attitude and PBC partially mediate the relationship between CW and purchase intention.

Aircraft livery is a painting scheme on the aircraft that allows an airline not only to differentiate its aircraft from those of others, but also to promote the perceived values of the airline. Besides being visually attractive, celebrity-themed aircraft liveries also become increasingly popular today because they can influence consumers' perceptions of airlines. This study uses the data collected from Taiwan international airport, ranked the world's top 15 heaviest passenger traffic, to investigate the influences of celebrity worship on the original Theory of Planned Behavior's constructs, and purchase intention. The results reveal significant positive relationships between celebrity and attitude, perceived behavioral control, and purchase intention. Finally, contributions and implications are discussed.