Airlines

National Airlines

Wikipedia has a page entitled "Flag carrier", which it defines as "a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations", [or] "any carrier that is or was owned by a government, [...] even long after their privatization."

Not every country has an airline that meets this definition. Many countries of course have more than one airline; but they only have one flag carrier.

For obvious reasons, most flag carriers include the name of the country (or, in some cases, its capital). For equally obvious reasons, this page concentrates on those that don't (although, as will be seen below, some of them are known by an acronym where one of the constituent words is the name of the country).

You can obviously ask these questions the other way round. For example, "Gulf Air is the national airline, or 'flag carrier', of which country?"

		Flag carrier		Other
Australia		Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services)
Bahrain		Gulf Air
Bangladesh		Biman Airlines
Belgium		Brussels Airlines		Sabena went bankrupt in 2001
Brazil				Varig, Gol, TAM
Chile		LAN
Columbia		Avianca		ACES was taken over by Avianca in 2003
Czech Republic		CSA Czech Airlines
Denmark		SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System)
Germany		Lufthansa
Greece				Aegean Air (Olympic Air is now a subsidiary)
Hong Kong		Cathay Pacific
Hungary				Malev went bankrupt in 2002
Indonesia		Garuda
Ireland (Republic of)		Aer Lingus
Israel		El Al
Italy		Alitalia
Japan		JAL (Japan Airlines)		ANA (All Nippon Airways)
Latvia		Air Baltic
Lebanon		MEA (Middle East Airlines)
Netherlands		KLM
Norway		SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System)
Paraguay (1963-94)		LAP (Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas)
Poland		Lot
Portugal		TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses)
Romania		Tarom
Russia (formerly the Soviet Union)		Aeroflot		Transaero, S7, Ural, Nordwind
Spain		Iberia
Sweden		SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System)
United Arab Emirates		Etihad, Emirates
Venezuela		ConViasa (founded 2004)		Viasa went bankrupt in 1997

Other

Merged with KLM in 2004		Air France
Britain's foremost independent, international airline – prior to its merger with British Airways in 1987 (formed by a takeover in 1970)		British Caledonian
The four airlines that were merged in 1974 to form British Airways: BEA, BOAC, ...		Cambrian Airways
		Northeast Airlines
Budget airline launched by KLM in 1999		Buzz
Britain's first commercial airline		Imperial Airways
The world's oldest airline still operating under its original name (founded 1919)		KLM
Overtook British Airways in passenger numbers in 2001, causing the latter to drop its "The world's favourite airline" slogan; took over BMI in 2008		Lufthansa
Logo is a stylised crane (bird!) in blue, in a yellow circle with a blue border
Suffered two disasters in 2014, one flight disappearing over the Indian Ocean and another being shot down over Ukraine		Malaysian Airlines
British charter and scheduled low–cost airline, with headquarters at Luton; founded in 1967, it went into administration in 2017 at which time it was Britain's fifth biggest airline		Monarch
Acquired in June 1927 by the unfortunately–named Juan Trippe, operating a mail and passenger service from Cuba to Key West, Florida (originally founded in March 1927 by three military pilots, but they had no aeroplanes and never operated); became the USA's unofficial overseas flag carrier (according to Wikipedia); declared bankrupt in 1991, its profitable assets were acquired by Delta Air Lines		Pan–American Airlines (Pan–Am)
Founded in 1925 as Western Air Express, to operate from New York to Los Angeles via St. Louis and Kansas City; owned by Howard Hughes from 1939 until the 1960s; filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and was acquired by American Airlines		Trans–World Airlines (TWA)

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24