What level of airline employee chooses registrations?
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What level of airline employee chooses registrations?
Such a small matter, but someone in BA thought that G-ZZZ_ and G-VII_ were good for their 777s, and G-EU__ for small Airbuses but G-XL__ for XL Airbuses. And to put G-RAES on a 777 for the RAeS I'd have thought quite a high-level decision.
Someone in Virgin must have decided that G-VBUG was good and not prone to mockery.
So I wonder how senior a person gets to decide these tiny questions? A clerk in the purchasing department, or the director of marketing?
Someone in Virgin must have decided that G-VBUG was good and not prone to mockery.
So I wonder how senior a person gets to decide these tiny questions? A clerk in the purchasing department, or the director of marketing?
but someone in BA thought that G-ZZZ_ and G-VII_ were good for their 777s...... And to put G-RAES on a 777 for the RAeS I'd have thought quite a high-level decision.
I know some of the public and marketing might like the fancy letters but the trouble for the end users (pilots, engineers) is that out sequence registrations can make the deciphering of the fleet/type manuals and even paper checklists (when used) less intuitive than perhaps it should be. In the case of the fleet in question you've got one sub type (if you include the A market frames') with registrations that use three different lead letters (i.e. R---,V---, and Z---), scattered about the alphabet. Fortunately at BA at least the other two subtypes ( the RR-200s and the -300s, stayed coherent as Y--- and S---).
Oh, no idea who actually picks the letter - probably either the boss or a committee somewhere!
While on the subject of British Airways personalised registrations, albeit a rather different Boeing product:
Chief Engineer at BA Helicopters in those days was W F (Fred) Charlton.
Chief Engineer at BA Helicopters in those days was W F (Fred) Charlton.
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TEA UK B737
G-DIAR - Ducks in a row
-G-NAFH Not a f%%king hope
Both aircraft came in at very short notice after the Air Europe crash
Regs assigned by pesky Engineers with a sense of humour
G-DIAR - Ducks in a row
-G-NAFH Not a f%%king hope
Both aircraft came in at very short notice after the Air Europe crash
Regs assigned by pesky Engineers with a sense of humour
In my early youth (late 70's) was given a hangar visit by a relative who worked in BA Engineering, recall a 747 (Classic in those days) in the hangar with the registration with the letters DXE in, that some enterprising guy had written an "I" in on the hull to get G-DIXIE (I think that was the nickname of that particular a/c). Anyone remember this?
Virgin Airlines used to run a European service around mid-90's until 2001. They used an A320 with registration G-OUZO. Obviously not for the crew but it fit with the image of the airline.
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The Manx JS31s were graced with registrations selected by the MD at the time, and he had an exchange with 'Roger Bacon' about them in the back of Flight. Would have been the early 1990s.
G-WENT is one that comes to mind but the others have fled my memory.
Ah, 1991 Page 1073:
[ Accompanying a photo of G-GLAM ]
G-WENT is one that comes to mind but the others have fled my memory.
Ah, 1991 Page 1073:
Dear Uncle Roger,
Now surely you know us better than that!
(S&l, 10-16 April).
Yours,
TERRY LIDDIARD
Managing Director
Manx Airlines
(Operator of G-LEGS, G-ISLE, G-WENT,
G-OJET, G-OATP, G-UIET etc..)
Now surely you know us better than that!
(S&l, 10-16 April).
Yours,
TERRY LIDDIARD
Managing Director
Manx Airlines
(Operator of G-LEGS, G-ISLE, G-WENT,
G-OJET, G-OATP, G-UIET etc..)
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One only has to look at the Virgin fleet to see some great registrations for aircraft names!
Virgin Atlantic Fleet List
Virgin Atlantic Fleet List
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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?
The BA regions operated a fleet of 737-500 with regs ending in MAN, AMS, CDG etc.
To say it caused confusion is an understatement.
I know who's idea it was too.
But I'm keeping MUM.
To say it caused confusion is an understatement.
I know who's idea it was too.
But I'm keeping MUM.
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So I wonder how senior a person gets to decide these tiny questions? A clerk in the purchasing department, or the director of marketing?
Anyways, going back to my previous companies. They had a number of sequential registrations reserved from the regulator and would decide on an annual basis whether to continue the reservations (funnily, it wasn't cheap). Sometimes they would decide they wouldn't need as many and let the reservation lapse.
Sometimes though the regulator simply runs out of registrations within a "series" and the airline takes whatever is next in sequence to be issued. Although from a spotting view it may seem silly, from an airline point of view it's just a tail number so there is not a second thought given.
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......
There was an airline who accepted a reservation ..-DIE. Its CEO said they accepted because they read it like Delta India Echo rather this pessimistic word. I think they later change it to ..-TIE.
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......
There were only a couple over the next few years, notably the Harrier demonstrators G-VTOL and G-VSTO in 1970/71 and the late Ormond Haydon-Baillie somehow charming the CAA into giving him personalised registrations for his pair of T-33s in 1974.
The floodgates opened in about 1977 and we haven't looked back, so to speak.
An obvious example is BA's A319 fleet, where they use all the available G-EUPx registrations with the exception of Papa India.
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Were the original BA Airbus' (inherited from BCal?) registered G- BUS....?
Also I seem to remember a Britannia 737(?) seen regularly at Newcastle with reg G-BYAI (whyaye). Always wondered if that was deliberate!
Also I seem to remember a Britannia 737(?) seen regularly at Newcastle with reg G-BYAI (whyaye). Always wondered if that was deliberate!