Pronouncing airline names can be complicated for a variety of reasons. Often this confusion comes down to acronyms vs. initialisms, with the former being abbreviations that are pronounced as words, and the latter being abbreviations that are pronounced as letters. In other situations, the confusion can down to the name originating in a foreign language, and deciding how that should be said in English.
With that in mind, I figure it would be fun to cover some of the airline names that people struggle with the most. I wrote a similar post last year, but I want to add a few more airlines, and I’ve also picked up a few tricks based on reader feedback last time.
Let me emphasize that I have no claims of being a language expert. For that matter, there’s often more than one acceptable way to pronounce the name of an airline, and it also depends on whether you’re speaking in English, or in the carrier’s native language. But this is intended to be a general and basic guide based on how carriers choose to market themselves.
With that in mind, let’s cover some of the airlines that tend to cause the most confusion…
In this post:
ANA is pronounced “A-N-A”
Japanese Star Alliance carrier All Nippon Airways has the abbreviation “ANA,” and that’s generally sounded out letter by letter. So you’d call it “A-N-A, and not “anna.” It’s a different story in Japanese, but I’m trying to keep things simple here…
Etihad Airways is pronounced “e-ti-had”
If you want to pronounce Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways’ name correctly without overcomplicating things, you’re pretty safe if you go with “e-ti-had” (make sure you pronounce it as three syllables rather than two).
That being said, if you truly want to pronounce it correctly and be a little more authentic to the Arabic pronunciation, go with “it-tee-had,” strange as it might sound in English. That’s because in Arabic (based on my understanding), the “e” sounds a little more like an “i,” and the “t” sound is also a little different, because there’s no Arabic letter for the typical “t” sound in English.
EVA Air is pronounced “E-V-A”
Taiwanese Star Alliance carrier EVA Air is supposed to be pronounced as “E-V-A Air.” Personally I think just pronouncing it as “ee-vah” sounds so much nicer, but that’s not the official pronunciation. That being said, lots of people do still refer to the airline as “ee-vah,” so odds are that people will know what you’re talking about if you pronounce it that way. For example, it’s much more common to sound out “EVA” than it is to sound out “ANA.”
ITA Airways is pronounced “ee-tah”
Italian national carrier ITA Airways is sounded out “ee-tah,” rather than reading out the letters as “I-T-A.” This is also in part because in Italian, the letter “I” is pronounced as a long “E,” while the “A” in Italian is pronounced as a short “A,” which explains why it’s pronounced this way.
JAL is pronounced “jah-l”
Japanese oneworld carrier Japan Airlines has the abbreviation “JAL,” and generally that’s sounded out as one syllable. So you’d call it “jah-l,” rather than “J-A-L.” Now, some people still do call it “J-A-L,” but that’s not the way it’s pronounced in official marketing. It’s interesting to see how ANA and JAL approach this differently. Again, this is specific to English — in Japanese, it would be pronounced “ja-ru,” as I understand it.
LOT Polish Airlines is pronounced “lot”
Polish Star Alliance carrier LOT Polish Airlines is supposed to be pronounced as “lot.” As long as you don’t pronounce it “l-o-t,” you’re good.
Lufthansa is pronounced “luhf-tahn-zah”
Since I speak German, I’m confused by how people are confused about how to pronounce Lufthansa. It’s just “luft-hansa,” exactly as it’s spelled, no? Then again, I’m similarly confused by people not understanding how to pronounce my last name, so that might just be my bias.
The key things to understand are that you don’t want to go too strong on the “loo” sound at the front, the middle of the word doesn’t have a traditional English “th” sound, and the word doesn’t end in “stansa,” as I’ve sometimes heard.
Qatar Airways is pronounced “kah-tahr”
Qatar Airways is known for being one of the world’s best airlines, but how do you pronounce its name? I suppose this comes down to whether you want to pronounce the carrier’s name in an Arabic-sounding way, or more of an English-sounding way. I’m by no means an expert on Arabic, but generally the airline officially pronounces the carrier’s name in two syllables, as “kah-tahr.”
Some mild deviations from that are fine as well, like depending on where you want to put the emphasis. While “cutter” isn’t the correct way to pronounce it, it does seem to be a common way for Brits to say it. No matter what, avoid the beginning of the word being along the lines of “kwah” or “kyu.”
SAS is pronounced “sass”
SkyTeam carrier Scandinavian Airlines is commonly abbreviated as SAS. In Northern Europe (at SAS hubs), you’ll generally hear people refer to the airline as “sass,” saying it all as one syllable. Outside of the region it’s common to hear people sound out the letters, “S-A-S,” but that’s not the official way it’s pronounced.
TAP Air Portugal is pronounced “tap”
Portuguese Star Alliance carrier TAP Air Portugal Air is supposed to be pronounced as “tap.” It’s not “t-a-p,” so in that sense, it follows more of the SAS approach than the EVA approach.
