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Oceanic Airlines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oceanic Airlines, and less frequently, Oceanic Airways, is the name of a fictional airline used in several films, television programs, and comic books—typically works that feature plane crashes and other aviation disasters, with which a real airline would prefer not to be associated.

The Oceanic Airlines logo, from the ABC television series Lost.

The brand is used prominently in the TV series Lost, where Oceanic Airlines is featured branded with a highly stylized logo depicting an Australian Aboriginal dot painting that resembles a nazar, a bullseye, an island, or an "O". The show's fictional storyline begins with the crash of an airline flight called Oceanic Flight 815.

Airlines with this name have also been featured in other media, starting as early as the mid-1960s.[citation needed] Before Lost, the most prominent use of Oceanic Airlines was in the 1996 film Executive Decision. The film's producers shot extensive footage of two actual Boeing 747s with Oceanic Airlines logo and livery, though not the same logo used later on Lost. This stock footage has been reused in several films and television programs, spreading the Oceanic Airlines brand across various otherwise unrelated fictional universes.

Appearances

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The following sources feature an airline called Oceanic Airlines.

Lost

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Oceanic Airlines is a central plot element in the TV series Lost. The show explores the aftermath of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 (a Lockheed L-1011 was used to create the crash, but the plane in-universe is stated as a Boeing 777) traveling from Sydney to Los Angeles. The producers of Lost also created a now-defunct website for the fictional airline, including clues and references to the show's plot. In flashforwards, a group of characters who survive the crash (Hurley, Kate, Jack, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron) are nicknamed the "Oceanic Six." In January 2008, viral marketing billboards for Oceanic Airlines were placed by ABC in various large cities around the world as part of the Find 815 alternate reality game. Fictitious TV advertisements for the company also aired on ABC and the internet, including one advertisement that apparently airs in an alternate universe where Flight 815 did not crash and Oceanic has a "perfect safety record". The flight number 815 is a nod to Disney's Peter Pan animation[citation needed]: while flying into the Big Ben clock dial, Peter Pan sets the time to 8:15. This reference later shows up in Once Upon a Time.

Other media

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Apps and Internet

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  • Apple iPhone OS 3.0 launch (17 March 2009): While demonstrating cut and paste features on the iPhone 3G, Scott Forstall is seen creating an email which shows the times of a flight he has booked on Oceanic Flight 815.[1]
  • Google Inbox: The mobile and web app Google Inbox displayed Oceanic Flight 22, SFO-JFK for 4 December, 8:00 AM as an example reminder on first use for web app users.[2]

Comics

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Film

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  • Executive Decision (1996): The entire plot happens on Oceanic Airlines Flight 343, a Boeing 747 flying from Athens, Greece to Washington, DC.[citation needed]
  • For Love of the Game (1999): An Oceanic flight is announced over the PA system in the airport lounge near the end of the movie.[citation needed]
  • Nowhere to Land (2000 television movie): A Boeing 747-200 from Sydney to LAX flying with a bio-chemical agent bomb programmed to detonate one hour prior to landing.
  • Code 11–14 (2003 television movie): an FBI agent searches for a murderer aboard Oceanic Flight 816, a Boeing 747SP bound for Los Angeles from Sydney.
  • Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004): Bridget and Daniel Cleaver fly to Thailand on an Oceanic Airlines Flight.[citation needed]
  • Survivor (2015): A flight from Heathrow, London to New York carried out by Oceanic Airlines.
  • Downsizing (2017): While not explicitly mentioned within the film, some of its props suggest that the flight was meant to be an Oceanic Airlines one during its production.[3]
  • 97 Minutes (2023): Oceanic Airlines is the branding used in this movie, where a 767 is hijacked.[citation needed]

Radio

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  • Cabin Pressure (25 December 2010): In the Christmas special "Molokai", First Officer Richardson accidentally wishes a Shinto-Buddhist controller at Oceanic ATC a merry Christmas.[citation needed]

