Anyone who knows Pan Am would remember the words "Clipper Maid of" near the nose of the aircraft


So, anyone else know of other airlines who name their aircraft

KLM has the words "The Flying Dutchman" on the back of the fuselage of every aircraft. On top of that, each aircraft has it's own individual name. The words "The Flying Dutchman" go back to the early days of KLM as that's literally what they are.

Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cityline and Lufthansa Cargo have given names to most of their fleets. Mostly named after German cities or states on the passenger aircraft. LH Cargo names their aircraft after different countries with "hello" in the countries' respective native languages (i.e. Hello USA, Konnichiwa Japan...).

There are some exceptions though:
An A340-300 is named Gander/Halifax as a thanks to those airports and cities, that took in many diverted flights from Europe on 9/11 and cared for the passengers.
An A321-100 is named after Finkenwerder, the part of Hamburg where Airbus builds the A320 series.
Some of the A380 have (or had) names of international Star Alliance hubs and one is named simply "Deutschland".

Virgin Atlantic

There are several airlines that name their aircraft after am individual or a city / place

KLM
Air Tahiti Nui
Air Tahiti
SAS
Lufthansa
Thai Airways (I think)
Norwegian Air Shuttle ( I don't know if they name their aircraft, but they have motifs of famous people on their tails


etc

Icelandair names all aircraft. 757s and 767s all have names of different volcanoes around Iceland, apart from 753 TF-ISX (in 100 yr independence c/s) which is named after "Þingvellir", the National Park where Iceland's original parliament was set in 930.



The 757s used to be named Icelandic names ending in "dís" (e. fairy), such as Svandís, Fanndís and Bryndís. Exceptions were TF-FIP and TF-FIX which were named after Icelandic viking explorers Snorri Þorfinsson and Leifur Eiríksson, the first European to discover America in the early 1000s - 500 years ahead of Columbus! The naming conventions were then changed around 2005 when Icelandair's marketing focus started increasingly turning towards the beautiful nature of the island.

The 737s have a more open naming criteria than the 757/767 fleet, as they're named after Icelandic natural wonders which do include, but are not excluded to, volcanoes. Those include famous tourist spots like Jökulsárlón, Mývatn, Landmannalaugar and Kirkjufell.

SRQKEF wrote:

Icelandair names all aircraft. 757s and 767s all have names of different volcanoes around Iceland, apart from 753 TF-ISX (in 100 yr independence c/s) which is named after "Þingvellir", the National Park where Iceland's original parliament was set in 930.

The 757s used to be named Icelandic names ending in "dís" (e. fairy), such as Svandís, Fanndís and Bryndís. Exceptions were TF-FIP and TF-FIX which were named after Icelandic viking explorers Snorri Þorfinsson and Leifur Eiríksson, the first European to discover America in the early 1000s - 500 years ahead of Columbus! The naming conventions were then changed around 2005 when Icelandair's marketing focus started increasingly turning towards the beautiful nature of the island.

The 737s have a more open naming criteria than the 757/767 fleet, as they're named after Icelandic natural wonders which do include, but are not excluded to, volcanoes. Those include famous tourist spots like Jökulsárlón, Mývatn, Landmannalaugar and Kirkjufell.

I forgot TF-FIV, who was formerly named Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir. She and her husband Þorfinnur accompanied Leifur on a later trip to America, where their son Snorri was the first known instance of a child of European descent to be born on American soil.

Norwegian put names and portrays of famous scandinavian/nordic persons on many of their aircraft.

And as I'm currently doing some island hops on Binter Canarias (NT) I can say that many of their ATR72 are named after mountains on the Canary Islands. But the last one we had was named "Mojo Picon", which is the typical hot pepper sauce used on the islands.


Gruß, masi1157

JetBlue names theirs:

https://www.jetblue.com/flying-with-us/ ... lane-names

Frontier

Western DC-10 - Spaceship.
Eastern 727 - Whisperjet.
Eastern L-1011 - Whisperliner.
American - Luxury Liner.

I believe FedEx has (or had) a tradition of drawing names from a collection of names of new born babies of their employees and naming their planes that way.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

KLM has the words "The Flying Dutchman" on the back of the fuselage of every aircraft. On top of that, each aircraft has it's own individual name. The words "The Flying Dutchman" go back to the early days of KLM as that's literally what they are.

The Dutchman sails as it's captain commands!

Oldish post from Qantas, but here is an explanation of the names on their aircraft.

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/roo-t ... n-a-plane/

Piedmont Airlines had a long history of naming their aircraft....

Originally with "Pacemaker" names (Empire State Pacemaker, Kitty Hawk Pacemaker, Lindbergh Pacemaker, Cape Fear Pacemaker, etc etc....)

Later it switched to "City of...." (City of Minneapolis, City of Fort Worth, City of Boston, etc, etc.....)

