National Airlines

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A flag carrier or de facto flag carrier, refers to a transportation company, such as a shipping or airline company, that is registered in a given state or a state-run, state-owned or state-designated transport company or organization, specifically (though not universally required) showing the state flag apparent for public view.

Importance of flag carriers

The term "flag carrier" is a legacy of the time when most countries had a state-owned airline. However, many of these airlines have been privatised and the airline industry deregulated, allowing multiple airlines to compete within each country's market. This has rendered the term less important than it was in the past.

The legacy of flag carriers can still be seen by the restrictions in international air travel through bilateral in 1945 (Bermuda I) but revised in 1977 (Bermuda II) to redress the balance of air service advantage by limiting the number of airlines which could operate on certain routes.

Some countries (notably the United States of America) have legislation that requires the use of a national flag carrier, where possible, when travelling using government funds. One example is the Fly America Act.

List of national flag carriers

The chart below list the status of the three criteria to be considered a "flag carrier", designation as a national airlines either officially or based on history, whether or not it carries the national flag on its aircraft and whether or not it is state-owned.

Notes

Read more at Wikipedia.org