EY460 From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 234 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 3094 times:
Why are some airlines naming all they aircraft while other don't? Is that a tradition or is there something else? Some companies only give a name to few aircraft while others name every single plane (sometimes each family of aircraft has names which are related between them). Also some of the names given are really boring while some companies are pretty original.
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58 Reply 1, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 3000 times:
Its a company policy to name aircraft.
Personally I find it fantastic especially if its named on someone who contributed to that airline & aviation field in particular.
na From Germany, joined Dec 1999, 9616 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 3000 times:
Quoting EY460 (Thread starter):
Why are some airlines naming all they aircraft while other don't? Is that a tradition or is there something else?
Mainly tradition I would say. There are very few airlines which appeared after lets say 1980 which are naming their aircraft, Virgin Atlantic with their truly original names being the only exception which comes to my mind.
Shame about it, I like naming aircraft.
aeroblogger From India, joined Dec 2011, 1363 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 2889 times:
Quoting na (Reply 2): here are very few airlines which appeared after lets say 1980 which are naming their aircraft, Virgin Atlantic with their truly original names being the only exception which comes to my mind.
SG (SpiceJet) names each aircraft after a spice...
Airports 2012: IXE HYD DEL BLR BOM CCU KNU KTM BKK SIN ICN LAX BUR SFO PHX IAH ORD EWR PHL PVD BOS FRA MUC IST
RWA380 From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 2167 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 2862 times:
Is it a more, or less common thing today, than it was say 10-20 years ago? IIRC I have flown many aircraft with names attatched, VS-Maiden Japan, Martinair-Koningen Beatrix to name a few off the top of my head, QX used to name their planes after the cities they flew to. Do you guys think it's more prevalent in the US or other countries airlines that do this?
Next Flights: AS PDX-SEA-KOA on DH4/738 in F, HA KOA-OGG on 717 in Y, AS OGG-PDX on 738 in F
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 2533 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 2626 times:
Quoting na (Reply 2): There are very few airlines which appeared after lets say 1980 which are naming their aircraft, Virgin Atlantic with their truly original names being the only exception which comes to my mind.
JetBlue and Virgin Australia are two more. Both often use the word "blue" in the name (don't forget VA used to be Virgin Blue). Indeed DJ have such wonderful names as Deja Blue and Kanga Blue!
Qantas names every aircraft in its fleet AFAIK. Normally they go along a similar pattern per aircraft type (eg: 734 = birds, A380 = famous Australian aviators). In fact (and with the greatest possible respects to the real person) I'm pretty sure as that Nancy-Bird is better known as the A380 that went fire-crackers in SIN than as the first Australian women to fly!
Sevensixtyseven From United States of America, joined May 2011, 141 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 2444 times:
Aeroflot names all their aircraft after different Russian figures. Some are those who have contributed to aviation, others, I believe, are just composers, etc.
I have also heard that N901AW's informal name is Christine the Hangar Queen...apparently she goes tech all the time. So I've heard.
TSS From United States of America, joined Dec 2006, 2870 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2332 times:
Quoting Sevensixtyseven (Reply 9): I have also heard that N901AW's informal name is Christine the Hangar Queen...apparently she goes tech all the time. So I've heard.
I suspect all airlines have a plane or two with a similar nickname for a similar reason.
Able to kill active threads stone dead with a single post!
EY460 From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 234 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2317 times:
Some of the Virgin America names are really great. Among my favourite:
- Contents May Be Under Pressure,
- Virgin & Tonic,
- Fog Cutter,
- Unicorn Chaser,
- My other ride's a spaceship,
- An Airplane Named Desire,
- real steel.
Jetblue names are cool too.
aloha73g From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2304 posts, RR: 5 Reply 14, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2270 times:
HA names their aircraft:
717s are named for Native Hawaiian Birds that stay on the islands (I'iwi, 'Elepaio, 'Apapane, etc)
767s are named for Native Hawaiian Birds that cross the ocean (Koa'e Kea, Kolea, etc)
A330s are named for Constellations/Stars (Hokulea, Makali'i, Namahoe)
AQ also named their aircraft:
732s were named Hawaiian Ali'i (royalty)...(Kekaulike, Liholiho, etc)
73Gs were named for Polynesian Navigators (Mo'ikeha, Hawai'i Loa, etc)
-Aloha!
Aloha Airlines - The Spirit Moves Us. Gone but NEVER Forgotten. Aloha, A Hui Hou!
something From United Kingdom, joined May 2011, 1633 posts, RR: 24 Reply 15, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2260 times:
Funny. I read a column on just this subject the other day. It mentioned that Virgin America lets you name an aircraft for $60k, which includes a one way charter flight with the airplane.
Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 1): Its a company policy to name aircraft.
To stick to the question, here you are, pretty good answers.
Names are not necessary since ac have reg numbers, fleet numbers, callsigns.
Some planes are named by tradition (KLM), as PR stunt (Virgin America), as internal reward (DHL), by crew affection (USA3000) or commercial PR (Vueling).
But how many passengers read/know the name of the plane they are flying in?
nipoel123 From Netherlands, joined Jan 2011, 247 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 2151 times:
Quoting breiz (Reply 16): But how many passengers read/know the name of the plane they are flying in?