KLM has a specific naming criteria for each aircraft.
737: Birds
772: World Heritage Sites
77W: National parks
787: Flowers
A330: Famous city squares
747-400 (RIP): Cities

I believe National Airlines named their aircraft after stewardesses, as we were still allowed to call them back then. I believe a DC-10 was called Betty Lou.

Swissair named their planes after Cantons in Switzerland. How do you pronounce 'Kloten'?

National had a great advertising campaign around the names of flight attendants on it's jets. 'Fly me, I'm Barbara'.

Social justice warriors and the thought police would have none of it today. Different time, different values.

WesternDC6B wrote:

I believe National Airlines named their aircraft after stewardesses, as we were still allowed to call them back then. I believe a DC-10 was called Betty Lou.

You are correct! I had forgotten about that. Those airplane names were featured in their advertising....

seat1a wrote:

Swissair named their planes after Cantons in Switzerland. How do you pronounce 'Kloten'?

National had a great advertising campaign around the names of flight attendants on it's jets. 'Fly me, I'm Barbara'.

Social justice warriors and the thought police would have none of it today. Different time, different values.

What are Cantons

Garuda200 wrote:

seat1a wrote:

Swissair named their planes after Cantons in Switzerland. How do you pronounce 'Kloten'?

National had a great advertising campaign around the names of flight attendants on it's jets. 'Fly me, I'm Barbara'.

Social justice warriors and the thought police would have none of it today. Different time, different values.

What are Cantons

Territories or like states or counties in the US.

departedflights wrote:

WesternDC6B wrote:

I believe National Airlines named their aircraft after stewardesses, as we were still allowed to call them back then. I believe a DC-10 was called Betty Lou.

You are correct! I had forgotten about that. Those airplane names were featured in their advertising....

Some nice National DC-10-10 closeup photos of the names...

CP Air...

BoeingERJ1000 wrote:

KLM has a specific naming criteria for each aircraft.
737: Birds
772: World Heritage Sites
77W: National parks
787: Flowers
A330: Famous city squares
747-400 (RIP): Cities

Back in the day ... KLM MD-11: Famous people within culture, such as Audrey Hepburn, Anna Pavlova and Annie Romein.

UA has a long history of naming aircraft beginning with "Mainliner" titles for cities, states, sites and people.

Mortyman wrote:

BoeingERJ1000 wrote:

KLM has a specific naming criteria for each aircraft.
737: Birds
772: World Heritage Sites
77W: National parks
787: Flowers
A330: Famous city squares
747-400 (RIP): Cities

Back in the day ... KLM MD-11: Famous people within culture, such as Audrey Hepburn, Anna Pavlova and Annie Romein.

Actually women only on the MD 11

Garuda200 wrote:

[...]What are Cantons

The second-level entities of a federal country. More commonly in other parts of the world they are called provinces, states or counties.

bohica wrote:

American - Luxury Liner.

On a side note, AA removed the "DC-10 LuxuryLiner" titles and replaced them with "American Airlines LuxuryLiner" after AA191. It also looks like they were removed later on across the whole fleet. Did any 777's get Luxury Liner titles?

BoeingERJ1000 wrote:

bohica wrote:

American - Luxury Liner.

On a side note, AA removed the "DC-10 LuxuryLiner" titles and replaced them with "American Airlines LuxuryLiner" after AA191. It also looks like they were removed later on across the whole fleet. Did any 777's get Luxury Liner titles?

I checked, and they never had any

Air India also used to name their aircraft when it was still operated by Tata.
A310s were named after rivers
747s (upto 300s) were named after emperors
747-400s after heritage locations throughout India
777s after the states of India

The A320 family and B787s aren't named. But after Tata acquired Air India back from the government, it has named the newly inducted 777-200LRs previously operated by Delta, but not as names of states this time.

WesternDC6B wrote:

I believe National Airlines named their aircraft after stewardesses, as we were still allowed to call them back then. I believe a DC-10 was called Betty Lou.

On evening departures, they all sang, “Betty Lou’s getting out tonight”.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

WesternDC6B wrote:

I believe National Airlines named their aircraft after stewardesses, as we were still allowed to call them back then. I believe a DC-10 was called Betty Lou.

On evening departures, they all sang, “Betty Lou’s getting out tonight”.

Betty Lou was a stew on one of the DC-8 red-eyes out of LAX to Tampa I think it was, way back when. He always managed to find an empty row so he could lay down across them for a few hours' rest. Then, Betty Lou kept him supplied with plenty of coffee.

Aer Lingus (and Aer Lingus Regional and Aer Lingus UK) names their aircraft after Irish saints. On one side they are written in English, and on the other side they are written in Irish:



Air France recently started naming their aircraft too. There's an entire thread about about it: viewtopic.php?t=1440385

AeroMexico has a few 787s with names on them. Some seem to be the name of cities.



Alitalia (and now ITA Airways) name their aircraft too. The A319s and A320s are places and people. A321s are Piazza/plazas (Non on ITA Airways). A330s are artists.

