Originally Posted by
cmiller11101
Forgive my ignorance, but what is HLN/HLO/etc.... tail number/plane identification? (oh oh... I googled it... lol...)
What's the logic behind the registration number/identifier scheme? Is that set by Cathay or the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department? And on that note, does anyone know where Cathay registers and domiciles their aircraft? Are they owned by companies in Hong Kong? Registered in Hong Kong? Or some mysterious Caribbean island with questionable banking regulations? hehehehe....
[thread drift]
International registries are allocated a letter to identity where an aircraft is registered. So USA is N, France is F and so on. The state controlling the registry then has flexibility on what goes after the initial letter. The USA and Russia use numbers, most other places use either three or four letters.
Cathay aircraft are registered in Hong Kong and the format for a Hong Kong registration is the letter B followed by a dash then three letters. For simplicity most airlines will ask for a cluster of sequential letters for different fleets. It doesn’t always work but it makes it easier to identify which sub fleet is being talked about in meetings etc.
Where aircraft are owned can be very complicated indeed involving leasing , mortgages, holding companies etc etc. I have no idea how Cathay sets that up. [\thread drift]