When the pilot greets you on board, they’ll talk about the weather and flight duration
after introducing themselves and the crew.
But have you ever been on a flight where the Captain introduced the plane itself?
I don’t mean “Boeing 737,” but something like “Miss Moneypenny” – really!
You can’t make this stuff up!
Planes are a relatively recent invention.
Before them, there was another popular means of mass transportation – ships.
Well, it might come as no surprise that aviation inherited a lot of things from seafaring.
Distances are measured in nautical miles, aircraft can also be called ships, and the
pilot is no less than the captain himself.
Plus, he’s got a trusted crew to help him on board.
Each major ship in history had its name: the Santa Maria, USS Constitution, HMS Victory,
the Titanic.
You’ve heard of the Titanic?
A lot of them were named after places they came from, historical figures, or just some
noble-sounding words.
So if you’re wondering where the practice comes from, the aviation industry took this
old maritime tradition and flew with it!
The first major airline to do it was Pan American Airways, once the largest international air
carrier in the United States.
In 1929, they invited Amelia Earhart (you know, the first female pilot to fly solo across
the Atlantic Ocean) to wish good luck to their first aircraft flying from Miami to Havana.
It was a Ford Trimotor fittingly dubbed Cuba.
They continued naming their aircraft, many of them with maritime monikers, until Delta
bought the historic airline in 1991.
Fortunately, the naming tradition grew strong and lived on.
Around that same time in the1920s, similar things were happening across the pond.
KLM, the official Dutch airline, gave its first aircraft the name Dikke Dirk, which
translates as Fat Dirk.
They picked this name after the last two letters in its registration – DD.
The “fat” part was a joke about its unusually chubby fuselage.
The airline still gives names to its planes, but mostly chooses cities, heritage sites,
and sometimes even local bird and insect species for inspiration.
Today, a lot of major airlines like Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Icelandair,
and JetBlue spend a good amount of time and money coming up with the perfect name for
their aircraft before sending it off.
Now, it seems logical to name a plane after a famous explorer or the city it was built
in, but sometimes the names written below the pilot's cockpit window on the nose of
the aircraft are way more eccentric than that.
Get ready to meet Pepper, Scootalicious, Ladybird, and the Big Yella Fella!
Sounds like members of some rock band…
Many airlines name their planes after something that means a lot for their national culture,
traditions, or sights.
In Australia, for example, Qantas aircraft proudly bear the name of local cities, Aboriginal
art, and the continent’s first pilots.
One plane, for example, is named Nancy-Bird Walton, after the woman who founded the local
female pilot association.
Even though she was almost a century old by the time her big metal namesake first took
to the skies, she was on that flight!
Another interesting naming example from Down Under is Nullarbor, which is the Latin for
“no trees.”
It's also a flat and arid region in Australia with basically nothing in it… certainly
no trees!
Virgin Australia likes naming their planes after the country-continent’s endless beaches
– there are so many of them that they can keep buying planes and never run out of names!
The national airline of Israel called El Al names its aircraft after local cities.
So there might be a Jerusalem and Tel Aviv flying somewhere above the clouds right now!
They always celebrate the naming of a new plane with a whole ceremony in that city.
In Hawaiian culture, giving a name to a person or even an object is a revered practice.
They say it can make or break a person’s (or object’s) prosperity and spirit.
So, it’s no wonder Hawaiian Airlines always name their planes, and they mostly take inspiration
from constellations, flowers, and birds.
Makali'i, for example, is a constellation that’s so important in Hawaiian mythology
that there’s an Airbus 330 in the local air fleet bearing its name.
There’s also an aircraft named after the famous Maui-born sumo wrestler Jesse Takamiyama.
Iceland is the place to be if you want to see some striking landscapes and powerful
nature, what with all its volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, and glaciers.
When one volcano with a name I’m not even going to try to pronounce [Eyjafjallajökull]—see?--
erupted back in 2010, the whole world learned about it since flights across the globe were
severely delayed.
Well, Icelandair decided to name a Boeing 757 after the thing!
In the Land of Spices, airline marketing agents used that ginormous flavorful variety for
inspiration when naming their aircraft.
So, head to India, and you just might fly on a plane called Red Chili, Coriander, Pepper,
or Turmeric!
All those spicy planes are the fleet of Spicejet airlines.
By the way, if you were to name a plane after your favorite food or spice, what would it
be?
“Flaming Hot Cheetos requesting permission to land…”
Let me know your pick down in the comments!
It's also quite popular to name planes after prominent people.
Russian national air carrier Aeroflot looks to the country’s great writers, scientists,
and composers for inspo.
So if you’re ever flying with the carrier, don’t be surprised to hear the plane introduced
as Dostoevsky, Brodsky, or .
Virgin Atlantic airlines give their planes mostly female names, such as Pretty Woman,
Queen of the Skies, Ladybird, and Indian Princess.
These names are accompanied by a painting of Lady Luck on the side of the craft.
She’s painted in the Pinup Girl style of Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas.
The airline also has a plane named after him called Varga Girl.
Nice way to pay tribute!
JetBlue airlines stay true to their brand when naming every new plane they get.
They try to include the word “blue” in that nickname.
Their very first plane was an Airbus A320 called BlueBird that traveled from JFK to
Fort Lauderdale.
When they purchased the first US-made Airbus, they honored the famous Alabama city it was
built in by calling the plane BluesMobile.
Among other aircraft in their fleet are “Blue by Popular Demand” and “Hopelessly Devoted
to Blue.”
And when airlines need some help from the public, they hold competitions among their
social media followers to invent their own perfect plane name.
From Irish Ryanair to Australian Qantas, airlines give their fans a chance to commemorate themselves
or just get crazy and creative when coming up with those names.
Some of the funniest suggestions Virgin America got were “pineapple express” and “#nerdbird”
to point out that Virgin is the first airline to have fleetwide Wi-Fi.
Another Virgin plane was named after an Irish sheep farmer.
His son won the right to designate an aircraft at a Virgin Unite auction.
Singaporean airline Scoot is using eccentric plane names as a way to show how cool and
fresh they are.
Many of their flights are India-bound, and some savvy social media polling helped them
find the perfect names the Indian youth just loves.
According to them, they were Scootalicious, Dream Start, and Big Yella Fella.
After they merged with another airline TigerAir, they named an aircraft Conscious Coupling.
Speaking of Scoot, it’s not only the jets that get weird names but also the airlines
themselves.
There was one in Taiwan called U-Land.
(Hmm, was there a U-Fly as well?)
Ransome Airlines were a regional carrier based in Pennsylvania.
Vegas-based Bonanza airlines used to fly between the western United States and Mexico.
There was also the Russian airline Touch and Go.
It seemed to be doing just fine flying to Cyprus and Greece, but in the end, the whole
business was, ya know, touch and go.
How about BRA airways?
It was a Brazilian airline, but the name doesn’t come from women’s undergarments.
It stood for Brasil Rodo Aéreo.
Don’t be too upset that you can no longer book with BRA since they closed in 2007.
Can we say the BRA was removed.
No we can’t?
okay.
There’s a whole new BRA airline, but it’s based in Sweden.
The acronym stands for Braathens Regional Airways.
Ah so many jokes, so little time.
Finally, out of the still existing and pretty successful, there’s the Hungarian budget
airline WizzAir.
The company is doing great, and you can get yourself an account on its official website
in the “My Wizz” tab.
Ah so many jokes, so little time.
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