Flying our Nation's Flag Trivia Quiz

Answer: Colombia

Avianca is the national airline of Colombia, and is based out of El Dorado International Airport in Bogota. Avianca was founded on December 5, 1919 and is the second oldest airline that remains in operation (as of 2018). Avianca has launched subsidiaries in other South and Central American nations including Ecuador and Argentina.

Answer: Bhutan

Drukair (aka Royal Bhutan Airlines) was founded on April 5, 1981. It is a small airline based out of Bhutan's Paro Airport, which is located 34 miles (54 km) from Thimphu, Bhutan's capital. The airport sits within a mountain valley and it can be fairly challenging for pilots to land there. There are no lights at the airport making night landings prohibited.

Answer: Angola

TAAG is the national airline of the Republic of Angola. Its name is short for Transportes Aéreos de Angola. The airline was founded in 1938 as DTA (Divisão dos Transportes Aéreos), prior to Angola declaring its independence from Portugal in 1975. It was renamed TAAG in 1973. TAAG is based out of Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola's capital city. TAAG was at one time banned from flying to the European Union due to poor safety standards.

Answer: KLM (Netherlands)

KLM is the national airline of the Netherlands. KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij) was founded on October 7, 1919, making it the oldest airline that is still in operation (as of 2018). KLM is based out of Schiphol Airport, located a short distance from Amsterdam. On September 30, 2003, Air France and KLM merged into one company.

However, despite sharing revenue, both airlines maintain their own separate operations.

Answer: Lufthansa

Lufthansa is the largest airline in Germany. It was founded on January 6, 1953. Lufthansa operates its primary hub out of Frankfurt am Main Airport and its secondary hub from Munich Airport. Lufthansa is one of the strongest airlines in Europe having taken over several airlines from other European nations.

These include Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines (Belgium) and Swiss International Air Lines. Sabena was once the national airline of Belgium, but it went out of business in 2001 with much of its assets becoming Brussels Airlines.

Answer: Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia began its life in 1947 as a subsidiary of Dutch airline KLM, since Indonesia was still nominally a Dutch colony at that time. It became the national airline of Indonesia after the country's independence was formally recognized by the Netherlands in 1949.

Garuda is named after a legendary bird from the Hindu religion. It is said that the Hindu god Vishnu would use the bird Garuda for transportation. Garuda, the airline, is based out of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia. This one may have been tricky as the flags of Indonesia and Poland are very similar. The difference being that Poland's flag is white over red, not red over white. Singapore's flag is also similar, but it has a white crescent moon and five white stars in the upper left corner.

Answer: TAROM

TAROM (aka Transporturile Aeriene Române) is the national airline of Romania, and was founded on September 18, 1954. TAROM is based out of Henri Coandă International Airport (aka Otopeni), located approximately 10 mi (16 km) north of Bucharest, Romania. TAROM is owned by the Romanian government, who control over 97% of the company as of the end of 2018. MALEV is a defunct airline that was once the flag carrier of Hungary. TAP is the national airline of Portugal and SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) is shared by Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

Answer: United Arab Emirates

Eithad Airways is one of two major airliners that are based out of the United Arab Emirates, the other being Emirates. Etihad Airways is the younger of the two airlines, having been formed in 2003, and is based out of Abu Dhabi International Airport. Emirates is based out of Dubai International Airport. Both airlines are known for catering to wealthy passengers, with their aircraft equipped with private first class suites.

Answer: Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand was founded in 1940 as Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL). At one time, Air New Zealand offered passengers scenic flights over Antarctica. However, on November 28, 1979, Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed into a volcano in Antarctica named Mount Erebus. All 237 passengers and crew members aboard were killed and Air New Zealand subsequently ended all such sightseeing flights.

I hope you were careful with this one as you may have mistaken the flag of New Zealand for the flag of Australia, which has six white stars (one of them situated below the Union Jack).

Answer: Kazakhstan

Air Astana is the national airline of Kazakhstan and was founded on August 29, 2001. It is based out of Almaty International Airport. Almaty (aka Alma-Ata) is Kazakhstan's largest city and was its first capital following its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Astana became Kazakhstan's capital in 1997. The name Astana simply means "capital city" in the Kazakh language.