the.com/flight numbers
an airline's way of saying same route, new day, please forget yesterday's delay.
means a code combining an airline's two-letter identifier and a number that labels a specific scheduled flight route.
from airlines started numbering routes in the early 20th century to organize timetables; low numbers went to prestige routes, and the practice of retiring numbers after disasters began soon after, borrowed from how ships retire names.
even or oddeven numbers typically fly east, odd fly west
retired numbersairlines permanently drop numbers after fatal crashes
low number prestigeflight 1 often goes to an airline's flagship route
same number, different planeone number can be reused daily for months
for instance
pan am 103 — lockerbie bombing, 1988, number never reused
american 11 — september 11, 2001, retired industry wide
british airways 001 — prestige concorde route, london to new york
qantas 1 — sydney to london, airline's flagship heritage route