TED is the latest in a long list of peculiar airline names over the years which currently include Song (Delta) and more recently Go (which has gone) and of course the British number one in extraordinary monikers Dan Air (allegedly named after a comic character). Ted, a new budget carrier that will take flight this winter, is an offshoot of United Airlines who say that the strange epithet is simply the last three letters of the parent company's name, as in Uni-Ted. It seems that UA is known as ”Ted” in Atlanta but in the way of airline marketing thinking United, currently in administration, has not included Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on its initial list of destinations.
http://www.ual.com