I think most people will have a look at their aircraft from the gate area. As far as KL goes, the plane's name is painted on the nose, readable from the terminal. Text grabs attention (at least, it grabs mine), so many people will read the name, but few will remember them and write a trip report .
one mile of road leads to nowhere, one mile of runway leads to anywhere
bhmdiversion From United States of America, joined Dec 2008, 443 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (1 year 2 months 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 2089 times:
cotparampguy From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 204 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (1 year 2 months 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 1903 times:
One of our newest A320s (B6) is named "Pretty Fly for a Blue Guy." Probably my favorite one!
727LOVER From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 5723 posts, RR: 20 Reply 21, posted (1 year 2 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1882 times:
OB1504 From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 2967 posts, RR: 8 Reply 22, posted (1 year 2 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1854 times:
Spirit used to name their aircraft after domestic cities and international countries or regions (such as Spirit of Fort Lauderdale, Spirit of the Bahamas, or Spirit of the Americas) but did away with the practice after transitioning to the ULCC business model. Aircraft are losing their names are they are repainted into the new color scheme.
I guess the names could be a source of embarrassment considering that NK has aircraft named after destinations which are no longer served, such as the Turks and Caicos Islands (N512NK) and the Cayman Islands (N514NK).
Quoting 727LOVER (Reply 21): Well, I was referring to the past. Are F9 names visible or is that internal?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't F9 "name" their aircraft after the animal featured on its tail?
BreninTW From Taiwan, joined Jul 2006, 1453 posts, RR: 1 Reply 23, posted (1 year 2 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1815 times:
SA used to name its aircraft -- however with all the changes in South Africa, it no longer does, with the exception of the GORGEOUS Ndizani.
I remember when we were flying to the US in 1983 my mom was making tapes of our trip to send back to my grandmother. We were at JNB and waiting to board the aircraft. My mom had absolutely no idea what aircraft type we were flying on (admittedly, at the age of 11, neither did I) -- but she looked out the window and painted on the nose of the aircraft was "....berg" and she narrated onto the tape that we were about to board "...berg" for our flight to New York.
I have been bugging my mom to find the tapes, although I think they may have got lost in the many moves they've been subjected to since that trip, and for the life of me, I can't remember which "berg" we flew on.
I wish more airlines would name aircraft...
Which Asian carriers name aircraft?
I recall MH does and TG does. Other than that, I don't know any. And, of course, QF.
I'm tired of the A vs. B sniping. Neither make planes that shed wings randomly!
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21498 posts, RR: 24 Reply 24, posted (1 year 2 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1797 times:
Quoting OB1504 (Reply 22): I guess the names could be a source of embarrassment considering that NK has aircraft named after destinations which are no longer served, such as the Turks and Caicos Islands (N512NK) and the Cayman Islands (N514NK).
Several KLM 747-400s are named for cities KLM hasn't served for years, including Melbourne, Freetown, Karachi, Orlando and Rio de Janeiro.
25 AirframeAS: Yes and no. The name is whatever is on the tail itself, not the aircraft itself. Aircraft 204, 209 is a great example of this. 204 has Freedom the Ba
26 infinit: SQ used to name their ac. Big Top, Mega Top and Leadership come to mind. Don't know why they did away with that, I thought it was pretty catchy View L
27 Braniff747SP: It's a nice tradition, but I'm sure it's quite expensive. I know United has some aircraft named after their best customers; I'd like that! It's a nice
28 Eagleboy: I like the idea of naming aircraft, the question is how to do it in an original way. I really love the VS and B6 naming system. I assume VA are quite
29 ACDC8: Does UA still do this? IIRC they had a program in the 90s where you could have an aircraft named after you in exchange for some FF miles.
30 klwright69: I like the idea of naming planes, and think it's a good one. Of course PA named their 747's. I remember working at the old DEN Stapleton and would see
31 MountainFlyer: I am no insider, but my guess would be it might have been because those labels, which pertained to 747s, became less relevant when the A380 was on it
32 TWA772LR: Fedex names their planes through a drawing where employees put in their new baby's names. I think that is cool and nice.
33 TYCOON: I am a fan of airlines naming their jets. Vueling has some funky names such as "Vueling Me Softly", "Vita e Vueling". KLM names them according to the
34 Viscount724: Pan Am named all their aircraft, at least all the jets and 4-engine propeller types. I don't think they named the smaller twin-engine propeller types
35 RWA380: Yes indeed TG did or does, when I flew them SEA-YYZ-SEA, the M11's we flew in did have names, but were in Thai, so can't even come close to telling y
36 Alnicocunife: How about LARGE pictures, I believe Western Pacific used to have large Adverts on there planes. They always looked good and you can make money doing i
37 RWA380: Didn't work out for Western Pacific though. I do agree the Stardust was cool, but the Simpsons plane was the most popular, funny as I'm seeing Yeardl
38 YVRLTN: BA was another, but the names were dropped with the world tails - which was a shame. 737 - British rivers & some Shakspeare characters IIRC 747-10
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