Why Are Most South American Airline Names Acronyms

Fly-K · Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:33 pm

I just realized the fact that most major Latin American airline names are acronyms (Varig, TAM, LAN, LAB, Copa, Taca, Avianca, Viasa etc.) instead of having their home country spelled out as part of the name (e.g. "Air Colombia", "Air Brasil"). Of course there are some exceptions (Ecuatoriana, Cubana, Aerolineas Argentinas). It doesn't seem to be related to language either (Iberia, Spanair, Air Europa, Vueling etc - with TAP being an exception). Any idea why?

Italianflyer · Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:55 pm

Great question!!

Actually, the majority of those acronyms are spelling out geo-sentric names. AVIANCA ( Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A.) is National Airways of Colombia. TACA was Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano (American Continent Airline Company), COPA (Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A.,) is merely Panamian Airline Company. LAN is simply National Airlines and TAM refers to its origins as a commuter based in the city of Marilia. PLUNA was Uruguayan Airlines..etc.

Allot of the carriers were started as state owned enterprises that were extensions of the military. There are several that were started as private enterprises. A few were started in conjunction with North American or European carriers like Pan American or BOAC.

I am sure there will be more good answers. That is just my .02.

[Edited 2013-09-05 08:56:50]

[Edited 2013-09-05 08:59:43]

coronado · Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:58 pm

Is that much different from LOT, SAS, KLM?

But yes some of the old historical names for airlines created in the 1920's and 30's in South America did suffer from very long names. There used to be some laws in many of the countries that mandated that the nature of the business or type of corporate form be included in the full corporate name. The old REAL of Brazil stood for Rede Estadual Aerea Limitada, with Varig standing for Viacao Aerea Rio Grande, etc, which let's face it are long and unwieldy so marketing dictated the creation of short form names.

Unless you are Dutch how many can spell out the full name of KLM, correctly?

Birdwatching · Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:01 pm

I think it's a regional / cultural thing: in South America, a lot of company names (not just in aviation) are acronyms. You'll find lots of companies in South America with 4 to 6 letter names ending in SA (which stands for Sociedad Anonima). VIASA is an exmple, but there are tons of other examples. Many of them also begin with C which usually stands for Compañia (company). Like Chile's largest shipping company, CSAV = Compañia Sud Americana de Vapores. In Mexico you'll see many company names ending in MEX like PEMEX (Petrol) or TELMEX (Telecom). So in general, companies in South America do this a lot more than in Europe or North America. Why, I don't know.

Soren

andrefranca · Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:04 pm

IMHO, I can't say for every brazilian person but using names for companies such as Air Brasil, Brazilian Airlines, Brazilian general motors etc... can sound too "cheesy" and not really appealing!

I believe also, there's some "hidden" inferiority complex when it comes to country names on products service, one example is American Airlines, we know that these days AA service is not that great, but here when people mention "Oh I flew American Airlines" it sounds wooooow a superior product, service and so on, the same applies for African companies, I once heard at GRU someone saying "oh just returned from Luanda on TAAG Angola" and the person reaction was "oh my Gooood you're crazy".

Fly-K · Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:18 pm

Quoting Coronado (Reply 2):
Is that much different from LOT, SAS, KLM?

Not much different, but there are just less airlines in Europe whose names are acronyms.

Quoting Coronado (Reply 2):
There used to be some laws in many of the countries that mandated that the nature of the business or type of corporate form be included in the full corporate name.

That would explain it.

Quoting andrefranca (Reply 4):
I believe also, there's some "hidden" inferiority complex when it comes to country names on products service

Well, with changing times (and egos in some places...), that should be less of a problem. Come to think of Brazil, I think it's a shame that the colors of the flag have never really been used on an airline livery. I think an Air Brazil in green/yellow/blue could be a much stronger brand than the generic TAM.

oly720man · Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:28 pm

In Europe some older airlines were abbreviations. Sabena for example is an abbreviation of "Societé Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne"

France had a number of airlines beginning with S for Societe - perhaps related to how companies are named, lots of organisations in France seem to be Societes.

e.g. SAGETA, SANA, STAAP, and recently Star Airlines (Societe de Transports Aerien Regional)

There was also UAT, UTA and TAI

And, of course, on the other side of the world there's Qantas.

