American Eagle Airlines Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group Inc., announced it will change its name this spring to simply ‘Envoy.’

American Eagle Airlines has been American’s regional jet service, used mostly to move passengers from one destination to American Airlines hub cities, while the American Eagle brand consists of the 10 carriers currently providing regional service for the merged American and US Airways networks, all of which will fly under the American Eagle brand.

Officials said the change is being made to give the company its own distinct identity and eliminate the confusion between the company's current name and American Eagle, the regional flying brand of American Airlines, Inc. With the formation of American Airlines Group, the 10 carriers currently providing regional service for the legacy American and US Airways networks will all eventually fly under the American Eagle brand.

“Our people and our company – which is one the largest regional carriers in the world with some of the best people in our business – deserve a name that is all our own," said Pedro Fabregas, the president and CEO of American Eagle Airlines, in a statement. "By taking on the Envoy name, we can better differentiate ourselves from the competition and better market ourselves. This is important for both our people and our company as we further expand our ground handling business."

Got all that? No?

Well it is somewhat confusing. And any name change to an existing brand is sometimes wrought with confusion. But branding expert Rob Frankel told TravelPulse.com that the change from American Eagle to Envoy sounds too arbitrary and too rushed.

“There’s literally nothing they did right here,” said Frankel, who has consulted on branding for dozens and dozens of Fortune 1000 companies. “There seems to be no rationale on the corporate side or the consumer side. Look, what you have here is sort of like having a really smart seven-year old daughter and your sewer main breaks and you send her out to fix it. Well, she’s smart, but she’s unqualified to do this. There’s no relevant meaning to the brand.”

Chicago-based branding expert Liz Strauss disagrees. She says that the more youthful target audience doesn’t care about brand relevance or loyalty anymore, just what works.

“I think it’s a good move,” she said. “Airlines like JetBlue and Southwest have established an entirely different market for an entirely different customer, so there’s lots of good reasons to be happy about the name change. I have a 27-year old son. He doesn’t care if brand X has 100 years experience, he just understand what services him now. The younger generation is not very loyal, it’s all about value to them.”

American Eagle Inc. said customers traveling on both American Eagle Airlines and American Eagle-branded regional air service will not experience any changes to their travel experience as a result of this name change. Ticket counters and gates will continue to be branded American and American Eagle and Envoy's aircraft will continue to operate using the American Eagle brand and livery.

Once the necessary regulatory processes and approvals are complete, "Operated by Envoy" will be added to the company's aircraft paint scheme and noted on customers' tickets much like it is for American's other regional carrier partners currently flying using the American Eagle brand.

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