The French carrier has managed to squeeze various relevant words into its registrations.
French charter carrier Corsair, known in full as Corsair International, presently operates an all-Airbus fleet out of Paris Orly Airport. This consists of the A330-200, -300, and -900 variants. Several feature carefully crafted registrations that refer to holiday-themed aspects. This has also been the case for its historic jets.
The current fleet
According to data from ATDB.aero, Corsair’s current nine-aircraft fleet consists of one A330-200, four A330-300s, and four A330-900s. A fifth example of the latter of these variants is also presently on order. Much like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, Corsair has paid close attention to how it has registered these widebodies.
Starting with its A330neos, we can see that two examples refer to musical genres, namely F-HRNB and F-HSKA. On a more romantic level, it also has Airbus A330-900s registered as F-HHUG and F-HLUV (to be delivered this year). F-HKYS is more abstract, but we can see that its last three letters are ‘sky’ spelled backwards.
In terms of Corsair’s older aircraft, the A330-300s continue the musical theme with registrations such as F-HJAZ and F-HROK. F-HSKY features ‘sky’ spelled the right way round, while F-HZEN refers to the peaceful state that Corsair no doubt wants its passengers to feel. Its A330-200 has a feline touch, and is registered as F-HCAT.
The tradition also applied to former Boeing 747s
Before the A330 family became the core of Corsair’s fleet, it also operated several variants of the Boeing 747 series over the years. Of these, the more recent examples (from the -300 and -400 variants) also featured carefully curated registrations that referred to some of the things that people come across on holiday.
For example, a series of three Corsair 747-300s paid tribute to the large natural features enjoyed on summer holidays, namely F-GSEA, F-GSKY, and G-GSUN. On a slightly more explicit level, the airline’s historical fleet also featured Boeing 747-300s with the registrations of, ahem, F-GSEX and F-WSEX.
Moving onto the Boeing 747-400, this variant also had registrations that paid tribute to the sun and the sea. In 2005, they were altered slightly, changing from F-WSEA and F-WSUN to F-HSEA and F-HSUN. This was also the case for the romantically-themed F-WKIS, F-WLOV, and, of course, F-WSEX. Meanwhile, the choice of F-GTUI as a registration was likely a nod to Corsair’s parent company, TUI.
Short-term leases weren’t an obstacle
In the mid to late-2010s, Corsair also operated a four-engine Airbus A340-300 for two summers. It did so on a leased basis, with the aircraft in question joining the carrier from Hi Fly Malta between June and September in both 2017 and 2018. For such short-term leases, aircraft often retain their original registrations.
This was also the case for Corsair’s Airbus A340-300, which happened to already bear the registration 9H-SUN. With its other aircraft also having included ‘SUN’ in their registrations, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a deliberate move. However, it had held this registration since 2016, and was simply a perfect fit for Corsair.
Source: Simple Flying