KaiGywer · Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:33 pm

Quoting oly720man (Reply 6):
"Societé Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne"

I thought it stood for Such A Bloody Experience, Never Again

aznmadsci · Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:55 pm

Don't forget Asia, too: JAL, ANA, and PAL.

ghost77 · Thu Sep 05, 2013 5:06 pm

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 3):
In Mexico you'll see many company names ending in MEX like PEMEX (Petrol) or TELMEX (Telecom). So in general, companies in South America do this a lot more than in Europe or North America.

Just an observation. Mexico is not in South America or Central America, but in North America:

However, it is in Latin America.

g77

Tomassjc · Thu Sep 05, 2013 5:07 pm

Quoting ItalianFlyer (Reply 1):
TACA was Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano

And was Transportes Aereos del Centro America before that I believe.

Tomas SJC

PacNWjet · Thu Sep 05, 2013 5:14 pm

Quoting oly720man (Reply 6):
In Europe some older airlines were abbreviations.

The full name of Spain's defunct domestic airline AVIACO was Aviación y Comercio, S.A.

aer · Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:13 pm

Also the acronyms other than shortening a long name for example writing Empresa Guatemalteca de Aviacion in an aircraft into Aviateca. That gave brand differentiation.

Many airlines in Latin America had their names start with Servicio Aereo..., Lineas Aereas..., Aerovias... or Aerolineas... to give a few examples. The acronyms also gave the companies their own identities like SAHSA, Nica, Lan Chile, and AeroMexico.

Someone mentioned Ecuatoriana... they fell in the "de Aviación" category with Mexicana and Dominicana in there.

Hope this answers your question a little.

Quoting ghost77 (Reply 9):
However, it is in Latin America.

And yes not everything south of the border is South America.

reffado · Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:01 pm

Can't speak for other countries, but the fact that at Brazil never had a state owned company, and at the time of foundation of the current carriers, apart from GOL, international market was not in the initial plans. Varig for instance was founded in 1928 as "Viação Aérea Rio Grandense", or rather, Rio Grandense Air Lines, in southern Brazi. It then grew and grew until Cruzeiro and Panair came along. TAM started as a smaller commuter service, "Taxi Aéreo Marília". It has since been renamed "Transportes Aéreos Meridionais". VASP was "Viação Aérea de São Paulo", and so on. Only airline to ever use a proposed "common" name was TransBrasil, and look how that turned out. They had a much shorter run than everyone else, and perhaps that still has an influence on customers.

GOL I believe was named this way in relation to the word "goal", which reminds one of victory, of scoring. This, combined with the decades long reputation of the VW Gol, the most popular car in Brazil (also a transportation method), may have appealed well to the customers in research back in 2001. Not to mention that a short name usually works best in branding, especially in a country such as this where only about 3% of the population has a complete high school course, quite different from the USA, you might say. To prove it, GOL started out right after 9/11, the worst possible timing for a new airline, and now they're quite popular, relatively large airline with a larger domestic fleet than TAM itself, and all of this in just 12 years. Sure, they're bleeding cash, but that isn't stopping them from being a reference in domestic brazilian air travel.

Aeri28 · Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:34 pm

Quoting andrefranca (Reply 4):
IMHO, I can't say for every brazilian person but using names for companies such as Air Brasil, Brazilian Airlines, Brazilian general motors etc... can sound too "cheesy" and not really appealing!

So what are you trying to say, Air France, British Airways, American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Air New Zealand all sound cheesy? Those brands are quite strong and well known. I'm not sure anyone would say they are cheesy. Not saying you said that, but your text implies a certain cheesiness with using a country name or nationality with an "airline' tag.

I think it really just is perception, had their been an Argentine International Airlines or Brazilian Airways or Brazilair, you would not think anything of it. Plus "Aerolineas" is a form of Airways/Airlines but in a Spanish sense, so basicially it is sort of an Argentine Airlines. Same with a European airline. If fAir France had been named French Airlines or France Air, we'd think nothing of it, but since we are familiar and used to Air France, to consider it otherwise sounds strange and funny. Anyway, not trying to pick your comments apart.

