One doesn’t really have to wonder too much how American Airlines
(AA) was named. After all, it is named after the nation with the highest number of airports in the world. The colors used in the logo of the AA are the ones in the American flag. The same could be said of British Airways
(BA).

Tails of American Airlines planes

Photo: CaseyMartin | Shutterstock

But the names of all airlines aren’t as straight forward. Aer Lingus
(EI), KLM
, and a few other airlines have names that aren’t as straightforward. Let’s take a look at the different ways in which airlines have been named.

1

From the name of a country

A majority of the carriers have been named this way

Almost every flag carrier in countries around the world has been named after the name of the nation. This is true of carriers such as Air France
(AF), Air New Zealand
(NZ), and South African Airways
(SA), among others. But the origin of the name of the country can have a story of its own.

Air New Zealand

Karan Bhatta, an aviation journalist in Nepal, talked to Simple Flying and revealed how names of airlines in Nepal have been named:

” The word ‘Nepal’ can be broken down into ‘nipa’ and ‘ala’, The latter of these has been described by some indologists as a short suffix “alaya”, which means ‘abode’. “Nipa” can mean the ‘foot of a mountain’, and so the word ‘Nepal’ has been described as ‘home at the foot of a mountain’. One already knows that eight of the ten tallest peaks fall in this nation. So ‘Nepal Airlines’ owes its name to the fact that the country has many mountains.”

Let’s take a few ways in which some countries have been named:

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  • The word ‘biman’ in ”
    Biman Bangladesh Airlines

    (BG)” refers to an aircraft. The word ‘Bangladesh’ itself refers to a ‘desh‘ or a country of the Bengal region or the ‘Bengali people’.

2

From the name of the region within a country where the carrier is based/ operated

From the name of a mountain to a river

The second-most popular way of naming an airline would be after the region of the country the airline is based in. Let’s take a look at a few of them:

Airlines

Based in

Alaska Airlines
(AS)

Alaska, US

Shanghai Airlines
(FM)

Shanghai, China

Riyadh Air
(RX)

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Alaska Airlines Cargo Boeing 737-800 freighter N584AS.

Photo: Alaska Airlines

There are a few other references, such as the name of a mountain or a river, within a particular region, that also determines the name of airlines. According to opodo.co.uk, this was the case with one of the three big airlines of the US:

“The name Delta refers to the Mississippi Delta, the area where Delta Air Lines
has its origins. It was suggested by Catherine Fitzgerald, who at the time was a secretary and later rose to the rank of an executive within the company. The logo is a three-dimensional triangle which is the shape of the Greek letter “D”.”

eastern air lines
(EA) and Western Airlines (WA) are two carriers from the past that started their stories in the aviation industry from the East and West Coast of the US, respectively.

3

From a few words that refer to myths

Not many of these are major carriers

Although one might not find mythical stories in aviation, there are a few references to these in the symbols airlines use, their names, and the aircraft they operate. Bhutan’s flag carrier, Druk Air (KB), for example, has a livery consisting of a dragon’s painting, and its slogan even reads “On the Wings of the Dragon”.

Druk Air shutterstock_2355464593

Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock

Karan Bhatta talked to Simple Flying about how Yeti Airlines, the carrier that

experienced the crash of its flight 691
(an ATR 72
) in 2023, commented how the airline’s name is one that is tied to a myth:

” The name “Yeti” in Yeti Airlines refers to a mystical-cum-mythical creature known as “Yeti”, which is purported to live in the Himalayas. The word ‘Shree’ in ‘Shree Airlines’ means veneration and is used to refer to local gods as well as saints. The same word ‘Shree’ is written differently in ‘Sri Lanka’, a country whose name can be translated as ‘venerated Lanka’. Lanka is a place described in the Ramayana, a great holy book written on the subcontinent, and is widely read in Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka.”

Let’s take a look at how some myths have found themselves in the names of airlines and aircraft operated by a few carriers:

  • According to CN Traveler, the first Airbus A330 received by Hawaiian Airlines was named “Makali’i”. This “comes from a constellation integral to navigation and from which old mythology says the Hawaiian people came to Earth”.
  • Pegagus Airlines (PC) in Turkey gets its name from the mythical creature Pegagus.

4

From the names of the people who founded it

Donald Trump might be the most famous of these people

Ryanair
(FR), which is known for its 25-minute turnarounds, was named after the person who founded this carrier with more than 500 aircraft. Even one of the oldest companies in the aviation industry, Boeing, was named after William Boeing. William had first formed the Boeing Air Transport Company, which initially offered air mail service between San Francisco and Chicago.

Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 by Vincenzo Pace from SF 169

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Let’s look at a few airlines which have been named after people:

Airlines

Founded by

Operational years

Trump Shuttle, Inc (TB)

Donald Trump

1989-1992

Ryanair
(FR)

Tony Ryan

1984-present

According to ATQ news, Ryanair’s history is a tad older than the dates above might suggest:

“In 1975, Tony Ryan founded the aircraft leasing company Guinness Peat Aviation, which grew to become one the world’s largest aircraft-leasing companies. In 1984, Christopher and Anthony (Tony) Ryan founded Ryanair. It began operations in 1985, flying a 15-seat Embraer Bandeirante turboprop aircraft between Waterford and Gatwick Airport.”

5

Marketing the airlines better

There’s more to a name than a callsign

Some people might confuse the Indian low-cost carrier Akasa Air
(QP) with Alaska Airlines
(AS). One might feel that the former of these airlines drew its inspiration from the name “Alaska”. The word “Akasa” can also be interpreted differently, as “akasa” could also be roughly translated as “sky” in Hindi.

Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350 (G-VEVE) Fearless Lady
Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock

However, in the case of the major British carrier Virgin Atlantic
(VS), ATQ news reported that the name was chosen to brand itself better:

“The name Virgin Atlantic is based on branding. The name “Virgin” arose in 1970 when Richard Branson and Nik Powell set up a record shop, first by mail order, and, in 1971, with a physical store. They considered themselves virgins in business. Branson has described the “V” in the current logo as an expressive tick, representing the Virgin seal of approval.”

Branding themselves a certain way
is something that more and more carriers are resorting to. Some of the other airlines that have chosen names to market themselves better through their names are:

  • Trans World Airlines (TWA) was named so because it highlighted that it offered services around the world.
  • Hooters Air, wanted to transport athletes from one destination to the other.
  • Smokers express was an airline that was purported to allow smoking on air, but never got the approval from the FAA.

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