Unique Airline Call Signs: Here are My Favorites

If you ever tune into ATC conversations on the internet, you’ll hear a variety of airline call signs, especially at major airports. Call signs are up to each airline, and most of them simply take their name and use it as a call sign. If you tune into LiveATC.net with an American Airlines and a Delta Air Lines plane on the ground, you’ll hear something like this:

“American 3017, taxi via Bravo, Papa, hold short of 22.” “Delta 969, runway 13, winds 210 at 16, cleared for takeoff” (major bonus points if you can guess the airport here 😉).

Some airlines, however, go the creative route when choosing a call sign. Instead of using their airline name, they’d adopt ones that pay homage to their company’s origins, culture, or something else.

The most classic would be Speedbird for British Airways. The call sign originates from an old logo dating back to 1932, belonging to its predecessor, Imperial Airways. So, tune into ATC and you’ll hear “Speedbird XXX heavy, turn right heading 220, descend and maintain 3,000.”

In the past, we’ve also had Pan Am’s “Clipper” call sign and America West’s (also used by US Airways after the merger) “Cactus.”

There are a good number of airlines that’ve adopted unique call signs, and these are just a few of my favorites. Let’s go over some of the others.

Related: The Fun, Creative Easter Egg Flight Numbers: Here Are My Favorites

US Regionals: Brickyard, Blue Streak

Brickyard is the call sign for Republic Airways, the major regional carrier that operates American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express flights. This term comes from the airline’s home city of Indianapolis, paying homage to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is nicknamed “Brickyard.”

I like to tune into LaGuardia Airport’s ATC every once in a while, and I would hear Brickyard all the time. For this reason, it’s stuck with me over time as one of my favorites.

“Brickyard 4424, taxi via Bravo to lane 1!”

Another regional airline in the US is PSA Airlines, which uses the call sign Blue Streak. This one is taken from the former Jetstream Airlines, which eventually became PSA. The airline currently operates a fleet of CRJs, serving regional destinations.

Cultural Call Signs: Shamrock, Dynasty

Just like how Republic Airways and others use their company origins for their call sign, some airlines take cultural references.

“Shamrock” is probably easy to guess, as it refers to the Irish carrier, Aer Lingus.

That’s an old livery above. The shamrock logo has been a part of the airline for a long time, and it’s a major piece of advertising for the airline today.

You’ll sometimes hear “Shamrock” if you tune into ATC during the evening hours at East Coast airports. That’s the time when most Aer Lingus flights depart for Ireland.

Similarly, China Airlines, the flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), uses the callsign “Dynasty.” This refers to Chinese history, with various dynasties and leaders ruling one after another. I really like this one; there’s just a good punch with the word “Dynasty” when used over ATC conversations.

Interestingly, China Airlines also uses “Dynasty” for other parts of their airline, such as the Dynasty frequent flyer program.

Scooter, Rednose

A couple of other notable ones:

“Scooter” belongs to Singapore Airlines’ LCC carrier, Scoot. This is just a slight modification to its actual airline name, but I imagine it’s a bit easier and smoother to say in quick ATC conversations.

Another one is Norwegian Airlines, which uses “Rednose” as its call sign. It’s quite literally derived from its livery, which has its front quarter of the fuselage painted in red. This is definitely an interesting one, and I can’t think of any other airline at the top of my head that uses a call sign directly from their livery design.

If the airline ever opts to give their livery a refresh, though, they’ll be either handcuffed to keep the red nose, or will have to rethink their call sign.

What are some of your favorites?

Featured image by the author.