Television

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Video games

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  • Dead Island (2011): After the first boss fight, the player hears a radio dispatch from Oceanic Flight 1012 stating that the plane will land in the jungle. When the player gets to the roof of the building, they can actually see the plane pass by the coast as it prepares to crash in the jungle. The plane has also broken into 3 parts (cockpit, midsection and tail), as did Oceanic 815.[citation needed]
  • The Wolf Among Us (2013): An Oceanic Airlines advertisement is displayed on the roof of a taxi.[citation needed]
  • Supertuxkart (2015): An advertisement featuring Oceanic Airlines can be seen in the lobby of the island airport and in a stadium.[citation needed]

Reused footage

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In Executive Decision (1996 film), Oceanic Flight 343 from Athens to Washington, D.C. was hijacked by an Islamic terrorist. Stock footage from Executive Decision was reused in the following:

List of fictional Oceanic Airlines flights

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Flight number Incident description Occurrence Aircraft used
1097 Carrying money for the Federal Reserve Bank. White Collar: 06.05 "Whack-A-Mole"
1012 Crashed onto the island of Banoi during a localized zombie apocalypse. Dead Island Airbus A310
2703 The flight missed by Jackson Avery Grey's Anatomy (season 12 episode 11)
816 Serial killer pursued by FBI agent on Boeing 747SP. Code 11-14 Boeing 747SP
815 Explosive decompression caused by electromagnetic pulse. Lost Boeing 777-200ER, Lockheed L-1011 used as prop wreckage.[9]
815 Shot down by surface-to-air missile. Chuck: 01.02 "Chuck versus the Helicopter" around 06:55
762 Forced landing caused by lightning strike. Category 6: Day of Destruction Boeing 747-400
762 Nerve agent attack threatened by mental illness sufferer. Nowhere to Land Boeing 747-200
456 First officer murdered in-flight and aircrew members afflicted by illness. Diagnosis: Murder: 04.23 "Murder in the Air" (24 April 1997)
408 Brought down by a magical storm over Canada. Champions Online
343 Skyjacking by Islamic terrorists; both pilots murdered; aircraft retaken in-flight by special forces. Executive Decision Two aircraft used: Boeing 747-200 and Boeing 747-100
105 Skyjacking by North Korean extremists; aircraft retaken in-flight by JAG personnel. JAG: 05.18 "The Bridge at Kang So Ri"
017 Aircraft ditched in the Atlantic Ocean, 80 miles south of Miami, Florida. Flipper: 02.07 "The Ditching" Douglas DC-3
009 Out to Sea
22 Was an example reminder for Inbox by Gmail users, from SFO-JFK on 4 December, at 8:00 AM. Inbox by Gmail
57 The crew must solve an air marshal's murder on a NYC-London flight with the help of a mystery writer and his daughter. Castle: 07.21 "In Plane Sight" Boeing 747, possibly the -200 variant
unk Forced to turn around after Adam Goldberg begged them to. "The Goldbergs": 03.14 "Lainey Loves Lionel" unk
317 Adam's dad buys Adam a ticket on Oceanic Airlines to go to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama "The Goldbergs": 03.22 "Smother's Day"
784 A flight from Heathrow, London to New York carrying a terrorist. "Survivor"
209 Flight crash caused by aging aircraft frame. NationStates

Fictional Fleet

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According to all appearances made by Oceanic Airlines, the fleet consists of the following real-life aircraft:

Further reading

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "IPhone Software 3.0 - Copy & Paste Demonstration". YouTube. March 2009.
  2. ^ "Oceanic Airlines mentioned on new Google Inbox tutorial". 24 October 2014. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Propabilia.com - A to Z Auction". iCollector.com. 2022.
  4. ^ "After The Sunset". trailers.apple.com. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Murder in the Air". TV.com. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  6. ^ "Vanished". TV.com. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  7. ^ "The Bridge at Kang So Ri". TV.com. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  8. ^ "The West Palm Beach Story". TV.com. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  9. ^ "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar". www.widebodyaircraft.nl. Widebody Aircraft Parade. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
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