When pilots and air traffic controllers communicate on the radio, the airline’s call sign is always used along with the flight number; ex: “Delta 135.” This helps assure our communications are clear.
Airlines began using call signs back in the 1930’s. Most carriers use their name as their call sign. Delta uses “Delta,” Singapore Airlines is “Singapore,” Southwest is “Southwest.” Occasionally, airlines will use some creativity when selecting a call sign. Here are AeroSavvy’s Top 10 Coolest Airline Call Signs…
15 MORE!
After counting down the Top 10, be sure to check out 15 MORE Top 10 Coolest Call Signs! – More call sign goodness, served up hot and fresh!
10. Citrus – AirTran Airways
Orlando based AirTran Airways used the Florida orange grove inspired call sign of “Citrus.” Sadly, “Citrus” disappeared from the airwaves when Southwest Airlines finalized it’s acquisition of AirTran. “Citrus” is one of many fun call signs that has vanish as progress marches on.
9. Waterski – Trans States Airlines
US regional carrier, Trans States Airlines, operates as United Express and US Airways Express (soon to be American Eagle). The call sign “Waterski” originated in the early 1980’s. Trans States, then called Resort Air, flew passengers to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. The area is noted for its recreation, especially water skiing.
8. Dynasty– China Airlines
You can’t miss the beautiful plum blossom than adorns the tails of China Airlines jets. The call sign of “Dynasty” stands out as well. China Airlines is the largest carrier in Taiwan, Republic of China. Based in Taipei, “Dynasty” flights can be seen and heard at over 90 cities around the world.
7. Jazz – Jazz Aviation LP
Several Canadian carriers have cool call signs; “Rouge”, “Flair”, and “Bearskin” are a few of my favorites. But none are quite as cool as the simple “Jazz” call sign. What’s cooler than cool Jazz? Jazz Aviation is Canada’s 2nd largest airline in terms of fleet size. They operate under the brand name of Air Canada Express and their aircraft are painted with the unmistakable Jazz logo.
6. Cactus – US Airways
The “Cactus” call sign originated with America West Airlines. Early in its history, the airline used the call sign “America West” but it often caused confusion with other airlines ending in “west” (Southwest, Northwest, Skywest). The FAA suggested that America West come up with a new call sign. The company held an employee contest to come up with the new name. Cactus was chosen.
America West was based in Phoenix, Arizona near the Sonoran Desert – home of the giant Saguaro cactus. In 2006, America West merged with US Airways. The Cactus call sign survived the merger and all US Airways flights were soon known as “Cactus” on the radio. Sadly, when US Airways merged with American Airlines, “Cactus” was retired.
Did you know?
UPS Airlines has used three different call signs since it became an airline in 1988.
- Browntail
- UPSCO (2 syllables: “Ups-Co”)
- U-P-S (current call sign. 3 syllables)
5. Redwood – Virgin America
Virgin America was based in the San Francisco bay area. The airline’s proximity to the famous California redwood forests and its red logo made “Redwood” the perfect call sign. Virgin America flew to over twenty destinations in the US and Mexico and earned a reputation for high quality service. On January 11, 2018, Virgin America began operating under the Alaska Airlines carrier operating certificate. So long, Redwood. We’ll miss hearing you on the frequencies!
4. Brickyard – Republic Airlines
Republic Airlines is an Indianapolis, Indiana based carrier that flies routes as American Eagle, US Airways Express, and United Express. The airline takes its call sign from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500 race. In 1909, when the speedway was paved with 3 million bricks, locals nicknamed it “The Brickyard.” With over 130 aircraft in service, the Republic Airlines “Brickyard” call sign can be heard coast to coast.
3. Dragon – Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (Dragonair)
Listen to aircraft frequencies in Asia, and you’re bound to hear a flying “Dragon.” Hong Kong based Dragonair began operations in 1985 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Airlines. Dragonair flies to 13 countries across Asia. Its all-Airbus fleet of A320s, A321s and A330s are adorned with a mythical red dragon from Chinese folklore.
2. Shamrock – Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus, the national flag carrier of Ireland, is known worldwide on the radio waves as “Shamrock.” Since the early 1960’s, the carrier has featured a three-leaf clover (shamrock) on the tails (and now winglets) of its aircraft. The Shamrock call sign is a perfect fit. Aer Lingus flies to over 80 destinations around the planet.
