Airline Call Signs

[Hondo Calrissian]

I have always wondered how airline came up with their radio calls signs for example; British Airways call is: "Speedbird", Virgin America's call is: "Redwood", Republic's call is "Brickyard", ExpressJet is now "Acey" but use to be "Jet Link" (which sounds more cooler) and Pinnacle call is: "Flagship"....


I can understand a few of them.....

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Because the cool ones ("WESTERN", "REPUBLIC") are taken, of course.

 

[----****]

Virgin America's HDQ is near Redwood California or something like that and Republic is out of the Indy area which has the "yard of bricks" @ Indianapolis Speedway.

My favorite was USA3000's callsign which was "Get-away" and their ICAO code was GWY. One the jokes floating around, and I hope no one takes offense to this, was the "real" callsign was "Ghetto-way" because their fares were so low at one point.

The weirdest one I can recall was when Xtra Airways went from "Casino Express" to "Ruby Mountain" for a year or so back in the late 2000s. Made no sense, especially since they kept the CXP ICAO code, and was a true mouth full on the radio.

 

[SA227driver]

"Brickyard" because Republic was originally from Indianapolis, "Indy 500" at the Brickyard.

I do like Aer Lingus' call sign, "Shamrock"

 

[Hondo Calrissian]

"Brickyard" because Republic was originally from Indianapolis, "Indy 500" at the Brickyard.

I do like Aer Lingus' call sign, "Shamrock"

Shamrock....Love it!!

I knew why Virgin America and Republic had those call signs.....

Anyone remember the former National Airlines call sign that went defunct in 2001?......."Red Rock"

This is going way back, ValueJet......"Critter"

 

[SteveC]

I heard "Sasquatch" a couple weeks ago. Don't know who that is, but got a chuckle anyway.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I believe Sasquatch is Seaport airlines out of Oregon flying Pilatus. They have some EAS markets in Missouri and Arkansas now.

When I was with AirTran in 98 our callsign was still Valujet's "Critter" but shortly thereafter changed to "Citrus"

 

[----****]

You are correct.... Seaport is Sasquatch.

IIRC, "Red Rock" was based on something in the LAS area. Their ICAO was ROK.

 

[manniax]

IIRC, "Red Rock" was based on something in the LAS area. Their ICAO was ROK.

There is an outdoors state park (actually it's called a National Conservation Area) near Las Vegas called Red Rock. National was already taken as a call sign so that is why another one had to be chosen. And actually, they kept flying until November 2002 - although I am sure that their business model wouldn't have survived today's fuel prices.

 

[N519AT]

CommutAir is CommutAir on the radio. Real creative, right.

I think we should switch our callsign to Vibrator or Rough Ride, much more accurate description of our flights.

Our ICAO is UCA and no one knows why.

 

[Cessnaflyer]

CommutAir is CommutAir on the radio. Real creative, right.

I think we should switch our callsign to Vibrator or Rough Ride, much more accurate description of our flights.

Our ICAO is UCA and no one knows why.

There is a company out there with Rough Rider. I heard another one called Stalker which was interesting.

 

[ZeroPapaGolf]

There is a company out there with Rough Rider. I heard another one called Stalker which was interesting.

Could be a military call sign

Sent via teletype

 

[z987k]

Could be a military call sign

Sent via teletype

Ya, I'd guess Stalker is Military. Same with Vader, Crusher, etc. If it sounds really cool, it's probably military.

With Seaport and Sasquatch, they're on the same 135 cert as Wings of Alaska(out of Juneau), who I'm pretty sure came first, so that probably has something to do with their callsign.

 

[ctab5060X]

There is a company out there with Rough Rider. I heard another one called Stalker which was interesting.

Rough Rider was (might still be) Air 1st. MU-2 operator.

 

[F9DXER]

The callsign "Frontier" actually belongs to Frontier Flying Service in Alaska. Frontier Airlines (F9) official callsign is "Frontier Flight" with the 3 letter of FFT.

 

[z987k]

Rough Rider was (might still be) Air 1st. MU-2 operator.

still is.

 

[EnrouteGiuseppe]

Rough Rider was (might still be) Air 1st. MU-2 operator.

Ahh, the MU-2. Those were fun to fuel on a busy night.

Sasquatch, that's great! That deserves a chuckle.

 

[MV22Pilot]

If I remember right from my New River days flying into OAJ, US Airways is "Blue Streak." I thought that was cool. Any confirmation?

Flying into Kosovo in the '90s, I could tell a strike guy picked the theater callsigns. The Harriers got "Shank," the Cobras got "Shieve," and the CH-46s got "Daisy." Bastard.

 

[PHL_Approach]

If I remember right from my New River days flying into OAJ, US Airways is "Blue Streak." I thought that was cool.

PSA (The Regional) which is Wholly Owned by US Airways goes by Blue Streak. US Airways goes by Cactus which was the former America West callsign.

 

[Hondo Calrissian]

There is an outdoors state park (actually it's called a National Conservation Area) near Las Vegas called Red Rock. National was already taken as a call sign so that is why another one had to be chosen. And actually, they kept flying until November 2002 - although I am sure that their business model wouldn't have survived today's fuel prices.

"Red Rock" was a fitting call sign for National. Red Rock is very beautiful!!

My mistake in thinking N7 ceased operation in 2001 - Thanks for the clarification!!

I think the business model could work - somewhat, only if they blended like the Allegiant model. When I worked for Allegiant in reservation, people would ask for first class seats and we'd also get in one month about a 1000+ requests for routes to places like JFK, IAD and MIA. Now with the 757s, the furthest they go east is to PGB (Plattsburg, NY). The first A319 flew into Vegas today (sorry, I did not get pictures) and is rumored to fly LAS-SFB for the proving runs next week.