What level of airline employee chooses registrations?
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With my very ex-spotters hat on a question - I always got the impression that for years the reg's on the British register were always issued strictly in a sequence and that the out of sequence tailored regs only started with G-BSST. I did the bulk of my spotting in the 60's/early 70's and don't recall any funnies before Concorde came along. Did I simply lead a sheltered youth or did Concorde start the rot......
Thanks DR, that makes sense, and I'd forgotten that G-VTOL came along shortly thereafter.
philbky - thanks, didn't know about that..
H T
Well somebody has got to maintain standards. 
...in any event maybe there simply isn't a definitive answer to the OPs question...It might depend on the company and how much clout somebody there has with those who issue the "plates" (philbky's point) ....then again it might not 
philbky - thanks, didn't know about that..
H T
In good old typical PPRuNe fashion, lots of posts, none of which actually answer the OP's question!
...in any event maybe there simply isn't a definitive answer to the OPs question...It might depend on the company and how much clout somebody there has with those who issue the "plates" (philbky's point) ....then again it might not
Last edited by wiggy; 17th Apr 2016 at 10:42.
With my very ex-spotters hat on a question - I always got the impression that for years the reg's on the British register were always issued strictly in a sequence and that the out of sequence tailored regs only started with G-BSST. I did the bulk of my spotting in the 60's/early 70's and don't recall any funnies before Concorde came along. Did I simply lead a sheltered youth or did Concorde start the rot......
Back in those days they were something of "one off" but go back way beyond Concorde. G-EDCA was allocated in December 1927 to a deH 60 Genet Moth. The normal sequence at the time was in the range G-EBAA - BZZ. The same marks were re-allocated to a deH 60X Moth. Even today re-allocation of marks in not generally permitted and there are very few examples on the UK register.
In more modern times (1957) G-ATEL was allocated to the Aviation Traders Accountant (ah, just seen it above!!). In 1950 Auster 5J G-AHHE was reregistered G-AERO. G-AFLT was reallocated to a Miles Gemini. Somebody at "Flight" must have had some influence with the ARB.
The issuing of the marks G-ARJB was anticipated and just happened to be allocated to a deH 104 Dove owned by R J Bamford, he of JCB fame.
There are quite a few other examples before the practice become common place.
Last edited by Planemike; 17th Apr 2016 at 12:11.
Many airlines are superstitious about registering an aircraft with the same "last two" as one previously involved in an accident, particularly as it was often just those two letters that would be painted on the NW doors.
An obvious example is BA's A319 fleet, where they use all the available G-EUPx registrations with the exception of Papa India.
An obvious example is BA's A319 fleet, where they use all the available G-EUPx registrations with the exception of Papa India.
BOAC went to the trouble of registering Britannia 102 G-ANBG. It became the rather more prosaic G-APLL.........
Another which did fly for a while was Westland S51 G-ANAL. Minimal repainting was required to convert this into G-ANZL !!
They had MAN, BHX, AMS, HAJ, FRA and MUC (I can't find any trace of a CDG).
All were 737-300s, by the way.
All were 737-300s, by the way.
The BA 757s were a bit of a mess in terms of registration.
First reservations ( at £90 a pop ) were G-BIJG to JR. Cancelled and re-reserved as G-BIKF to KY and then each one of those in turn was cancelled and reallocated to different airframes in the batch. No idea what was going-on there!
e.g. G-BIKR was originally for cn 22187, but that airframe was moved to G-BIKO and 22189 took G-BIKR instead of being G-BIKT.
G-BIKZ was tacked-on a couple of months later.
So, to reiterate the OP's question... whodunnit? Who makes that decision?
First reservations ( at £90 a pop ) were G-BIJG to JR. Cancelled and re-reserved as G-BIKF to KY and then each one of those in turn was cancelled and reallocated to different airframes in the batch. No idea what was going-on there!
e.g. G-BIKR was originally for cn 22187, but that airframe was moved to G-BIKO and 22189 took G-BIKR instead of being G-BIKT.
G-BIKZ was tacked-on a couple of months later.
So, to reiterate the OP's question... whodunnit? Who makes that decision?
Registration Selection
When I worked for them, the BA Engineering Quality department would research availability and agree suitable registrations, based on a set of guidelines,
with the delivery project manager, who would then circulate the suggested registrations to interested departments for comment.
If there were no objections we reserved the suggested registrations with the CAA.
Sometimes specific letters were requested, such as G-EU for the A319 and more recently. G-GAT for the LGW based A320 aircraft.
So in answer to your question, the initial suggestion could often originate from relatively low down the food chain, but the ultimate
decision was effectively taken collectively in conjunction with other interested departments - not sure what happens in other organisations.
with the delivery project manager, who would then circulate the suggested registrations to interested departments for comment.
If there were no objections we reserved the suggested registrations with the CAA.
Sometimes specific letters were requested, such as G-EU for the A319 and more recently. G-GAT for the LGW based A320 aircraft.
So in answer to your question, the initial suggestion could often originate from relatively low down the food chain, but the ultimate
decision was effectively taken collectively in conjunction with other interested departments - not sure what happens in other organisations.
Thread Starter
Actually I find a range of answers above, right up to CEO. Obviously the sort of decision you can only take when you're responsible for a whole airline, and actually, more or less what I'd have guessed/
I understand the boss of Titan Airways was a big fan of the old Batman and he picked their registrations. They are all G-ZAPx or G-POWx or similar.
Callsign "Zap" as well - always liked that.
Callsign "Zap" as well - always liked that.
RAES in particular gets a lot of stick from one or two in high office because they have to deal with the paperwork and certificates associated with the airframes
RAES hopefully has very little to do with such paperwork? Unless I'm misreading it
RAES hopefully has very little to do with such paperwork? Unless I'm misreading it
Channel Express had two H.P. Heralds named after the Engineering Directors sons: G-SCTT and G-STVN.
Later there was a competition among the staff to choose the registration for a F27 that came out as G-CHNX. My suggestion that the company reserve the G-CEX..x series did not win but that seemed to be the way forward for a few years until the arrival of the Boeing 737s.
So to answer the OPs question: Various people come up with the choice of registration but the senior management will make the ultimate decision.
Later there was a competition among the staff to choose the registration for a F27 that came out as G-CHNX. My suggestion that the company reserve the G-CEX..x series did not win but that seemed to be the way forward for a few years until the arrival of the Boeing 737s.
So to answer the OPs question: Various people come up with the choice of registration but the senior management will make the ultimate decision.
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I understand the boss of Titan Airways was a big fan of the old Batman and he picked their registrations. They are all G-ZAPx or G-POWx or similar.
Callsign "Zap" as well - always liked that.
Callsign "Zap" as well - always liked that.
Thread Starter
I could imagine that in the USA it's different - in fact, do airlines in any other countries try to have significant registrations?
There's a tendency to have xx-A and xx-B for Airbus and Boeings, though I noticed one airline where it's the other way round.
There's a tendency to have xx-A and xx-B for Airbus and Boeings, though I noticed one airline where it's the other way round.
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do airlines in any other countries try to have significant registrations?
Then there were the US airlines that like to register N___AA/US/AS etc but that scheme was prone to interruption since you can reserve a reg with the FAA for $10 regardless of whether you have an aircraft. Always worth taking a punt to register N777UA and seeing if you can flip it on to an interested airline