1. Speedbird – British Airways
Choosing the #1 coolest airline call sign was easy. In the 1940’s, BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) used the name of its logo, the “Speedbird,” as a call sign. In the early 1970’s, BOAC become British Airways through a merger and continued to use “Speedbird.” The call sign was especially appropriate when used by the supersonic Concorde. When “Speedbird-Concorde One” was heard on the radio, you knew something really special was in the air!
Honorable mentions:
Critter – ValuJet
In the 1990’s, troubled low-cost carrier ValuJet Airlines had what was perhaps the cutest call sign. The airline used the name of it’s mascot, “Critter.” The happy little airplane was prominently displayed on ValuJet’s blue, gold and white airplanes. In 1997 ValuJet became AirTran Airways through a merger and the “Critter” call sign was retired.
Hawaii Five-O – Hawaiian Airlines
The Hawaiian Airlines daily non-stop from Honolulu to New York is flight 50. Pilots and controllers often ignore the official radio designation of “Hawaiian 50” and use the call sign “Hawaii Five-O” to pay homage to the classic (and reboot) TV police drama. It’s technically incorrect radio procedure, but how can they resist? Steve McGarrett would be proud. Book ’em, Danno!
Did I miss any?
There are plenty of other really cool airline call signs. What’s your favorite? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments!
Need more call signs?
15 MORE Top 10 Coolest Call Signs! – More great call signs served up hot and fresh!
Check out Wikipedia’s List of airline codes (it’s a long list!)
If you’d like to learn more about aircraft communication, stream live aviation radio, or even build your own aircraft band radio, check out these AeroSavvy articles:
Brown tail UPS early days 1988
Browntail is certainly one of the more interesting call signs! Glad it was changed 🙂
Ahhh,i remember going to Kennedy airport and listening on my scanner and waiting to hear “speedbird concorde one or speedbird concorde two cleared for takeoff runway 31L”
Sigh… I miss those days. I taxied behind an Air France Concorde in 1991. Would loved to have taken a picture of it but alas, my first camera-phone was still years away.
Worked next to Dulles in 80s-90s and I miss the noon arrival and subsequent take off of BA Concorde. I made sure to lunch outside or on top floor with west facing window to Dulles Approach.
That’s really cool! One of my most memorable moments was taxiing a DC-8 behind a BA Concorde at JFK. This was before camera phones, and none of us had a camera. 🙁
I didn’t know Rudolph had an airline until I heard the callsign Rednose…[Norwegian airlines]
Miami Air International was/is ‘Biscayne’ named after the bay in Miami.
The FBI fleet of aircraft use ‘Jenna’ named after Jenna Bush.
It’s Bearskin, not Bareskin. Understandable mistake ;-). Bearskin Airlines started in an Aboriginal community in northern Ontario called Bearskin Lake.
My favourite Canadian callsign is “Empress” used by Canadian North.
Whoops! Good catch. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll blame it on auto-correct! 🙂
I also like Empress. I hear them every once in a while up north.
I thought ‘Empress’ was the call-sign of the old CP Air. They can get reused ? So a little charter outfit could use ‘Clipper’ if they filled the criteria to apply for call-sign use.? I don’t like that idea.
Empress was indeed the call sign of the old Canadian Pacific Airlines. I believe that ICAO oversees the assignment of call signs. I’m not sure how that process works, but it is conceivable that at some point, an airline will pick up the old Clipper call sign. I’m with you – I don’t like the idea of Clipper being used by anyone else!
“Empress” was indeed Canadian Pacific/CP Air. Canadian North was affliated with CP, but not owned by them, hence not part of the merger which formed Canadian Airlines International (eventually merger into Air Canada), which is why Canadian North is still around and retains the “Empress” call sign.
Empress likely originated with Canadian Pacific’s fleet of ships that once sailed between Montreal and Southampton. They were named Empress of Britain, of Canada, etc. So it was a natural when CP entered the airline business for Empress to gravitate to their airliners as well.
Interesting. Empress was used by CP Air until 1987 when they became Canadian Airlines.
It is Bearskin with a bear paw on aircraft based out of Thunder Bay Ontario
I think AirAsia X’s Xanadu callsign is great
Absolutely! I should have done the top 20. So many good ones out there.
I think Indonesia AirAsia X’s Red Phoenix is great too..
Red Phoenix is an awesome call sign. Thanks for sharing!
Ken
AirAsia India has an awesome call sign – “Red Knight”
Flying in the Northwest I have always been partial to SeaPort Airlines with their “Sasquatch” call sign.
Thanks, Grant. That’s a really good one that I haven’t heard of. Mythical creature call signs always get extra points!