____

PS
I had a friend years ago who always thought Alitalia was named after a guy : Al Italia. Like Big Al Italy or something lol., I always thought it was Al'Italia like Al Pastor, Al Fresco... Al'Italia. "the italian way"

YQBexYHZBGM · Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:55 pm

Nicaragua had LANICA (an acronym for Líneas Aéreas de Nicaragua), which, following its demise, was followed by AeroNica and Nica Airlines, a TACA subsidiary. Of the three, I liked AeroNica best.

Paraguay's LADESA was definitely an acronym: Lineas Aéreas del Este SA.

Some languages just have easier abbreviations to incorporate into an acronym than others. In Spanish, SA = "sociedad autónoma," which is the equivalent of limited liability joint stock company. In Swedish, it's AB (aktiebolag/et), which gave us SAAB (Svenska Aeroplan AB).

The German equivalent (GmbH) doesn't work so well.

-Al
YQBexYHZBGM

sankaps · Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:01 pm

Quoting aznmadsci (Reply 8):
Don't forget Asia, too: JAL, ANA, and PAL.

JAL is still marketed as Japan Airlines, and PAL as Philippine Airlines. Only ANA would be a good example of the three you name, since they no longer use All Nippon Airlines as their brand name.

rwy04lga · Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:05 pm

Quoting Coronado (Reply 2):
Unless you are Dutch how many can spell out the full name of KLM, correctly?

Actually...

.
And my pronunciation isn't bad, either.

Viscount724 · Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:08 pm

Quoting sankaps (Reply 16):
Quoting aznmadsci (Reply 8):
Don't forget Asia, too: JAL, ANA, and PAL.

JAL is still marketed as Japan Airlines,

When they exited bankruptcy a couple of years ago they changed their name from Japan Air Lines to Japan Airlines.

On that point, what carriers other than Delta and Swiss still use "Air Lines" (2 words) rather than "Airlines"?

andrefranca · Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:15 pm

Quoting Aeri28 (Reply 14):
So what are you trying to say, Air France, British Airways, American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Air New Zealand all sound cheesy? Those brands are quite strong and well known. I'm not sure anyone would say they are cheesy. Not saying you said that, but your text implies a certain cheesiness with using a country name or nationality with an "airline' tag.

I mean for us brazilians it sounds cheesy to use brazil or your state name on company names.

YQBexYHZBGM · Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:27 pm

Quoting andrefranca (Reply 19):
I mean for us brazilians it sounds cheesy to use brazil or your state name on company names.

Although Embraer did name the EMB-120 "Brasilia."
And, while we're at it, Embraer = Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica

Al

sfjeff · Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:33 pm

Quoting ghost77 (Reply 9):
Just an observation. Mexico is not in South America or Central America, but in North America:

Your map suggests that Central America is not a part of North America. Central America is as much a part of the continent of North America as Canada is. However, it is true that Latin Americans often refer to people from the U.S. as North Americans.

Cubsrule · Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:13 am

Quoting Coronado (Reply 2):
Is that much different from LOT, SAS, KLM?

Nitpick: LOT is not an acronym but rather an abbreviation (for Linie Lotnicze, which means airline). SAS and KLM are acronyms.

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 3):
Many of them also begin with C which usually stands for Compañia (company). Like Chile's largest shipping company, CSAV = Compañia Sud Americana de Vapores.

Yup - Copec (Chilean oil company) and Codelco (Chilean state copper company) are other good examples. That's where a lot of the LA- names in Spanish come from (Lineas Aereas or Linea Aerea). Ladeco -- Linea Aerea del Cobre -- sort of combines both.

I don't speak much Portuguese, but I think Embraer -- Empresa Brasileria de Aeronautica -- is similar.

YQBexYHZBGM · Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:23 am

SABENA = Société autonome belge d'expoloitation de la navigation aérienne

The French SA abbreviation is used to some degree in France, Belgium and Switzerland, but I've rarely seen it in Québec. "et cie." (et compagnie), "ltée." (limited liability company) are also seen, but "inc." is becoming universal.

I'm trying to think if there are any airlines in African francophone countries that are acronyms or abbreviations similar to those prevalent in Latin America, but I can't think of any offhand.

-Al
YQBexYHZBGM

YQBexYHZBGM · Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:37 am

Unless they can be pronounced as words, they are not acronyms, they are abbreviations. The best example of acronym I can think of is the BASIC computer language = beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code.

