Fictional airline featured in several creative works
Oceanic Airlines, and less frequently, Oceanic Airways, is the name of a fictionalairline 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 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
The following sources feature an airline called Oceanic Airlines.
Lost
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 815alternate 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
Apps and Internet
AppleiPhone 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]
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.
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
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]
Castle "In Plane Sight" (27 April 2015): Oceanic Air appears as the airline Richard Castle and his daughter Alexis are on during a flight from New York to London. The air marshal is murdered, and Castle and his daughter must find the killer with the help of the NYPD from the ground.[citation needed]
Colony "Eleven. Thirteen" (12 January 2017): Maddy looks up her husband's Oceanic Airlines' flight on her tablet which reads "Flight Status Not Available" prior to the Arrival.[citation needed]
Criminal Minds Beyond Borders (12 April 2017): Flight attendant murdered aboard Oceanic flight to Singapore on Flight 815, the same flight number from Lost.
Crossing Jordan "Conspiracy" (17 March 2003): Jordan and a detective chase down Henry Ross, a man who framed his wife for his faked death, to an airport just before he attempts to use a $30,000 Oceanic Airline open-ended, multi-stop ticket to escape the country. Damon Lindelof, who co-produced this episode, was often a writer and/or producer for this series, as well as Lost.[citation needed]
FlashForward "No More Good Days" (24 September 2009): The FBI agents Mark Benford and Demetri Noh are staking out taking photos of a woman, a billboard with the Oceanic Airlines logo can be seen. The tagline states "Perfect Safety Record".[specify]
JAG (TV series, S5 - E18, 2000) Harm and Mac are on their way to Korea with Oceanic flight 105.[citation needed]
Total Drama Action "The Aftermath: Pt. Four" (10 December 2009) When Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet are at the airport and about to board the plane, the Oceanic Airlines logo can be seen in front of a boarding gate with the flight number being 815, the same flight number as in Lost.[citation needed]
Futurama "Möbius Dick" (4 August 2011): The aircraft tail, which couldn't be initially found in Lost, is shown to be placed in the fictional Bermuda Tetrahedron.[citation needed]
Grey's Anatomy (season 12 episode 11): Oceanic Airlines is visible as Jackson Avery approaches the check-in desk, and again behind him as he tries to board the flight his wife April has already boarded.[citation needed]
The Pretender "Flyer" (19 October 1996): When Jarod returns to the junk yard where the retired planes are, you see an Oceanic airplane in the background.[citation needed]
The Strain (season 3 episode 8): When Dr. Goodweather and Dutch are listening to the Regis Air 753 voice data recorder, they hear JFK air traffic control instructing the pilots: "Regis 753, foxtrot short at four left. Follow the Oceanic 737 to the ramp". The pilot responds, "753, crossing four left, Oceanic in sight. Turning left at foxtrot".[citation needed]
Up All Night "Travel Day" (16 February 2012): Reagan and Chris travel with Amy for the first time. At the airport check-in, the camera pans to Oceanic Airlines, the counter next to the fictitious Pathway Air that the couple was heading to.[citation needed]
White Collar "Whack-A-Mole" (11 December 2014): The plane targeted by the Pink Panthers is Oceanic Flight 1097 scheduled to land at JFK 3 days later.[citation needed]
Zero Hour: In promotional material of a magazine named Modern Skeptic-published by a main character- a cover asks, "What really happened to Oceanic Flight 815?", and features a photo of the Island just before it moves.[citation needed][specify]
The Goldbergs "Lainey Loves Lionel" (10 February 2016): Adam flies on Oceanic to Seattle to see his girlfriend, Dana.[citation needed]
The Goldbergs "Smother's Day" (4 May 2016): Adam's airplane ticket to space camp has an Oceanic logo.[citation needed]
The Goldbergs "MTV Spring Break" (4 April 2018): Erica and Barry fly on Oceanic to Fort Lauderdale for MTV Spring Break and to see Pops.[citation needed]
The Serpent "Episode 7" (1 January 2021): An Oceanic Airlines flight is seen landing at an airport in Paris[citation needed]
Video games
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]
Panic in the Skies! (1996 television movie): A Royce Air International Boeing 747 is struck by lightning shortly after takeoff in America, en route for Europe. In some scenes, the Royce Air International logo is not visible, with Oceanic Airline markings in their place.