Not to nitpick, but it was ValuJet, not ValueJet. Also the “Citrus” call sign was born after recognizing the America West “Cactus” sign.
Hi, Travis. Thanks for the catch. I had Valujet spelled both ways – I’m really dropping the ball on the proof reading!
After being an ASA pilot for 8 years, I’m partial to ASEA, which is now the ExpressJet call sign. It’s most often written as ACEY. It started out in 1979 as Atlantic South East Airlines or ASEA. I intentionally misspelled “southeast” for dramatic emphasis. 🙂 The call sign changed in the early 2000s to Candler due to a conflict with an Air Guard unit out west. Since no one was particularly fond of Candler (though there’s a cool story about why they picked Candler), the airline fought to and was eventually able to get its original call sign back.
Hi, Joe. I remember hearing Candler. I wondered what happened to it. Thanks for the comments!
I was “Paradise” Paradise Island Airways, “Twincities” NW Airlink and also “Flagship” NW Airlink.
Those are 3 good ones. I really like Paradise. Thanks for sharing!
Flagship still exists for Endeavor Air, who used to be Pinnacle, running flights as Delta Connection
Tigerair, a Singaporean low-cost carrier, has a good one: “Go Cat”. Always fun to hear on the radio!
Go Cat was actually on my list when I was brainstorming call signs for the article. I hear them all the time when I’m flying in Asia. I may have to add on to the honorable mentions list!
The call sign of Airasia, from Malaysia, will be changed from “Asian Express” to “Red Cap” next month. I think it’s cool.
Nice catch! I hear Asian Express a lot when I’m flying out of Kuala Lumpur. It will be fun to listen for the new Red Cap! Thanks for the comment.
Virgin Australia uses the call sign “Velocity”. I like that one 🙂
Thanks, Dan! I really like Velocity. It seems to fit Virgin’s personality.
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia uses the callsign “Viking” 🙂
That’s a good one. Thanks!
Thomas Cook UK uses callsign “KESTREL”
That’s a good one!
Thanks for reading.
Ken
Viking was previously (and arguably more appropriately) used by Scandinavian (SAS) subsidiary Scanair (charter market) which very well matched the viking dragonship shaped stripe painted on the aircraft.
Tigerair Taiwan use callsign “smart cat” …. That will be until their first screw up!!!!!! Lol
That’s a cool call sign! I think most of TigerAir’s flights use “Go Cat,” which I really like.
Here are a few more…. Defunct Singapore based cargo carrier Jett8 used callsign “Taipan”…. From the Maldives .. Air taxi operator…. Can’t remember company though…. Using callsign “Sandbar” … Finally Citilink from Indonesia using callsign “Supergreen”
Great additions. Thanks!
PSA Airlines uses the callsign “Blue Streak”
I think it’s cool but in some weird way it reminds me of lavatory blue juice.
I always liked Blue Streak, too. Definitely a good one! Every time I hear it now, I’ll be thinking about the lav water… Ewwww. 🙂
Another good one that I like is Air Shuttle for Mesa Airlines
I have not heard it for a while but a TNT contractor had the callsign “Nitro”.
I remember Nitro! Yep, definitely a good one! Thanks for the great comment.
“Springbok” South African Airlines
One of my favorites!
You forgot PanAm – Clipper. All time coolest.
Clipper is definitely a classic!
How about JEDI from Blue Jet 🙂
AWESOME!
Who had the callsign “Apple”? I used to hear that one a lot flying between DCA and Denver. And what does “heavy” mean? As in “Apple 237 heavy”. I always though it meant “loaded”.
Hi Richard,
Great questions!
The now defunct 1980’s startup carrier “New York Air” used the “Apple” callsign. I flew on them a few times out of Knoxville. They would give passengers a red, nylon snack bag with a bagel & cream cheese – calling it the “Flying Nosh.”
“Heavy” is added to aircraft callsigns for any aircraft with a max take off weight of 300,000 pounds or more. It’s a reminder/warning to controllers and other pilots that the airplane generates a large amount of wake turbulence on takeoff and landing. Interestingly, the Boeing 757 often uses the “Heavy” designation even though it’s less than 300,000 pounds because it generates a significant amount of wake turbulence.
Thanks for reading!!
Thank you
Apple was designated for New York Air. That was my first airline to work for at LaGuardia airport.
Springbuck – South African Airlines named after its national buck. The animal looks like it is flying when it jumps through the air in front of the females.
“Springbok” is definitely one of my top twenty. Thanks for reading!
Call sign “Candler” for Atlanta based ASA airlines, Asa Candler invented Coca Cola in Atlanta in the 1800’s.
