United Airlines calls itself the flag carrier of the United States. What makes an airline a flag carrier and does that designation fit United Airlines in 2021? Does the USA really have a flag carrier?
United Airlines Calls Itself The Flag Carrier Of USA
Historically, a flag carrier referred to the airline(s) owned by the government of their home country and closely linked to the national identity of that country. Over time, the colloquial definition has loosened to include privately-held airlines as well that still represent their nation.
Think Air France for France, KLM for the Netherlands, Lufthansa for Germany, Turkish Airlines for Turkey, British Airways in the UK. Think Singapore Airlines for Singapore, Thai Airways for Thailand, Air India for India, Aerolineas Argentinas for Argentina.
When you think “flag carrier” you think national prestige. You think about linking the world to the nation for reasons far beyond profit. It’s about the greater economy and how air traffic, both passenger and cargo, feeds into it. Qatar Airways in Qatar. Etihad in Abu Dhabi. Emirates in Dubai.
You get the picture.
Technically, a U.S. flag air carrier is any airline that holds a certificate under Section 401 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. That includes United Airlines and a long list of other carriers.
But the U.S. really hasn’t had a de fecto flag carrier since Pan American (and perhaps, to a lesser extent, TWA). Sure, when you see American Airlines, Delta, or United around the world, you think of the United States. But “flag carrier” implies exclusively and prestige.
And at United, the carrier is telling employees it is not only a flag carrier, but the flag carrier of the USA, implying it is the only one. Earlier today I wrote about United Airlines resuming service to Israel. In a memo announcing the restoration of service, United said:
As we’ve proven over the last year, our agility in the face of crisis and disruption has allowed us to emerge as the flag carrier of the U.S. We offer more nonstop service than any other U.S. airline between the U.S. and Tel Aviv, and are committed to be the most dependable link between the two countries.
If we are talking about international connectivity outside North America, United does outperform American and Delta. But is that the metric upon which one becomes a flag carrier?
CONCLUSION
Perhaps American and Delta also fancy themselves as the flag carrier of the United States. The reference caught my eye because it is an increasingly antiquated term. Then again, with governments bailing out airlines all over the world, perhaps the concept of flag carriers are not so antiquated after all…
image: United Airlines
@ Matthew — United is full of it.
Bull
AMERICAN
You mentioned the word “prestige”. I find it interesting that historically in the U.S., there were things in the airline industry that were considered symbols of prestige. Certain routes (JFK-LHR), certain aircraft (747, The “Connie”, Concorde), certain airports, etc. were all symbols of status and would frequently be used in advertising. Today though, I can’t think of anything in commercial aviation (part 121) that emotes “prestige”….not even first class.
Pan Am was the flag carrier of the US during the golden era
United: not the airline America wants, but the airline America deserves.
Yeah, I suppose United could be considered a flag carrier. After all, so are Biman Bangladesh and TAAG Angola…
United the flag carrier of the United States ? Give me a break! As the others have posted. Pan Am was the last flag carrier the U.S had and there may be Delta, there may be American and yes, finally United but none of them qualify to be America’s flag carrier. They are all garbage products that shame our nation as opposed to making us proud! Any international trip I’ve taken in recent years I always fly the flag carrier of the destination to which I am traveling. Even “little” flag carriers like Cayman Airways, Bahamas Air, Caribbean Airlines(Trinidad & Tobago), and the often maligned Cubana de Aviacion do a far better job of representing the nations from which they come. United ?! Don’t get me started!
Shouldn’t a flag carrier, by implication, actually have a flag painted on the aircraft?
I mean, American purposefully carries the flag on its tail.
What does it mean when a flag carrier has no first class, and you are in the back of the plane with nothing unless you are in business?
If flag carrier means exclusivity and prestige, then Southwest is the only US flag carrier. Only US airline without bs economy, and ancillary fees out the rear-end.
Flag carriers are the ones that terrorists bomb and hijack. On 9/11, al Qaeda selected United and American. They did not select JetBlue or Alaska or Hawaiian.