So, SAS is not really an acronym, since it is always pronounced "S-A-S" rather than "sass." The company's full name has always been in English: Scandinavian Airlines System Group AB (aktiebolag). Same story with EVA Air, which is always pronounced "E-V-A" rather than "Eva." (They couldn't call it Evergreen Air because Evergreen International is a U.S. based cargo airline, which has no relation to EVA).

SATA, the airline of the Azores, is an acronym for Serviços e Transportes Aéreos.

-Al

RCS763AV · Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:40 am

The acronyms have changed too, reflecting the now multinational airlines in the continent.

LAN is Latin Airline Network, changed from Línea Aérea Nacional.
Avianca is Aerovías del Continente Americano, changed from Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia.

I don't know, but I like the acronyms. Varig, Avianca, LAN, Viasa sound more appealing than just "Air___" or "___ Airlines" to me. Brand recognition also has a key role here.

YQBexYHZBGM · Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:31 am

A couple more:

LACSA = Líneas Aéreas Costarricenses S.A. (Costa Rica, now part of Grupo TACA)
AVIACSA = Aviación de Chiapas S.A. (defunct Mexican carrier)
TAESA = Transportes Aéreos Ejecutivos (defunct early Mexican LCC)
ACES = Aerolíneas Centrales de Colombia (defunct Colombian carrier)
AIRES = Aerovías de Integración Regional S.A. (Colombian carrier, now LAN Colombia)
SATENA = Servicio Aéreo a Territorios Nacionales (a Colombian government-operated carrier)

Of these, AIRES is the best true acronym, since it is also a word meaning "air" (plural) in Spanish.

-Al

ha763 · Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:40 am

Quoting sankaps (Reply 16):
JAL is still marketed as Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines is a mixed bag, but extensively uses the JAL brand for marketing.

Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 18):
When they exited bankruptcy a couple of years ago they changed their name from Japan Air Lines to Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines has not been Japan Air Lines for decades. The visible change happened in the late 1980's when JAL changed their livery. In the picture below, you can see that it has "Airlines" as one word.

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Peter de Groot

AR385 · Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:09 am

Quoting YQBexYHZBGM (Reply 15):
Nicaragua had LANICA (an acronym for Líneas Aéreas de Nicaragua), which, following its demise, was followed by AeroNica and Nica Airlines, a TACA subsidiary. Of the three, I liked AeroNica best.

The running joke in Nicaragua at the time, particularly in Managua (talk about a badly picked acronym) was that they were the "flying commode" as " La nica" is the commode some people put near their beds at night. It would be "La Bacinica" but in Nicaragua it was shortened to "La nica" and then somebody comes and names an airline LANICA. You gotta wonder wether they were foreigners or what.

YQBexYHZBGM · Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:29 am

Quoting AR385 (Reply 28):
The running joke in Nicaragua at the time, particularly in Managua (talk about a badly picked acronym) was that they were the "flying commode" as " La nica" is the commode some people put near their beds at night. It would be "La Bacinica" but in Nicaragua it was shortened to "La nica" and then somebody comes and names an airline LANICA. You gotta wonder wether they were foreigners or what.

LOL, thank you AR385, I will have to remember that for my next trip to MGA!

-Al

mtnwest1979 · Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:43 am

[

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 22):
Nitpick: LOT is not an acronym but rather an abbreviation (for Linie Lotnicze, which means airline). SAS and KLM are acronyms.

Actually, SAS and KLM are also not acronyms. An acronym is an abbreviation that is said as a word, such as QANTAS (before it became the actual trade name), PANAGRA, VARIG etc. Saying S A S and K L M is just saying the letters.

Anyway, just a vent on my part. Have a good day.

https://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app#q=acronym+definition&safe=off

ecbomberman · Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:14 am

Names of Airline too loooooonngggggg

Aeri28 · Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:29 am

Did anybody mention the old : UTA French Airlines?

I've seen the french version use : UTA Compagnie Aerienne Francaise (not doing the accents sorry), but UTA also stood for "Union de Transports Aeriens" (there may be a type, not at home at the moment), so it would seem awfully large to have it "Union de Transports Aeriens: Compagnie Aerienne Francaise.

= UTA French Airlines

sankaps · Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:40 am

Quoting YQBexYHZBGM (Reply 24):
Same story with EVA Air, which is always pronounced "E-V-A" rather than "Eva." (They couldn't call it Evergreen Air because Evergreen International is a U.S. based cargo airline, which has no relation to EVA).