Good one!
original name KATL was Candler Field. formerly Candler Race Track
btw Coca Cola was invented by John Pemberton
Thanks for the clarification!
Nice text, there aren’t cool call signs in Brazil, all call signs are the company name.
Exemple: Tam Airlines – TAMXXXX or Gol Airlines GOLXXXX
I must disagree respectfully, The EMB line of regional jets are called Jungle Jets, there are some favorites not limited to call signs such as airliners: Metroliner is either a San Antonio Lawn Dart or a Texas Tampon, (it’s long and skinny) Airbus 320 Scareliner, US Air (before merging with American West to become US Airways, was Scare Air a name it earned, the all time favorite is the Beachcraft Bonanza Forked-Tail Doctor Killer, the name again was earned, medical doctors bought Bonanza’s in droves, but it was a tricky airplane to fly. A Doctor friend of mine died when his Bonanza crashed at the Superior, AZ airport on takeoff. He wasn’t one of few, but one of many.
Hi Parker,
This article is about airline radio call signs. I might cover airline and aircraft nicknames in a future article. 😉
(You forgot the “San Antonio Sewer Pipe” for the Metroliner) 🙂
One of my favourite, “Asterix” – Callsign of the austrian business aviation carrier “Avcon Jet”
That’s a GREAT call-sign! I hadn’t heard of Asterix. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Do they have a partner company with the callsign “Obelix”?
NokScoot’s callsign is cool, Big Bird. It matches the livery of their 777-200ER aircrafts
I agree – love “Big Bird.” NokScoot is a fairly new carrier. It’ll be nice to hear them in Asia, along with the now familiar “Scooter” of their big brother carrier, Scoot.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Dear Ken, I would like to add, TigerAir (under Singapore with 9V plane registration) is called GoCat.
Hi Kevin,
GoCat is definitely one of my favorites while I’m flying in Asia. I heard several Go Cats yesterday when we landed in Singapore.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Scoot has re-rewritten the book on budget carriers. It only flies Dreamliners beautifully appointed in yellow and black inside and out
Springbok south african airways
Springbok is definitely a good one!
Thanks for reading!
Who is air shuttle
Air Shuttle is Mesa Airlines. They operate as American Eagle and United Express out of Dallas, Phoenix, Houston and DC.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Australian regional airline Airnorth uses “Topend”
Good one! I hadn’t heard “Topend” before.
Thanks for the comment,
Ken
Ken…another neat Canadian callsign…Polarbear…for Fast Air based in Winnipeg…and a second is Voyageur for Voyageur from North Bay…they fly a lot of air ambulance flights
Hi Liz,
Those are really good ones! I’ve heard Polarbear and Voyageur on the radio. I’ll have to watch for Fast Air when I’m in Winnipeg this winter.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
I’ve flown with former foreign Dynasty crew who referred to it as…”Die-Nasty.” I’m sure it’s much much better now, though. 😉
Funny!
Thanks for reading!
Ken
How about GIANT, the Atlas Air call sign. The 3 letter identifier for Atlas is GTI which became Giant when the airline was started. The logo on the tail was inspired by the Atlas sculpture in Rockefeller Center in NYC.
Hi George,
Giant is a great call sign!
Thanks for the comment, and thanks for reading!
Ken
“Cool Red” for Air Asia Philippines 🙂
I hadn’t heard that one. Thanks for reading!
Cool call signs here, but you are right. Speedbird is the best, especially with the British accent 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Florida Express Airline out of Orlando Florida in the mid through late 80s had call sign FLEX.
Although Air Canada’s regional airline, “Jazz” made the Top Ten, how about Air Canada’s call sign “Maple.” Its on their tail and a classic symbol of Canada.
Hi Mitchell,
Air Canada’s call sign is plain-old “Air Canada.” Sky Regional Airlines, which operates as Air Canada Express, uses Maple; and I agree, it’s an awesome call sign!
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Sky Regional Airlines (one of four Air Canada Express Carriers) uses “Maple”. I’m trying to find a reference but I believe that “Maple” was used by Trans-Canada Airlines before they became “Air Canada”… Can someone confirm?
Very good question. My go-to source for call signs is this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_codes
Unfortunately, it doesn’t mention this. The Trans-Canada wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Canada_Air_Lines) doesn’t mention it either. 🙁
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Ken
I always loved National Airlines “Red Rocks” Just really fit the Vegas thing.
Red Rocks is an excellent call sign! Thanks for sharing!