LOL!!!! United is a disgrace.
Not my flag carrier, United is crap!
It is an interesting question, who would be the flag carrier of the US? In some markets, I think Asia specifically, United might appear to be the US flag carrier. In Latin America, I’d say American could claim that designation. Europe is a mess of JVs and well served by all.
I can’t think of a non US market where people would perceive Delta to be the strongest, but perhaps that’s just me.
Flag Carrier ? Not since the days of Pan Am and TWA . Certainly not United or American. Most major foreign carriers beat those two cattle car attitude carriers.
The only US airline ever too merit that designation was Pan American. The airline pioneered trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic commercial airline service and was often called upon by the US government to perform rescue, humanitarian and repatriation flights. There were many places where Pan Am acted as a surrogate for the US government and at times even carried more clout. United (nor Delta nor American) come anywhere close to deserving that moniker.
United is the perfect carrier to represent a country going down the crapper.
I’m rather surprised that United would issue a statement that’s both factually absolutely inaccurate and insulting to the US flying public. What possible good could come from saying such a thing? I don’t have high expectations for Kirby on a multitude of levels but United exhibiting such blatant stupidity and arrogance by making such claims when United is arguably the worst of the legacy airlines is truly impressive. Trying to compare United and Pan Am on service and Flag carrier credentials is laughable.
If United is the carrier that most represents the US, then America is a piece of sh!t
What an absurd treatise to make.
What most folks on here miss is that Pan Am was primarily an international air line in its heyday and have very very little domestic service (as per regulation) until some acquisitions in the late 70s/early 80s. Pan Am was the true flag carrier. I’m happy for United to aspire to this designation.
@Jerry – Delta has a relatively bigger market in Africa than the other U.S. carriers (especially west Africa)
Having flown United almost exclusively for the last 7 years (one flight on Delta) I will say I enjoyed United more than that Delta flight.
Look at the back of every UA jet, just above the final row of windows before the back door, and presto – a US flag is emblazoned there. Hence the aircraft/airline is a flagged carrier of the USA.
@Jim, whether true or not, the important point is American (AA) is even worse crap!! Isom and Parker ruined the airline.
With all due respect Mr. Klint, you have taken United’s internal memo completely out of context. The memo is referring to the company’s resumption of service between the US and Israel. Hence, United was inferring that UA is thee US flag carrier to the USA…from Israel! In that context, the statement is more palatable since UA is the dominant US carrier to Tel Aviv. UA is resuming service from three of its four hubs that offered service to TLV: EWR, ORD, & SFO. Pre-Covid, IAD-TLV was also operated.
In true media form, you have parsed one sentence from the memo (which you shouldn’t have had access to) and have distorted its messaging. It makes for nice click-bait, but it is a misrepresentation of what the memo was attempting to convey to its internal stakeholders. I’ll leave it at that.
United serves more International destinations then any other Airline IN THE WORLD. During times of turbulence and unrest UNITED continues to serve ,where other airlines cut and run UNITED stays the course. You are free to choose whomever you like to fly. But for me, I want to stick with a airline that I can count on to get me back home again. Pandemic,bombing,weather,floods,United stays the course.
Like Jetsetter above, I also view this in the context of an internal memo, nothing more. It seems to me that this is propaganda intended to be consumed by United employees to pump up internal morale and nothing more. And I can see the point of trying to do that. (Whether it works is another matter entirely …)
All of Matt articles should be used in Journalism 101 courses to teach students two important lessons. One, that ANYONE can call themselves a writer. Two, what bad journalism looks like. Yet another article that tells the reader nothing and is pure click-bait.
I really appreciate your reading. Thank you with the best wishes!
Thank you for correcting one of the many errors in Matt’s writings. Sadly many of these aviation “news” blogs have become pure trash.
Seems like the airline that has large international hubs in both the national capital (IAD) and the most important business center (EWR) would most qualify as the flag carrier of a country.