Some Thoughts on Flagship Carriers
While doing award booking some research for a client of mine, I found myself looking up Ethiad Airways, then I grew quite curious as I read the words “flagship carrier” on the airline’s Wikipedia page. It’s a term I had come across before, though not one I had particularly paid much attention to.
While I am no economics expert by any stretch of the imagination, I do have a basic understanding of flagship agreement companies. They occur when an airline is run or privately held by a particular country, and are therefore a direct representation of that country. In exchange, these agreements benefit the airline with preferential treatment by the government, including tax breaks.
What I did not realize however is how many are still in existence. I found it quite amusing to scroll through Wikipedia’s flagship carrier list, as I learned of some airlines, and even a few oddities.
For example, did you know that Ethiad and Emirates are both the flag-ship carriers for the United Arab Emirates?
Or that Scandanavian Airlines (SAS) is the flag carrier for three different countries (I suppose it makes sense) – Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Finally, I want to fly “Our Airline.” If you find yourself flying to Nauru, you can mess with folks:
1 “What airline are you flying?”
2 “Our airline”
1 “We don’t have an airline. Really, which one?”
Point Me to the Miles 