Ken
Just for fun do you know the call sign for the Real National Airlines, not the short lived Mike Conway Vegas failure. Miami based National (1934-1980) “I’m Cheryl, Fly Me” which was purchased for way too much by a wavering Pan Am had the call sign Murray Air. I cannot find anyone in leadership bearing the name Murray, it’s club members were called Sun Kings which would have been my pick as a call sign.
Blackhawk (BAK) is my favorite! Part 135 operator that started in the early 1970’s.
Hi Larry,
That’s a good one! (Are you by chance the Larry W from MBT?) 🙂
Thanks for reading!
-Ken
Love the article! I think we’ve all got to dim the lights and look at the stars, or smile at these cool callsigns from time to time, makes flying that much more special.
I fly for Indigo Airlines, and thats exactly the callsign we use – Ifly 🙂
Oh and Maldivian use a nice one too- Island Aviation!
I really like “IFly.” Thanks for sharing!
Ken
Maldivian use new call sign SKY SURFER , that’s sounds pretty cool !
Hi Karts,
Sky Surfer awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Ken
flyFTI a German charter airline had “Frogline”, because FTI is Frosch (Frog) Touristik
I hadn’t heard of Frogline. That’s a good one! Thanks for sharing.
Ken
I use to hear during the night in Europe. “GhostRider”. Think it belonged to a German cargo outfit.
Love it! Thanks for the addition!
Ken
A small swedish B737 operator in the 90`s, Air One, had “Moonshine” as their callsign.
Oh wow… I LOVE “Moonshine.” So many great call signs out there. Thanks for sharing!
Ken
I used to fly cargo for the FedEx Feeders, and our Call sign was ‘Pacman’ that should be on the mainlist….cheers
Hi Casey,
I LOVE Pacman. I’m surprised I haven’t heard that one before! Thanks for sharing.
Ken
Indigo airline from india have call sign ifly….
Good one!
Thanks for reading.
Ken
BA’s former german franchise ‘Deutsche BA’ and later ‘dba’ had “SPEEDWAY”
That’s a good one! Thanks for the comment.
Ken
You forgot Iron Maidens “Ed force one” from 2008. Callsign 666
Excellent! Thanks for the addition.
And thanks for reading!
Ken
Fly be call sign is busy bee
Hi John,
I’m pretty sure Flybe uses the call sign of “Jersey.”
There was a Busy Bee Airlines in Norway that used the call sign “Busybee,” but they went out of business several years ago.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
I think “Jersey” is used by Jet2.
Hi Tony,
If I’m not mistaken, “Jersey” belongs to Flybe. Great call sign!
Jet2 is “Channex” (which is pretty cool, too!)
Thanks for reading,
Ken
Given my first name, I was always partial to the Arrow Air call sign: BIG A
Ah yes. I remember “Big A” very well! They flew the older DC-8 cargo conversions.
Thanks for the comment!
Ken
MEA (Middle East Airlines) deserves to be there, it’s Cedar Jet!!! that’s so cool!
I agree, Cedar Jet is an excellent call sign.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
There are many interesting callsigns in the UK mostly private charter and Helicopter operators. Just to name a few.
Private Charter with ICAO: VIP and Callsign: SOVEREIGN.
247 Jet. Is CLOUD RUNNER.
One of my favourite is a small charter only 3 or 4 aircraft but callsign is THUNDERCAT.
Others include: NEPTUNE, BROADSWORD, FIREBIRD, BOND, WHITE KNIGHT, WHISPER and TOPCAT.
Also SPEEDBIRD is not the only callsign BA use.
British Airways City flyer uses callsign FLYER and British Airways UK domestic flights use callsign SHUTTLE.
Hi Jerry,
Cloud Runner is super cool. Thanks for all the great call signs!
Ken
Mokulele Airlines has a call sign of Mahalo
Hi Chris,
Mahalo is a really good one! Thanks for sharing.
Ken
Pleased to announce that the ink is now drying on the rubber stamp 🙂
PNPC Animal Rescue out of Canada is now operating under the call sign “Paw Print” – we think it’s pretty cool 😀
(as an aside: my old employer Provincial Airlines – outta Newfoundland also was a little bit cool – Speed Air)
Hi Vicky,
I LOVE “Paw Print!” Super call sign for a great cause. Congratulations!
Thanks for reading,
Ken
Hi Ken,
Leaving from Aruba back to Amsterdam last week, I heard “Calle Ocho” on the radio, which I thought pretty funny, but I was unable to trace to whom it belongs. Probably Miami based. Maybe someone else knows.
