BA Call Signs

[Nfield750]

As one of those evil people who use a scanner, can anyone tell me the difference between "speedbird", "shuttle" and "British" when applied to BA liveried aircraft.
As an aside, listening to airband radio has given me tremendous pleasure and knowledge and I have nothing but respect and admiration for those involved. Particularly when listening for Concorde at LHR, so that we were in the right place at the right time.

[swp53]

Hi Nfield750.

SPEEDBIRD is the British Airways callsign and goes back to the old B.O.A.C. days. They had a Gold speedbird emblem on the tail. This was prior to the merger with BEA who used the callsign Beeline to become B.A. Other smaller airlines were also swallowed up like Cambrian.

BRITISH is the callsign of B.A. Cityexpress flying ERJ145, Dash8 and Bae146/RJ100 aircraft.

SHUTTLE is also B.A. aircraft ( I think only 737 and A319/A320 aircraft ?) and on a few routes like Heathrow-Birmingham / Manchester etc but I may be wrong.

I am also an airband enthusiast for over 35 years now, also recent G.A. pilot.

Hope this helps and someone can add to the SHUTTLE callsign.

Regards,
Steve.

[Richard Taylor]

Shuttle used to be the preserve of BA LHR routes to MAN,GLA,EDI & BFS(when BA used to do that route).It was Speedbird on the other LHR domestics(to NCL,ABZ)& on all BA mainline out of LGW.

From last winter(if i remember)it was changed for some reason to take into account ALL BA domestic flights out of LHR & LGW - to MAN,NCL,EDI,GLA & ABZ.

British is indeed for BA Regional flights.

Speedbird for long haul(possibly European flights as well??)

[Wycombe]

....which leaves me wondering why LGW-JER doesn't use the "Shuttle" c/s?

[mickrobbo]

From what I understand:

Shuttle: Mainline BA domestic routes as mentioned below to MAN, EDI, GLA etc etc, including NCL etc.
British: Callsign for BA Citi express division.
Speedbird: Mainline BA

Also in BA Livery are:

BMed: British Mediterranean
GeeBee: GB Airways

[Wannabe Flyboy]

LGW - JER may use a Speedbird callsign because it operates as a European flight (i.e. with two classes of service instead of the single on domestics).

[spanishflea]

And of course:

Logan: Loganair
SunScan: Sun-Air Scandinavia
Commerical: Comair

BA also used to use "Santa" for their Xmas charter flights to Lapland although that hasnt been used for a good few years.

[TheOddOne]

Also, Jersey ain't domestic...

The Odd One

[BALIX]

Shuttle used to denote the specific 'Super Shuttle' service that was introduced in the seventies. This was the good old days when you just turned up without a reservation and if the plane (usually a Trident) was full they would fire up a back up. They even advertised the fact that you might be the only one on that flight but I bet it never happened...

These flights linked Heathrow with Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester. (Other domestic flights used the Speedbird callsign) Each route had a specific number which someone sadder than me might correct me but I think it was 2/3 to/from MCR, 4/5 to/from BFS, 6/7 to/from GLA and 8/9 to/from EDI. Hence LHR-GLA might have been Shuttle Six Alpha or SH6A - the Alpha being the first shuttle of the day, the next being Bravo, Charlie and so on. GLA-LHR would have been SH7A. (I think the letters lost their significance at some stage and were allocated on a random basis).

Alas, there wasn't a Shuttle One service. This would have given rise to the possibility of the callsign Shuttle One Tango or SH1T for short. That possibility finally went when the two letter SH prefix became a three letter SHT prefix.

Now, as previously stated, the shuttle callsign is applied to all domestic services (apart from Jersey apparently...).

[Wycombe]

...well remember the "proper" Shuttle "turn-up-and-take-off" service during the 80's. Used to use LHR-MAN a lot and BFS occasionally.

Can only remember one occasion when I ended up on the back-up, at MAN, a T2 backing-up the scheduled 75' - this was not long before their retirement.

Also rememeber all those L1011 flights to BFS at Xmas.

[BALIX]

One thing I could never understand was the back up ariving at its destination before the original flight which seemed to happen quite regularly.

