What does the F stand for in QF?

[lovestotravel]

Fail

 

[RnD]

Should have been GF based on the way it treats some of its passengers.

What, gluten free?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

It doesn't mean anything. It, just like every other IATA and ICAO code, is just what is available when assigned.
"QF" is just the assigned IATA shorthand for Qantas Airways.

I second this opinion. Indeed, a lot of IATA airport codes are that way. For instance, LA's main airport is LAX which was formed by simply adding an X to the end of the prior airport code of LA. Some examples that come to my mind are JetStars (JQ, 3K ,GK), Emirates (EK), Etihad (EY), FinnAir (AY), Swiss (LX), JetBlue (B6), Eva Air (BR), etc.

In other cases, we see that timing plays a factor. For instance Air China's IATA code isn't AC as that was already taken by Air Canada. Similarly Bling Air (known formally as Emirates) has the IATA code of EK instead of BA, precisely because British Airways was formed before them and has that IATA code.

 

[tdimdad]

Lets keep it clean...

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Fan club. On this forum known also as Qantas Fanboys.
What on earth were y'all thinking???

 

[justinbrett]

So basically, nobody knows.

I second this opinion. Indeed, a lot of IATA airport codes are that way. For instance, LA's main airport is LAX which was formed by simply adding an X to the end of the prior airport code of LA. Some examples that come to my mind are JetStars (JQ, 3K ,GK), Emirates (EK), Etihad (EY), FinnAir (AY), Swiss (LX), JetBlue (B6), Eva Air (BR), etc.

In other cases, we see that timing plays a factor. For instance Air China's IATA code isn't AC as that was already taken by Air Canada. Similarly Bling Air (known formally as Emirates) has the IATA code of EK instead of BA, precisely because British Airways was formed before them and has that IATA code.

For Finnair:
The company code, "AY", stands for Aero Osake-yhtiö ("yhtiö" means "company" in Finnish)

Swiss was SR. It took LX when they merged with Crossair (itself only formed in 1975).

All the rest of your examples are recently formed airlines.

Qantas has been using QF since 1960.

 

[jb747]

Given that there's only 676 potential codes, perhaps it's more random than planned.

 

[jpp42]

Given that there's only 676 potential codes, perhaps it's more random than planned.

I beleive you will find there are 1296 (36*36) theoretically possible, as since 1982, one of the digits can be a number (like 9W for the former Jet Airways India, or U2 for EasyJet). I believe certain combinations are excluded however, like two numbers, and codes starting with "1" are reserved to identify GDS's/CRS's rather than airlines.. Adding to the fun, there are also "controlled duplicates" where regional airlines in separate continents, that will never share a destination, are allowed to use the same 2-place code.

Note that there are many more ICAO codes (three-letters) than IATA codes (two letters), as airline subsidiaries will have their own ICAO code but share the IATA one. In addition, many charter airlines and small local operators that don't participate in IATA ticketing, will still have ICAO codes (with no duplicates), but no IATA at all (example: Air Whitsunday, RWS). In one list I found, there are 1011 unique IATA airline codes and 5867 ICAO airline codes, noting these could include defunct airlines whose codes have not been reassigned.

For trivia, here are the six ICAO codes I found that operate(d) under the QF IATA code (am I missing any?): QFA, QLK, QJE, EAQ, SSQ, QNZ . Also operating for Qantas: UTY (Alliance), and I suppose you could add FIN to that list in the future.

 

[justinbrett]

For trivia, here are the six ICAO codes I found that operate(d) under the QF IATA code (am I missing any?): QFA, QLK, QJE, EAQ, SSQ, QNZ . Also operating for Qantas: UTY (Alliance), and I suppose you could add FIN to that list in the future.

Alliance for Qantas actually use QFA. The rest of Alliance flights, including VA flights, use UTY. It’s possible Finnair could use QFA too - completely legal, just a few extra things needed in the flight plan.

EAQ and SSQ are no longer used, they use QLK. QNZ is obviously also defunct. So there’s really only three in use.

For a long time, QLK 717s flew under their registration (eg NXE) which is also legal. ATC really don’t care about the flight number.

 

[Melburnian1]

Should have been GF based on the way it treats some of its passengers.

For a nanosecond I thought you simply meant "it ought pinch Gulf Air's designator" but then the penny dropped...

 

[DejaBrew]

I always just assumed it stood for “Flight” and was part of Qantas’ marketing/branding strategy to double down on the whole “Qantas Flight xx_“ reference. To my thinking, “Qantas Flight xx_ / QFxx_” is a far simpler and more memorable customer-facing reference vs “Qantas Flight xx_ / QAxx_”.

Just my 2c.

 

[Mr H]

Worth remembering that when Qantas first had a designator, it was the only Q airline, so Q on its own would have been designator enough. The other letter was just decorative. Maybe it stood for "flight". Maybe it stood for "Frank", the guy who filled in the IATA form. Maybe someone just liked saying Foxtrot. I guess we'll never know.

 

[grigo]

Out of interest, why is the IATA designator for Qantas marked as 'QF'? What does the 'F' stand for in it?

The question stems from a lounge agents question (in a Menzies run lounge which serves all airlines at that airport). She had to manually key in the FF membership details from the boarding pass and select which airline's program I belong to. She said that she often confuses Qatar and Qantas and had to confirm which one it was.

Qatar has QR which sounds pretty logical. But how come Qantas has QF? Or is that just a random lucky price in an IATA code raffle?

Qantas Flight

Post automatically merged: Jun 22, 2023

Qantas Flight

 

[Viridis]

I don’t think anybody has mentioned Air New Zealand ….

The flight designator was originally TE (I think from Tasman Empire Airways).

The company presumably got NZ when it became available.

 

[wombatpatties]

What about....QF as in Qantas Flight

That’s what I have always said in my head, oh, qantas flight! Obvious isn’t it?

 

[ceetee]

Fair…as on fair dinkum

 

[emptychairsatemptytables]

No logic behind IATA codes. Airlink which flys around Southern Africa has IATA code 4Z

 

[Mr H]

No logic behind IATA codes. Airlink which flys around Southern Africa has IATA code 4Z

Well there’s clearly a logic to many of them.

 

[AIRwin]

No logic behind IATA codes. Airlink which flys around Southern Africa has IATA code 4Z

Z for ZA?

 

[aikman]

What does JQ stand for? Jetstar by Qantas?

 

[Mr H]

What does JQ stand for? Jetstar by Qantas?

Presumably yes.