Safe flights & happy holidays,
grtz Marc
Hi Marc,
That’s an interesting one. I haven’t heard it before. I did some quick Googling and came up empty. Any AeroSavvy readers know about “Calle Ocho?”
Thanks for reading!
Ken
The callsign for Citilink (QG/ CTV) is SUPERGREEN
That’s a good one! Thanks for sharing.
-Ken
In the 1990’s I flew cancelled checks with MU-2’s between Dallas and Houston for the Federal reserve bank . We had my favourite callsign ever: ‘checkmate’!
Checkmate is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you survived your years flying the MU-2. 🙂
Ken
There is a small aviation company FAI rent-a-jet in Germany, located at the Nuremberg Airport. They fly business charter, as well as some aircrafts in service for the United Nations, as far as I know. They do also ambulance/medic flights and that’s also how they started.
Apparently from there, they have the callsing “RED ANGEL”
The Wiki is available in German language only, I guess:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAI_rent-a-jet
Hi Tom,
That’s a great find! Thanks for sharing.
The British Antarctic Survey use Penguin, British Airways also have the callsign Santa for Christmas charter flights. Virgin Express Ireland (defunct) used to use Green Isle (and Virgin Australia use Velocity). Virgin Atlantic’s callsign is my favourite though, Virgin; accurate and reminiscent of the Virgin Atlantic Flyer that Richard Branson crossed the Atlantic in, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer used to circumnavigate the earth and of course battling British Airways “dirty tricks”.
One of my favorites is “Yellow Cab” from Hapaag-Loyd. Real fancy.
I like Yellow Cab. Cool call sign. Thanks for sharing!
Skysurfer from Maldivian National Carrier.
That’s a really good one! Thanks for sharing.
Ken
The St. Louis based regional GoJet, one of Trans States Holdings airlines, uses Lindbergh as its callsign. The original investors funding Charles Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic were from St. Louis.
Hi Daniel,
Lindbergh is an excellent call sign! I hear it often when flying over the Midwest US. Thanks for sharing!
Ken
Going back to the 80’s was Pacemaker for Piedmont Airlines
Hi Bob,
I’m not 100% certain, but I believe the Piedmont call sign was “Piedmont.” During the early years, they named each aircraft “Pacemaker.” Examples were: Mountain State Pacemaker, Empire State Pacemaker, Potomac Pacemaker, etc.
Thanks for reading!
İ think the coolest is CMB-Camber
Thanks, Yigit!
To clarify for other readers: The US Transport Command sometimes charters commercial airliners to airlift personnel and freight. The call sign used for these charter flights is “Camber”
Yes, CAMBER…CMB is a call sign for commercial airlines that fly US Military Cargo flights. I was a LM for Fedex for over 13 years. It was a blast. Been to a lot places.
“Roadhog” is the coolest call sign I heard out there during coast to coast night flights. Not sure who it was, maybe heavy military transport.
Hi R.J.
What a great call sign! I did some digging and found a reference to the Roadhog call sign. It was a Marine Heavy Helicopter squadron from 1958 to 2008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMH-769
There is always the possibility a civilian carrier used it, but I couldn’t find a reference for it. Perhaps another reader might know about it.
Thanks for the great comment!
Ken
Hi there. I fly for AirAsia X.
Our callsign is Xanadu 🙂
Hi Johan,
Xanadu is one of my favorites! It made #4 on the follow up list: 15 MORE Top 10 Coolest Airline Call Signs!
Thanks for reading!
Ken
How about “Viking”, callsign for former airline “Scanair” (Scandinavian Airlines leisure subsidiary, later Premiair and finally Thomas Cook Scandinavia).
Hi Martin,
Viking is #15 in the follow-up article: “15 MORE Top 10 Coolest Airline Call Signs!”
Thanks for reading,
Ken
On Cactus…..USAirways kept the Name….but CEO Parker wanted to appease the America West guys…so “cactus”
BUT problem….Euro Controllers not like it ….Cactus evidently sound like a vulgar female anatomy term in French and the Germans didn’t like it because sounded like some bad memory battle or so they called us “US 123” from Shanwick East……
Very interesting. Thanks for the Cactus trivia!
Thanks for reading!
Ken
“Blizzard” Keewatin Air, based in Winterpeg, provides medivac service to Nunavut.
That’s a good one! Good old Winnipeg. Thanks for sharing.
Ken
I still kind of get chills when I hear a simple “American”. Nothing clever, but oh what it represents!
Definitely a good one!