I have always heard it pronounced as Eva Air. I think even airport announcements in Asia say Eva Air.

larshjort · Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:49 am

Quoting MtnWest1979 (Reply 30):
Actually, SAS and KLM are also not acronyms. An acronym is an abbreviation that is said as a word, such as QANTAS (before it became the actual trade name), PANAGRA, VARIG etc. Saying S A S and K L M is just saying the letters.

Most danes, norwegians and swedes I know pronounce SAS as SAS not S-A-S. So SAS is both an acrnym and an abbreviation.

/Lars

ERJ135 · Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:04 am

Quoting MtnWest1979 (Reply 30):
Actually, SAS and KLM are also not acronyms.

For the Dutch however KLM is said as a word and is pronounced "Khalem" so for them it is an acronym.

DexSwart · Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:36 am

SA still operates under SAA and used to operate under SAL (Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens)

SAL is still used among Afrikaans speakers, like myself. It's easier to say than "South African Airways"

Also, coming off of that, pronouncing English names or words in another language can become very confusing very quickly. At least messy.

In Afrikaans, we roll our "R's", and to stop the flow of speaking, by saying "South African Airways" would not only sound funny, but slow the conversation down.

Another thing that could be important to note is that many people see those names as names, not acronyms or abbreviations.

Take "Qantas" for example.

PATristar · Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:01 pm

In my opinion is a marketing issue, is prefered to be TAM then Transportes Aereos Marilia, for international expansion is easier and more international to use acronyms specially if the airline doesn't belong to a english speaking country.

Like TAP, TAAG, al from portuguese speaking locations. Nevetherless we had companies wihtout acronyms but they didn't make it like Transbrasil, Air Brasil, Real, Panair, Nacional.

airbazar · Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:05 pm

Quoting Fly-K (Thread starter):
I just realized the fact that most major Latin American airline names are acronyms

It's out of convenience due to the language and their legacy as state run airlines. Why do we use CBP or TSA? The government likes big names

Romance languages are very formal and as a result names tend to be extra long. My father's full name is 6 names long and that's almost normal. In the Anglo world, you'll be hard pressed to find someone with more than 3 names and in a lot of cases they still find the need to abbreviate it due to the informality of the language.

Other airlines known as their abbreviation are TAP, UTA, TAROM.

AirbusA6 · Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:28 pm

But then the predecessors to British Airways (BA) were BOAC and BEA, which were generally referred to by their intials rather than their full name. "Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC, may I had a dreadful flight..."

YQBexYHZBGM · Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:33 pm

Quoting AirbusA6 (Reply 39):
But then the predecessors to British Airways (BA) were BOAC and BEA, which were generally referred to by their intials rather than their full name. "Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC, may I had a dreadful flight..."

And BWIA! I've heard that some people used to call them "Bee Wee" rather than B-W-I-A. I remember their radio commercials, though, which had the musical slogan, "Fly away, fly away, fly away on B-W-I-A."

Used to love seeing their gold L10s with the multicolor tail logo on approach to JFK.

-Al YQBexYHZBGM

PacNWjet · Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:28 pm

Quoting YQBexYHZBGM (Reply 40):
And BWIA! I've heard that some people used to call them "Bee Wee" rather than B-W-I-A.

Sort of like TWA in Spain. The letter "W" is not part of the traditional Spanish alphabet. When imported in from foreign languages "W" is referred to as "double v" which in Spanish is long to say. When I lived in Spain most people I know referred to TWA not as "T-W-A" (three letters in succession) but rather as "La Túa" which in English would sound like "lah tooah." I'm not sure if this was common elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

coronado · Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:36 pm

Real (Redes Estaduais Aéreas Limitadas) Transportes Aéreos

Quoting PATRistar (Reply 37):
Nevetherless we had companies wihtout acronyms but they didn't make it like Transbrasil, Air Brasil, Real, Panair, Nacional

Real (Redes Estaduais Aéreas Limitadas) Transportes Aéreos , actually it was created as an acronym, and then subsequently reregistered as REAL AEROVIAS, if I recall correctly.

The first flight I remember was in July 1958 on a Super H Constellation leaving from Cumbica air base actually ending up at Chicago Midway-which they served for a very few short months before cutting back and terminating that route in Miami.