I guess Heathrow slots are worth far too much now to allocate some to back up services :confused:

[ETOPS]

Used to operate "shuttle back-up" with BAC 1-11's from MAN. Quite often the numbers turning up for a popular departure would definitely fill the T-bird and so our little 1-11 was certain to be used - thus we would "Irish" the back -up by departing with a full load as soon as poss leaving the groundgripper to leave on time with the rest of the pax...........

[BALIX]

Ah ETOPS, thanks for the explination, it is something that has troubled me for years ;)

They used 1-11s as back ups to Glasgow as well but having any old aeroplane hanging around an airport was quite useful. One of my first fam flights (remember them???) was a hop to Aberdeen. Unfortunately, the Budgie was bust so they used the Trident that was there as the shuttle back up. It took about 20 minutes. :bored:

[frostbite]

As another, sometimes puzzled, scanner listener can I ask about suffixes to callsign.

I can work out that the 'T' suffix (probably) stands for training, but I frequently hear the 'P' suffix, and I'm not sure about that one?

[southender]

Understand "P" is for positioning.

Cheers

Southender

[Human Factor]

Q. Which call sign is missing?

A. Bealine (although you'll only hear it on the ground at LHR)

[JustaFew]

Did BA use the c/s 'Albion', or was that another company?

[Fried_Chicken]

Understand "P" is for positioning.

Although this really only applies to UK airlines. Most European (East & West) tend to use the suffix 'Foxtrot" on their callsigns for positioning flights

Fried Chicken

[trafficcontrol]

"SHUTTLE is also B.A. aircraft ( I think only 737 and A319/A320 aircraft "

Also the good old 757 i have seen + heard before!

Justy thuoght i'd throw that in! :ok:

OMG my typing is terrible! lol :\\

[Loki]

JustaFew:

Yes Albion was used for a while; mid 1970s if memory serves.

[Jordan D]

Also - what are the suffix 'c' and 'y' used for on flight numbers?

Jordan

[Seat1APlease]

I think the suffix Y was used for yesterdays flight which has been delayed. I for example yesterdays BA1 has been delayed and will not arrive until this morning then it becomes BA1Y to distinguish it from todays flight which will also run.

[Thunderbug]

C is for Charter flights
P for Positioning flight

sometimes
E for engineering test flights

:ok:
T'bug

[Jordan D]

Thanks Seat1A and Thunderbug for your reponses.

Jordan

[expedite_climb]

Ba sometimes use other suffixes to prevent confusion. Often - a 'W'.

E.g. - from memory, one of the IAD-LHR's is the BAW 6W, even though the flight number is nothing like that....

[055166k]

Yes "Albion" was used for the likes of Viscounts etc that had previously been using "Cambrian" callsigns....the two letter flight plan identifier was BX. [Just as one example]. I used to work them in/out of Liverpool.

[JustaFew]

Thanks 055166K and Loki.
055166K check your PMs.

[slink]

The odd 767 flies as Shuttle too, although more recently we've been seeing 2 LHR Shuttles coming to EDI in trail, 757 and Airbus, or pair of Airbuses - running out of serviceable 767s, perhaps?

BA also seem to use odd numbers for positioning flights - the 777 that dead legged LHR-EDI to pick up the PM a few weeks back had a Speedbird callsign with 4 numbers, but no "P".

[Fried_Chicken]

I tend to find BA use callsigns that begin BAW9xxx for positioning flights

BA Citiexpress use the P though, BRT02P for example

FC

[Bunk-Rest]

The much maligned 'gripper' actually had a better field performance than the 1.11.
I flew them both and saw the far end of more runways in a 1.11 than I care to remember.
Aberdeen - LHR on a warm day with a full load, 1.11's used to have to tech stop EDI for fuel, because it couldn't lift the weight out of ABZ
The poor runway performance of the 1.11 was a contributary factor in the very near accident at Basle in the 80's

Backup flights often used to take off after the 1st service, and arrive before them, because BA used the Trident 3, or latterly the 757 for the main flight, and Trident 1's & 2's for the backup.
T1's & 2's had faster speed limits, and would generally be lighter than the fully loaded Frontline T3. It was quite easy to outpace them on the way and land first, always to the chagrin of your colleagues of course...........

[clicker]

And for those who's wondering BEALINE was the old BEA callsign before they merged with BOAC.