Hi Ken,
British Charter and Scheduled Airline Air 2000 used the callsign ‘Jetset’, which I always thought was cool.
Air 2000 was First Choice travels airline, but after the merger with Thomson travel in the UK and subsequently rebranding as TUI, which also meant the loss rebranding of Britannia Airways. They all became Thomson Airways and then last year, TUI Airways.
Jetset is an excellent call sign. We seem to be losing a lot of good ones, lately. 🙁
Thanks for reading,
Ken
Neos Air callsign “Honeymoon”
You’re close… Neos Air uses the call sign “MoonFlower” (which is very cool!).
Great article and great reading. My contribution would be from the now defunct Air2000 in the U.K. Which was ‘Jetset’
Jetset is a good one!
Thanks for reading,
Ken
Novair of Sweden uses callsigh Navigator
That’s a good one!
Thanks,
Ken
once i had an ASTERIX and an OBELIX at the same time on the frequency
That’s really cool. Nice combination!
Ken
World Class Aviation uses Starbase
I love that one! Thanks for sharing.
I liked Longhorn. It was used by Express One, a cargo and charter operator based in Dallas in the 90s.
Longhorn was a good one!
Interesting article thanks.
The Queen’s helicopter flights have call sign rainbow. And think RAF royal flights use kittyhawk.
In fact checking my comment, I’ve also read that all flights flown by Prince Andrew when he was an RAF pilot had callsign of Leopard.
If I’m not wrong, the European low-cost airline Norwegian uses the ‘Red nose’ call sign these days.
Red Nose is definitely a cool call sign! To clarify, “Red Nose” belongs to Norwegian Air UK (a subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle).
Actually, America West didn’t begin using “Cactus” until 1987 or 88.
Good catch. I did some quick research and updated the AW section.
Thanks!
Ken
I started my career flying for a small regional airline called Sharp Airlines, operating Metroliners in Southern Australia, their callsign was “sharp” , not bad.
We had alot of flight numbers that started with 8 for example, “sharp 823”, which if said fast, with the Aussie accent would sound like “shark bait 23”. Good times.
Agree with you about speedbird. Best one out there.
Kahki Blue for Air South. Used to hear them when I’d sit on the approach end of 26L at ATL before 9/11 when they’d let you park on the side of the loop road and watch/listen.
That was a good one. Sadly, Air South lasted only a few years. Ceased operations in 1997.
How about (ASA) Atlantic Southeast Airlines’ call sign? It is “Candler.” This is a reference to Coca-Cola founder, Asa Candler. Of course Coke and Delta are both based in Atlanta as well.
I’m not a pilot. But. listen to ATC live on commute home to relax. One of my favorites is Norwegian Air “Red Nose”. I always chuckle when it comes on.
To clarify, “Red Nose” is the call sign of Norwegian Air UK, a subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle.
‘Dark knight’ is a cool one! Its used by excellentair in Germany. Business het company
I used to fly for a small airline (now defunct) in Northern Alberta, Canada called Air Mikisew (formerly Contact Air) and we used the call sign “Aurora”
Really enjoying all these great names. As a Brit, “Speedbird” never really seemed that special to me; people never appreciate what’s in their own back yard. As a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan of 45+ years standing, “Freebird Air” (obviously Freebird Airlines of Turkey) is also worthy of a mention.
That’s a good one!
In Finland there used to be a commuter airline called Finnaviation, their callsign being “Bluebird”. That was a good one, too.
I was a flight dispatcher in the early 2000’s for a cargo airline, callsign was COMET. I always thought that was awesome!
Some honourable mentions include;
There’s a medevac company that operates King Air 200’s in Canada’s arctic region with the call sign, “Blizzard,”. As well, another 703 (Air Taxi operator) based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba uses the call sign, “Polar Bear.” Finally, the company that operates night freight for FedEx in Canada uses the call sign, “Morningstar.”
Those are excellent. Thanks!
When I was working for Air Florida out of MIA….our flight call sign was ‘PALM’ …for all the palm trees in Florida. Great Airline and Livery ! ! ! !
I like the 135 carrier call sign “rough rider”
For military, I like the ominousness of the B2’s call signs of “Death” and “Reaper”
REDNOSE is Norwegian Air UK
Didn’t have time to read all the comments (there are a LOT!), so I apologize in advance if someone pointed this out already. Here goes: there was one other call sign, now unfortunately gone, that was as cool as Speedbird: Clipper.
I agree! I mentioned Clipper in the sequel article: 15 MORE Cool Airline Call Signs!
Philippines AirAsia call sign REDHOT.
