Cory6188 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2686 posts, RR: 6 Posted (9 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1980 times:
I noticed that all the majors except for CO have two letters as part of their registration at the end. American has AA and AN, Delta has DL, Northwest, has NW, United has UA, and US Airways has US. Why doesn't Continental have CO at the end like everyone else? They use six numbers instead of the typical three and two letters.
Flyf15 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (9 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1964 times:
Well, I can't tell you why they don't have letters, but I can tell you why they don't have "CO". "O" and "I" are not valid letters in United States registrations...too easy to confuse with 0 and 1.
FoxBravo From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 2806 posts, RR: 5 Reply 2, posted (9 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 1896 times:
Actually, other airlines sometimes have three or four numbers plus only one letter, instead of two. And there are frequent exceptions to the general rules: many Northwest aircraft's registrations end in "US," and Delta has some ending with "DN," etc. It's even possible to have just one or two numbers, plus up to two letters (like the corporate jet of a certain athletic shoe manufacturer, which is registered N1KE). But I digress.
Anyway, it's true that Continental is unique among the major airlines in using only registrations that consist entirely of numbers. I don't know why they do it, but there is some logic to it: although the first two digits seem pretty much random, the last three digits are the fleet number.
All I know is that the randomness of those first two digits makes it a bitch to keep track of the registrations when preparing financing documents for several dozen CO aircraft at once, as I learned the hard way a few months ago...
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13 Reply 4, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1730 times:
Someone at Continental once told me that the registration numbers actually are in a code that will tell Scheduling and Planning what type of aircraft it is among other things. They track the 3rd digit.. N123456. All the aircraft in a type share the same 3rd digit. Just as an example........
JayDavis From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 2000 posts, RR: 17 Reply 5, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1731 times:
Delta also has a number of widebodies ending in MH. I think that they are all B-777's, but not 100% sure of that.
DeltAirlines From United States of America, joined exactly 14 years ago today! , 8771 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1649 times:
Delta's 764s all end in MH. The 777s end in DA.
Here is a breakdown of CO's fleet (3rd number = type)
M80 - 8
733 - 3
735 - 6
73G - 7
738 - 2
739 - 4
757 - 1
753 - 8
767 - 1
764 - 1
764 - 0
777 - 0
Continental Express/ExpressJet:
ER3 - 5
ERJ-145 LR - 9
ERJ-145 XR - 1
(The EMB-120s were 7, the AT4s were 8)
I don't think there is any specific breakdown of the CO Connection Carriers (at least for Commutair, I have seen there planes have 2-letter endings)
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1609 times:
DeltA-
I know your correct about the Connection carriers since the numbering system is used to track company aircraft. Continental and ExpressJet have no real say in the maintenance or specific use of Connection aircraft.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
777gk From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1641 posts, RR: 20 Reply 8, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1575 times:
The last three digits are our internal ship numbers, kinda simplifies things for us as compared to United or Northwest with 4 digit fleet numbers in addition to registrations.
For example, if I was flying ship 058 tomorrow, that would mean I'm getting a 767-424ER, since they all are numbers 051-066 in the fleet, with registration N67058. The first two numbers have no relevance in the fleet, but sometimes are consistent within a fleet type, such as 764's N66051, N66056, N66057, etc..
Off the top of my head, here's what our fleet code breakdowns are:
001-050 earmarked for 777 above 018
051-099 earmarked for 764 above 066
101-150 752
151-199 762
2XX 738
3XX 733
4XX 739
6XX 735
7XX 73G
8XX M80 (except 851-855 currently for 757-300, 738 deliveries over 299 will go in 8XX category)
(By the way, didn't see DeltAirline's post above, he hit it right on the nose, sorry for redundancy)
Ybacpa From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 1108 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1533 times:
Does anyone know how the (now retired) DC10s, 727s, 747s, and DC9s fit into CO's numbering scheme?
SkyTeam: The alliance for third rate airlines finally getting their act together!
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13 Reply 10, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1533 times:
777gk-
HEY what about my post..it was up even before DeltA's...and I said the samething... Boy..!!
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
777gk From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1641 posts, RR: 20 Reply 11, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1504 times:
EMBQA-
You're right on too, sorry if I made you feel bad!
Ybacpa-
A300s were 9XX series
727-100s were 4XX series
727-200s were 7XX series
737-100/200s were 2XX series
747s were ships 001 to roughly 025
DC-9-30 were 5XX series
DC-9-50 were briefly 6XX series
DC-10-30s were mostly 060-099
DC-10-10s that we originally operated were 040 to 059
Some DC-10-10s that we picked up over the years went into the 060-099 category though
FoxBravo From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 2806 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1491 times:
I knew the last 3 digits were the fleet number, as I mentioned before, and I know the first digit of the fleet number (i.e. the third digit of the reg) depends on the type of plane, but what I have always wondered is how the first two digits are decided. They seem to be completely random, and it's very annoying when dealing with a long list of CO regs!
GulfstreamGuy From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 626 posts, RR: 6 Reply 13, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1437 times:
If I am not mistaken, I believe TWA's 727 fleet were all 5 digits as well (I may be wrong)
Here's a rare CO 737 with a "lettered" registration.. N408PE
Olympus69 From Canada, joined Jun 2002, 1737 posts, RR: 8 Reply 14, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 1397 times:
AA also has several planes with 5 digit, no letter registrations - mostly A300s and MD80s, plus a few 763s. NW has a bunch of DC9s with 4 digit, no letter regs.
AviatorTJ From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 1838 posts, RR: 8 Reply 15, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1334 times:
AA also has some 'TW' registrations.
NW also has 'NB' on their A319s.
They used to have 'US' on the DC-10-40.
There were some ending in 'E' and 'EA' from Eastern on 727s and DC-9s
'RC' are from planes out of the Republic fleet, primarily DC-9
'MC' on more DC-9s
I'm sure there are tens of different reg. styles for the nines, but these are some of the main ones.
N243NW From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 1491 posts, RR: 21 Reply 16, posted (9 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1314 times:
all NW 753s and DC10's end in NW
True when talking about NW's current fleet, but don't forget, as mentioned above, that most if not all of NW's retired DC-10-40s ended in US.
-N243NW
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