My dad later told me that CGH's main runway was closed for resurfacing so they were using a smaller auxiliary run way which was not adequate for the Constellations. Later I read that it was probably due to political difficulties between the managing director of REAL, Linneu Gomes and the powers that ran Panair do Brasil

I remember walking down the path bordered by white painted stones (Cumbica was a military base so the old story that if it moves salute it, if it doesn't move paint it) down a slight hill to see the Constellation doing engine run ups with an absolutely incredible amount of smoke. Flew up to the USA but took a ship back so that was my only experience with REAL which by 1961 was gone and merged into VARIG. But it certainly served to keep me interested in commercial aviation ever since.

I remember that my family being from Santos knew one of the two co-founders of REAL (the other being G, Vicente Mammana Neto, who was a pilot from Santos. Base Aerea de Cumbica of course later on become part of the Sao Paulo Guarulhos footprint.

andrefranca · Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:03 pm

Quoting YQBexYHZBGM (Reply 20):
Although Embraer did name the EMB-120 "Brasilia."
And, while we're at it, Embraer = Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica

Al

I know but to tell you the truth, many many people here don't know Embraer stands for that because Embraer doesn't really sound brazilian slang, word or whatsoever, most of them can't even recognize the Embraer made planes.

Quoting PATRistar (Reply 37):
Nevetherless we had companies wihtout acronyms but they didn't make it like Transbrasil, Air Brasil, Real, Panair, Nacional.

here in MAO we had TABA - Transporte Aéreo da Bacia Amazônica, it was once a major amazonian airlines.

RJNUT · Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:27 pm

here is a list of Latin airlines i remember from the past/present

Aviacsa -MExico
TACA- El Salvador
Aviateca - Guatemala
TAN -HOnduras
Sahsa _honduras
TACA EL Salvador
Lanica - Nicaragua
Aeronica -NIcaragua
Lacsa _COsta RIca
COPA -_Panama
Avianca COlumbia
TAME Ecuador
Saesa -Ecuador
APSA -Peru (COnvair 990's in the 1970's)
Ladeco -Chile (literally means Copper AIrlines
LAN -chile
LAB -Bolivia
LADE -Argentina
LAP -Paraguay (lineas areas paraguayas, but some said peligrosas!_)

i'LL Skip the Brazilian

n729pa · Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:12 pm

It's a lot easy to answer the phone as Varig than the full name I would imagine!

Don't forget Qantas ......

Sabena - Societé Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne
Malev -- Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat

YLWbased · Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:39 pm

Probably becoz it will be easier for non-native speaker to pronounce their name?

Honestly, who on earth can properly pronounce "Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij" ?

btw, EVA is short form of Evergreen Airways*

YLWbased

[Edited 2013-09-06 10:43:26]

LFutia · Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:47 pm

Quoting YLWbased (Reply 46):
Honestly, who on earth can properly pronounce "Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij" ?

Cone in-clickah Lookt-fart Maat (long a) ska (long a) pie.

Leo/ORD

YQBexYHZBGM · Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:37 pm

LAB = Lloyd Aero Boliviano

PPVRA · Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:28 am

Quoting ItalianFlyer (Reply 1):
Allot of the carriers were started as state owned enterprises that were extensions of the military. There are several that were started as private enterprises. A few were started in conjunction with North American or European carriers like Pan American or BOAC.

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 3):
I think it's a regional / cultural thing: in South America, a lot of company names (not just in aviation) are acronyms. You'll find lots of companies in South America with 4 to 6 letter names ending in SA (which stands for Sociedad Anonima). VIASA is an exmple, but there are tons of other examples. Many of them also begin with C which usually stands for Compañia (company). Like Chile's largest shipping company, CSAV = Compañia Sud Americana de Vapores. In Mexico you'll see many company names ending in MEX like PEMEX (Petrol) or TELMEX (Telecom). So in general, companies in South America do this a lot more than in Europe or North America. Why, I don't know.

In Brazil, only VASP was government-owned for a while. But as indicated above, many other non-airline companies were indeed government owned and they generally all had/have generic/nationalistic acronyms for names (this is a common trend on all government-owned companies worldwide). I think given the extensive involvement of the state in the Latin American market, both historically and to this day, some of it rubbed off on a lot of other private sector companies.

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