GIANT – Atlas Air
GERMAN CARGO – AeroLogic
SPRINGBOK – South African Airlines
We had a charter carrier Canada 3000 some years back, call sign ‘Elite’
The German Cargo Carrier “Aerologic” Has a awesome callsign “GERMAN CARGO”
Heard it in a video once they said “GERMANCARGO 531”.The great airline NEOS which is Italian based has a neat callsign too it is “MOONFLOWER”. Delta Connections also have A number of callssign such as “COMPASS”
American airlines too “Endeavour and Envoy”
“Joker” ? is the call sign for Justice Air out of New York.
I think this one is of the best: BEAUTY. Airline is TUIfly Belgium (Jetairfly).
The NY ANG C-130’s (who fly to Antarctica) use the call sign “Skier”.
One of the best I came up with for a new airline I was help start was “KLONDIKE”
Speedbird is indeed lol. But if Her Majesty is aboard, it’s Royal Speedbird. How cool is that?
Ghost Rider, generic call sign broadcast on the universal aviation frequency 121.5 MHz by ATC to address unidentified aircraft exiting or entering the Air Defense Identification Zone or ADIZ. Example, “Ghost Rider, 25 nautical miles south of Galveston Texas squawk 3475 and ident”. At least that was in the 1990’s, don’t know if it still that way. Failure of the unidentified aircraft to respond would result in jet fighters scrambled for visual identification.
Flying Tiger Airlines call sign “Tiger”.
I love TNT Cargo callsign: Nitro
Then after they went out of business, Polar Air Cargo was formed with many of their employees, and was call sign “Polar Tiger”
Indigo Airlines of India use ” ifly” and Air Asia India uses ” Red Knight ” cool ones too.
Kestrel was indeed Thomas Cook UK after it’s merger with MyTravel alias Airtours International back in the day. I can’t remember Thomas Cook or any of the others original call signs. They were originally Flying Colours, Caledonian Air, Peach Air, Air World, JMC all rolled into one in the end. Then after that the Airtours /MyTravel brand came and Thomas Cook UK took the Kestrel name.
Air Traffic GMBH (Germany) has the callsign SNOOPY. Not sure if they’re a regional carrier, cargo, or what, but found that one online and thought it was pretty cool.
There was also a Bonanza Air in US that went out of business in the 1960’s, I thought that was probably a good tongue twister when trying to talk fast (hey, banana/bandana taxi to C).
Brings me back memories of my country of birth……Call sign for SRI LANKAN AIRLINES……just ‘ SRI LANKAN”. How cool is that ?
Jet America Airlines based in LGB CA had a unique call sign due to the similar name with American but I can’t recall what it was and Wiki an Google searches didn’t find it.
Just wondering if anyone out there knows what it was.
Back in 1987, I worked for Spirit of America Airlines, which flew contracted jets for CF, Emery and Log Air. The call sign was Starfleet – which was pretty cool. We actually had a pilot named Harry Kirk who played up on it and would say, “This is Captain Kirk from Starfleet xxx calling in.” That was a great callsign!
Phaser for the now defunct Sky Trek
Middle East Airlines from Lebanon, Cedarjet , not sure if they still use it but think they still do . from biblical cedars of Lebanon.
And now defunct Czech airlines identifier was OK so sort of two for the price of one with OK 123 becoming Okay123
Norwegian which is based in UK has the callsign “Rednose”
Kalitta Charters callsign is “Dragster” (the owners are drag racing drivers).
I think you are TOTALLY wrong on your list. When you understand what Cactus means in Aussie slang, TOAST, DEAD, DONE, you won’t have a good appreciation of your list.
THE BEST…only because Sully pulled it off…otherwise…Cactus
Cactus 1549…I’m going to be in the Hudson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU8ngN47QNg
Vote: #1 Cactus!!!!
Central Mountain Air, a regional airline out of Smithers, British Columbia which is located next to the Hudson Bay Glacier uses ‘Glacier’ as its callsign. Great choice.
I’ll tell what I miss the most (Being from Hawaii) is ALOHA Airlines, callsign ALOHA pretty much says it all!
Not gonna lie, Brickyard is pretty badass for a big bird. Especially if they fly cargo.
Brickyard is one of my favorites. But they don’t fly big birds or a lot of cargo. The callsign belongs to Republic Airways, headquartered in Indianapolis. Republic flies regional jets for American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express.
There used to be a small Swiss regional airline called Fly Baboo. I don’t know what their call sign was but it would’ve have been cute if they used Baboo.