国家航空公司

The term Flag carrier is a legacy of the time when most countries had a state owned airline. However, many of these airlines have been privatised and the airline industry deregulated, allowing multiple airlines to compete within each country's market. This has rendered the term less important than it was in the past.

The legacy of flag carriers can still be seen by the restrictions in international air travel through bilateral agreements between countries (see Open Skies), exemplified by the Bermuda Protocols — a set of air services agreements between the United States and the United Kingdom originally signed in 1945 (Bermuda 1) but revised in 1977 (Bermuda 2) to redress the balance of air service advantage by limiting the number of airlines which could be operated on certain routes.

Some countries (notably the United States of America) have legislation that requires the use of a national flag carrier, where possible, when travelling using government funds. One example is the Fly American Act.