Flagship

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Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 169

Does anyone know what is meant by the term flagship when used regarding aircraft? I thought it may have been the largest of the fleet. I would be very grateful if some examples were provided...

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Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

Its usually the most prestigious. Concorde was obviously the flagship of the BA and Concorde fleet. It stems from Nautical use whereby there would be one ship particularly larger, more powerful, more lethal than the others that made it stand out.

Nowadays in aviation it tends to get used to describe a particular fleet of aircraft as opposed to an individual one, but many people argued that G-BOAC was BA's flagship Concorde because of the significance of the registration to the predecessor airline.

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 169

So would I be right in saying that the A330 would be both bmi and Aer Lingus' flagship? In EI's case would it be the A332 or the A333?

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 1,039

The term comes unsurprisingly from the navy, Where the largest ship was usually the one where the admiral was based and so it was the base of the squadrons power. The admiral was intitled to fly a unique flag to identify him as such. Hence the term flagship. I am sure one of our Naval experts can fill in more detail

Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

So would I be right in saying that the A330 would be both bmi and Aer Lingus' flagship? In EI's case would it be the A332 or the A333?

Yeah I guess so.

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

A ship that carries a fleet or squadron commander and bears the commander's flag.