Bottom line
It can be hard for the average person to keep track of the names of airlines. While some airline names can be hard to pronounce due to the words originating in foreign languages, in other cases it’s hard to figure out whether a carrier’s abbreviated name is using acronyms or initialisms.
The above are some of the airlines I see people most struggle with, so hopefully that’s a useful rundown of how to go about pronouncing a carrier’s name, based on how they officially present themselves. Of course in many cases there are variants that are widely used, and it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get the pronunciation right.
What’s your take on pronouncing the names of these airlines? Any other airlines I’m missing that tend to cause confusion?
Etihad is pronounced IT-ti-HAAD. there is definitely a T sound in Arabic. Not sure who tried to sound it out to you.
I'd TAP that.
I'd TAP EVA and ANA or the whole LOT.
Japanese people call ANA Anna, and that's how you should call it, just like you cal Colonge in Germany "Koln", not the perfume way.
You always stick with the way the locals would have called it.
Officially, it’s pronounced as “Ei-En-Ei” as all announcements are made in such a way.
Colloquially though, the locals still say “Anna”.
"it’s much more common to sound out “EVA” than it is to sound out “ANA.”
Really? That would mean its also more common to say Anna than Eva.
I'm no expert here, but never once thought that it was Anna because its an abbreviation of All Nippon Airways. As for EVA, I don't know if its an abbreviation -- I think its a truncation of Evergreen, and also don't remember the last time I thought about EVA, much less said its name outloud.
Clearly, this is directed at Americans.
"Some mild deviations from that are fine as well, like depending on where you want to put the emphasis. While “cutter” isn’t the correct way to pronounce it, it does seem to be a common way for Brits to say it. No matter what, avoid the beginning of the word being along the lines of “kwah” or “kyu.”"
I've never heard a British person say "cutter" - as far as I'm concerned I've only heard...
"Some mild deviations from that are fine as well, like depending on where you want to put the emphasis. While “cutter” isn’t the correct way to pronounce it, it does seem to be a common way for Brits to say it. No matter what, avoid the beginning of the word being along the lines of “kwah” or “kyu.”"
I've never heard a British person say "cutter" - as far as I'm concerned I've only heard Americans say it like that. I agree that it should be "Cat Ar" - the sort of thing a pirate might say if thinking longingly about his pet cat...
How about OMAAT?
Hi, Ben. Bit of an odd one on Etihad. Arabic has a T just like English. In Etihad, it’s like a double T. English does not, however, have the guttural “h” sound, as in the name Ahmad, in Etihad. What you don’t mention also is that English speakers put the stress in the wrong place on Arabic words. For Etihad, correct prononciation is It-ti-haad, two short vowels followed by a long vowel at the end,...
Hi, Ben. Bit of an odd one on Etihad. Arabic has a T just like English. In Etihad, it’s like a double T. English does not, however, have the guttural “h” sound, as in the name Ahmad, in Etihad. What you don’t mention also is that English speakers put the stress in the wrong place on Arabic words. For Etihad, correct prononciation is It-ti-haad, two short vowels followed by a long vowel at the end, with the stress on the last syllable (and not the first): three syllables, stress on the last syllable, same as “entourage” for example. Etihad means union, as the crew will now tell you each time you’re on one of their flights. In Arabic, the airline is called Al-Ittihad, which is what is written on their planes in Arabic. For Qatar, stress is on the first syllable, as in “cutter”. English does not have a letter that corresponds to the guttural K sound in Qatar, or the T sound in Qatar, which is not really a T, but a different letter without an equivalent in English. The way most English speakers pronounce Qatar, as if it’s “catarrh” is wrong. “Cutter” is actually pretty close to the right pronunciation, given the absence of equivalent letters in English. In Arabic, airline is called Al-Qatariyah, as appears on their planes in Arabic.
You're correct.
Regarding TAP, I'm confused. I used to work on a project with them and they were systematically referring to it as "T-A-P", and as such since then I've started calling them this.
In Portugal everybody calls it "tap", not T-A-P. But given that "tap" has a meaning in English, I understand why some people would prefer calling it T-A-P.
Once, in Newark, I asked where the T-A-P counter was, and they replied that the "tap" counter was over there :)
Most Brits I know call it “cat-tar”
New Zealanders will certainly have no problem with the most authentic pronunciation of Etihad!
There’s definitely a T in Arabic.
ت that’s the Arabic letter for T.
I believe what Ben means is that the two Arabic letters for t (ت and ط) do not exactly match English pronunciation
I never understood the logic behind E-V-A.
I read that they want it this way because it's the abbreviation for Evergreen Airlines and even there crews are told to only pronounce it that way. But then it totally doesn't make sense to call the airline "EVA Air", meaning "Evergreen Airlines Air".
Besides, I also see the missed opportunity to pronounce EVA as "ever". The sound of "Ever Air" would be much closer to the original meaning of "Evergreen Airlines".
