The call sign of U.S. Airways is "Cactus", and that of British Airways is "Speedbird"; while for Malaysia Airlines is "Malaysia", Qantas is just simple "Qantas".
Why is it that the call signs of some airlines are so different from their names?
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Sign up to join this communityThe call sign of U.S. Airways is "Cactus", and that of British Airways is "Speedbird"; while for Malaysia Airlines is "Malaysia", Qantas is just simple "Qantas".
Why is it that the call signs of some airlines are so different from their names?
I found this on Wikipedia:
Some call signs are less obviously associated with a particular airline than others. This might be for historic reasons (South African Airways uses the callsign "Springbok", hearkening back to the airline's old livery which featured a springbok), or possibly to avoid confusion with a call sign used by an established airline. Companies' assigned names may change as a result of mergers, acquisitions, or change in company name or status; British Airways uses BOAC's old callsign ("Speedbird"), as British Airways was formed by a merger of BOAC and British European Airways. Country names can also change over time and new call signs may be agreed in substitution for traditional ones.
Before America West bought US Airways, their callsigns were Cactus (associated with the deserts of the American West) and USAir. After the merger, the combined airline kept the better-known (airline) name, and the other airline's callsign. Now, after the acquisition/merger of American Airlines, they're using that airline's name and callsign. Leading to more than a few radio calls recently (late spring / early summer 2015) along the lines of
"Center, Cactuuu...merican 123, FL 350"
More reasons call signs might not be the name of the airline would include:
The callsign is the combination of the ICAO Radio Telephony (R/T) designator and a flight specific identifier consisting of numbers and letters. In addition to the R/T designator there is also a three letter designator used on flight plans and air traffic control display systems.
The R/T designator (callsign) must not cause confusion with other operators flying in the same area, preferably at most three syllables long and it must be pronounceable in at least one of the following languages; English, French, Spanish or Russian.
Since there are many operators that have "airline" or "airways" in their name, that word is usually avoided in the R/T designator as it easily causes confusion. Usually an alternative is found that is in some way related to the airline.
For pilots it is not too difficult, they are typically paying attention specifically to their own R/T callsign. For controllers it is more difficult since they have to associate the three letter code on their screen with R/T designators that are not related in an obvious way.