I believe it was Delta did a play on English words by calling their DC7C planes "Seven Seas".

Qantas historically named their aircraft after Australian cities and towns. A tradition that carried through from the 707s through to the 747s, 767s and eventually the 737-800s and A330s.

Then Qantas went with Australian aviators for the A380 fleet, then the 787s are supposed to be “Australiana themed” ie. Skippy (cringe), and Waltzing Matilda, but there’s a few outliers in there too ie, Quokka, Kookaburra, Gangurru. (All wildlife), As well as the special centenary jet VH-ZNJ named “Longreach” a town in Western Queensland generally accepted as being the birthplace of Qantas although there are competing claims.

TAA/Australian Airlines also had their own naming scheme Explorers for the 727s and A300s, Other Australian historical figures for the DC-9s, Inspirational names for the 737-376s, ie. Adventure , Daring, etc. then Native birds for the 737-476s. The A300s, and 737s generally kept their names when absorbed into Qantas, but a few of the later 737-476 that came post merger got location names.

As far as I know Ansett didn’t name their aircraft, nor does Jetstar.

Virgin Blue initially a had really tacky theme going on mostly puns based on place names , ie, “Goldie Coast”, “Smoochy Maroochy”, “Launie Lass”, but eventually went to names of Australian beaches with the Virgin Australia rebrand.

Our newest airline Bonza has an equally cringeworthy theme of “Bogan Names” ie. “Bazza”, “Shazza”, and “Dazza”. Diminutives of Barry, Sharon, and Darren, respectively.

WesternDC6B wrote:

I believe it was Delta did a play on English words by calling their DC7C planes "Seven Seas".

The DL DC-7B's were called "Golden Crown" which was the service mark DL created for their First Class service. It expanded to what became the "Crown Room" airport lounges and descriptions of food, beverage and service on specific flights and aircraft. The "Crown" extended to the Convair 880 fleet when it was introduced.

The "Seven Seas" reference was to the DC-7C which had performance improvements for longer nonstop segments and was called that by Douglas Aircraft to demonstrate its ability to fly long routes. And just as an FYI......the Lockheed L-1649 was named "Starstream" by TWA for its equal long leg flight capability to match the Seven Seas.

Google images has tons of pictures of airlines who used special names to promote their aircraft.....beyond DL above, look at PA DC-7C, Swissair which named them on the tail "Seven Seas". Look at some of EA's "Great Silver Fleet" and the Lockheed Electra and early DC-8's names emblazoned down the fuselage. Marketing was for the latest and greatest, biggest or best in the sky.

vhqpa wrote:

Our newest airline Bonza has an equally cringeworthy theme of “Bogan Names” ie. “Bazza”, “Shazza”, and “Dazza”. Diminutives of Barry, Sharon, and Darren, respectively.

At least no airline has named planes after Carole Lombard, Richie Valens, or Will Rogers.

WesternDC6B wrote:

vhqpa wrote:

Our newest airline Bonza has an equally cringeworthy theme of “Bogan Names” ie. “Bazza”, “Shazza”, and “Dazza”. Diminutives of Barry, Sharon, and Darren, respectively.

At least no airline has named planes after Carole Lombard, Richie Valens, or Will Rogers.

No,not true. The United DC-8-11 N8013U that collided with the TWA Constellation over NYC in December 1960 was named "Mainliner Will Rogers."

PI4EVER wrote:

WesternDC6B wrote:

vhqpa wrote:

Our newest airline Bonza has an equally cringeworthy theme of “Bogan Names” ie. “Bazza”, “Shazza”, and “Dazza”. Diminutives of Barry, Sharon, and Darren, respectively.

At least no airline has named planes after Carole Lombard, Richie Valens, or Will Rogers.

No,not true. The United DC-8-11 N8013U that collided with the TWA Constellation over NYC in December 1960 was named "Mainliner Will Rogers."

That… is scary. And, someone at United wasn’t thinking.

WesternDC6B wrote:

PI4EVER wrote:

WesternDC6B wrote:

At least no airline has named planes after Carole Lombard, Richie Valens, or Will Rogers.

No,not true. The United DC-8-11 N8013U that collided with the TWA Constellation over NYC in December 1960 was named "Mainliner Will Rogers."

That… is scary. And, someone at United wasn’t thinking.

I guess I don't understand the significance. Isn't OKC named Will Rogers.

AirKevin wrote:

WesternDC6B wrote:

PI4EVER wrote:

No,not true. The United DC-8-11 N8013U that collided with the TWA Constellation over NYC in December 1960 was named "Mainliner Will Rogers."

That… is scary. And, someone at United wasn’t thinking.

I guess I don't understand the significance. Isn't OKC named Will Rogers.

Will Rogers was extensively involved in early aviation, and famously died in a plane crash in Alaska. He was from Oklahoma, hence, OKC. Barrow Aiport (near where he died) bears his name as well, shared with Wiley Post who also died in the crash.