Although only tangentially related to a primarily Air Travel blog, I don’t think I have ever seen as many misnamed travel brands than Amtrak’s Coast Starlight (the official, trademarked name)
Coastal Starliner
Coast Starliner
Coastal Starlight
Coastal Star
Coast Twilight
Starlight Express
Pacific Starliner
Pacific Starlight
Coast Limited*
Coastal Limited*
*These were both names of trains that ran on the original route within California but discontinued...
Although only tangentially related to a primarily Air Travel blog, I don’t think I have ever seen as many misnamed travel brands than Amtrak’s Coast Starlight (the official, trademarked name)
Coastal Starliner
Coast Starliner
Coastal Starlight
Coastal Star
Coast Twilight
Starlight Express
Pacific Starliner
Pacific Starlight
Coast Limited*
Coastal Limited*
*These were both names of trains that ran on the original route within California but discontinued by 1937, so I suppose vague partial credit to those that use them today.
That said, can you please do one for your surname?
The German pronounciation would be:
Shlap - peek
Sch is pronounced like sh of "ship"
the "a" is like a short groan "ah" in comparision to the "ea" sound in english.
pig is not pronounced like the english name of the animal but with a longer i (similar to the sound in peek)
SAS, JAL and TAP are all acronyms of the past. Scandinavian Airline System, Japan Air Lines and Transportes Aereas Portugese. Also, EVA’s call sign is “Eva” so that only cements that pronunciation.
What about the incorrect addition of an N, at the end of the name, of the Seattle based carrier?
Alaska Air
Hawaiian Airlines
No N for Alaska and Yes N for Hawaiian.
Etihad in Arabic pronunciation:
No: It-tee-had
Yes: It-ti-haad
Um "cutter" is closer to the Arabic pronunciation of Qatar than "kah-tahr".... The point is the emphasis should be placed on the first syllable, not the second as too many Americans do
Regarding Qatar I have to say, if you pronounce the name of this country as it's supposed to be pronounced in the language you are speaking, you should be safe no?
I agree with all except EVA, I worked at SFO for 30 years and handled 1000’s of EVA flights. Now whether the EVA staff just became “Americanized” (I doubt it) even they referred to it as Ev-ah.
Thought I would solve it once and for all when I flew EVA last month, and heard gate agents in the US, Taiwan, and Korea, as well as the pilots and flight crew, call it equally E-V-A and eva.
Genuine question - Ben stated re: Etihad:
you’re pretty safe if you go with “e-ti-had” (make sure you pronounce it as three syllables rather than two).
How could it possibly be pronounced as just two syllables? Am I missing something?
I sometimes hear “Et-had” or “Et-hod” removing the I.
KLM's full name, anyone?
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij
lol wtf
"Royal Aviation Company"
Presumably the Dutc looks funny to English speakers, to which I'd point out that at least the letter combinations are all pronounced the same way regardless of what word they're in and raise them the "-ough" sound in English, for which you have about a 1/8 chance of pronouncing correctly if forced to come across a new word that contains it.
Dutch*
Many older people in Scandinavia pronounce SAS as "ess-aa-ess", with the e as in the word "egg". Maybe it was the official way a long time ago?
My Swedish family has all worked at SAS from the inception of the company through the 2000s and not a single one of them ever referred to the carrier as "sass". It was always "ess-eh-ess".
:)
Ben should have a follow up and write about how the airline names are said in the native language.
I get irritated when people try for Cutter or Gutter, neither of which makes any sense either for an English pronunciation of "Qatar" or a representation of the Arabic.
I blame the Brits.
James K, clearly you are just winding the readers up today, these adulterated American pronunciations of common words have nothing to do with your “Brits”.
UK reader here. I have never once heard any Brit saying anything other than kah-taar. The only time I've ever heard 'cutter' was on an American voice over of a TV ad for the Qatar Foundation. I remember thinking at the time that it stood out as sounding weird. Sorry, as AeroB13a says, can't blame the Brits for this one.
Living in the UK I have never heard anybody in the UK pronounce Qatar as ‘cutter’. I only ever hear it in American news channels—usually Fox.
It feels so odd saying “jahl” so I think I’ll just stick with pronouncing it “Japan Airlines.”
I pronounce Air France the French way :D
Thanks for an updated version of this posting,
For JAL, you state that it is pronounced: “jah-l” and that it is one syllable. That looks like two syllables. Is it "jahl" pronounced or "jah-l"?
The word JAL, is an abbreviation of Japan Airlines. Pronounced JAL in English as there is no (h) or (-) present, yes?
I lived in Japan for many years and still visit frequently. A few of my Japanese friends and colleagues (but not spouse) pronounce it J-A-L in English, interestingly enough, even though they say ジャル (the equivalent of jahl in Japanese phonemes) in Japanese.