When you sign up or ask for a name change you will see this notice.
This includes both the airlines and the airline group names and the airlines parent company name and can include other transportation companies including government agencies if the name is close enough. Adding VA or Virtual or minor misspellings do not change thing, looking at it your intent is as important as the actual text. What you call yourself outside of FSA I don't really care, but on the platform you need to follow the rules.Notice: FSAirlines not allow the use of the names or trademarks of active real world Airlines and can include other transportation names i, Airline Groups or other Airline related companies for Virtual Airlines on this site.
It some times takes some judgement, lots of airlines want to be 'United', but there is a United Airlines based in the States, so 'British United' or 'UNITED VIRTUAL MEXICO' are OK because they are not trying to be the real world united but 'United USA' is too close. Likewise there are often attempts to be 'Virgin something' and of course there are lots of real world Virgin companies so no go.
My normal test of is something valid is just to Google search it, if an airline or travel related company shows up on the first page or two its not going to get approved.
We do allow the use of airlines that are no longer in operation as long as they have been out of operation for at least three years, we wait that long in case they come back.
There is some automatic screening when you create an airline, but its not perfect and when you as for a new name then I review it before it goes into effect, but in general I don't go looking for violators, but when I do come across them I try to contact them an ask them to change there name but if they are not responsive or resist changing I am sometimes forced to change it for them.
There are VA's on the system that have names that may appear to violate this rule but often they have received permission, but there are some where the permission was given to an admin who is no longer on the platform or that have flown under the radar for so long its clear the real airline is not going to complain so we will allow them to continue. So if a VA has had a name for more than 3 years I won't ask them to change it but less than that if it comes to my attention I will ask them to change there name.
I am always surprised on how stubborn and angry some people get when I ask them to change or decline there new name, and the more they insist the less willing to compromise I get. Sometimes they will even send faked 'certificates' trying to show they have permission and I have been at this long enough to know what the correspondence from the airline is going to look like when i get something that is an obvious forgery the conversation ends.
I do admit I sometime get annoyed at VA's that are continually changing there names and sometimes will refuse just because they have done too many times for my liking.
While I said I don't go looking for them in researching for this post I found a number of airlines who are in violation and I will be asking them to change there names.
Update 11 Nov, 2021: I have been struggling with this issue for some time and have seen too many VA's trying to pass off fake permission documents that for me are very difficult to verify. So unless you have an large existing VA outside of FSA that is already using that name, permission in FSA will not be approved.
I am not going force anyone to change there name if they were granted approval before November 2021 or if they have been using the name for more than three years. There may be rare situations where I will grant the use of a name or trademark but complaining that process is unfair or why are they allowed to use the name when we are not are both grounds for rejecting the use of a real world name.
Edit 2023-11-03: In addition to using the names of real world airlines, we are also going to prohibit names that imply sexual content, illegal or other inappropriate activities, as well as the names of other well known companies or organizations, even if they are not aviation related. This is totally at the discretion of the administrator, there will be no complaining.
Edit 2024-06-04: Note this restriction is not just about using the name, it can also include using a real world airlines IATA code, airline initials or slogan in your airline name. Many of our members from Russia want to be Aeroflot, and that airlines code is 'AFL' and its slogan is 'Russian Airlines' so 'AFL Virtual' and 'Russian Airlines' or 'Russian Airlines Virtual' will not be allowed. If you are using names like that from before June 2024 I will not be asking you to change it, but going forward the answer will be no.
