George Hamlin

In the auditory field, the principal association with airlines in the mind of the public is that five-letter word "noise".  However, air travel evokes enough pleasant perceptions that it has been alluded to a number of times in popular songs, although the more cynical among you may note that there has been less of this in recent years than in times past.

Recently it's been disclosed by several sources that Anheuser-Busch has applied for trademarks using the three-letter codes for 42 U.S. locations. While nothing definitive has been announced yet, a likely possibility is that you may be able to buy locally-themed/branded beer at your favorite airport, in addition to the brewer's flagship Budweiser brand (known colloquially as "Bud" for non-U.S. readers).

Southwest Airlines, the largest airline in the U.S. domestic market, in terms of passengers, has obviated a long-held truism with the recent addition of 737-800s to its fleet. (Beware: reading further will require summoning up your inner airline geek.)

For airports, in terms of passenger traffic, the title-holder currently is Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to data published by Airports Council International. This has been true for the entire 2000-2010 period, the most recent data published on ACI's website.

Airliners, like other aircraft, carry multiple means of identifying them uniquely. At the factory, they are assigned a "Manufacturer's Serial Number" (MSN), similar in concept to the alphabet-soup VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) on automobiles familiar to those of us in the U.S. In addition, and also like automobiles virtually everywhere, once in service they also receive a registration from the appropriate governmental authority. Often referred to as a "reg" (pronounced with a soft 'g' sound, as opposed to the hard 'g' in "regulation"), or not uncommonly in the U.S., as a "tail number", these identifiers are displayed visibly on the aircraft, to the delight of aircraft spotters everywhere.

In this case, of airports.  No, that most of them are in danger of fading away (although a few have, as we've discussed previously), but that their airline tenants might choose to de-emphasize this location, or, even worse, to pull out entirely.  Years ago, I visited the airport at Glens Falls, New York.  Once served by Eastern Airlines, and later, Mohawk, by the early 1970s it was bereft of scheduled airline service.