air travel meaning

The Geography of Transport Systems

The spatial organization of transportation and mobility

5.5 – Air Transport

Authors: dr. john bowen and dr. jean-paul rodrigue.

Air transportation is the mobility of passengers and freight by any conveyance that can sustain controlled flight.

1. The Rise of Air Transportation

Air transportation was slow to take off after the  Wright Brothers breakthrough at Kitty Hawk in 1903. More than a decade passed before the first faltering efforts to launch scheduled passenger services. On January 1, 1914, the world’s inaugural scheduled flight with a paying passenger hopped across the bay separating Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida.

In its earliest years, the airline industry had a symbiotic relationship with military aviation. World War I, which began just months after that first flight from Tampa, provided a powerful spur to the development of commercial aviation as air power began to be used strategically, and better aircraft were quickly introduced. The war left a legacy of thousands of unemployed pilots and surplus aircraft, along with an appreciation for the future significance of aviation.

After the war, civilian airliners improved rapidly. The non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic in 1927 was a key event as the range and navigational capabilities of the emerging air transport system were tested. For instance, the 8-12 passenger Dutch-built Fokker Trimotor, the most popular airliner in the early interwar years, had a top speed of 170 kilometers per hour and a range of 1,100 kilometers, which is less than the distance between Amsterdam and Rome. By the eve of World War II, airlines worldwide were adopting the USA-built Douglas DC-3 with a capacity of 28 passengers, a speed of 310 kilometers per hour, and a range of more than 2,400 kilometers nonstop, able to  fly across the US with just three stops. The DC-3 made its maiden commercial flight in 1936 between New York and Chicago, a vital business route highlighting the commercial significance of fast-changing technology.

Governments supported the emergence of the airline industry through ownership or subsidies. In Europe, governments established new passenger airlines, while on the other side of the Atlantic, the American government heavily subsidized airmail .  Airmail was one of the earliest commercially relevant applications of air transportation because it helped accelerate monetary transactions and tie together far-flung enterprises, facilitating the emergence of continental and intercontinental enterprises. US airmail subsidies also fostered the emergence of the first major US passenger airlines.

By the eve of World War II, air travel was quite literally taking off. In the US, for instance, the number of passengers grew fivefold from 462,000 to 1,900,000 between 1934 and 1939. Still, aviation remained far beyond the means of most travelers, especially for long-haul routes. For instance, in 1936, Pan American World Airways launched services across the Pacific with a roundtrip fare of $1,438 (about $26,900 in 2020 dollars) between San Francisco and Manila. As in this example, many of the long-haul air services were to colonies and dependencies. Only the elite or government officials could afford such early intercontinental routes .

Yet war again catalyzed the growth of air transportation since airpower became an ever more crucial element of military operations. New airports, vast numbers of trained pilots, great strides in jet aviation, and other aviation-related innovations, including radar, were among the legacies of World War II. Boosted by such developments and the broader economic boom that followed the war, air transportation finally became the dominant mode of long-haul passenger travel in developed countries. By the 1950s, air travel had become more widely advertised, and standardized fare structures were emerging. In 1956, more people traveled on intercity routes by air than by Pullman car (sleeper) and coach class trains combined in the US. For the first time in 1958, airlines carried more passengers than ocean liners across the Atlantic.

The speed advantage for aviation grew with the advent of jet travel in the mid-1950s. In October 1958, the  Boeing 707 took its maiden commercial flight with a Pan American World Airways route linking New York and Paris, with a refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland. The B707 was not the first jetliner, but it was the first successful one. The B707 and other early jets, including the Douglas DC-8, doubled the speed of air transportation and radically increased airline productivity, enabling fares to fall . Just a few years after the B707’s debut, airlines had extended jet service to most major world markets. The technical benefits of jet planes, such as better ranges, changed the structure of air networks as airlines bypassed airports that conventionally had acted as gateways because of refueling stops. This was the case for Gander in Canada and Recife in Brazil for transatlantic flights.

Jet transportation facilitated the extension of the linkages between people and places . For example, through the mid-1950s, all major league baseball teams in the US were located in the Manufacturing Belt, situated no more than an overnight rail journey apart from one another to permit closely packed schedules. The speed and ultimately lower cost of air transportation freed teams to move to the untapped markets of the Sunbelt. By the mid-1960s, half a dozen teams were strung out across the South and West, complementing and competing against those that remained in the Frostbelt.

In the years since the beginning of the Jet Age, commercial aircraft have advanced markedly in capacity and range. Just 12 years after the debut of the 134-seat (in a typical two-class configuration) B707, the 366-seat (in a typical three-class configuration) B747 made its maiden flight. The economies of scale fostered by the 747 and other wide-body jets helped to push real airfares downward , thereby democratizing aviation beyond the so-called “Jet Set”. Like the B707, the B747 premiered on a transatlantic route from New York City. However, the B747, particularly the longer-range B747-400 version introduced in the late 1980s, has been nicknamed the “Pacific Airliner” because of its singular significance in drawing Asia closer to the rest of the world and because Asia-Pacific airlines have been  major B747 customers .

By the 2010s, the majority of the B747s were being retired and replaced by longer-range and more fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft such as the B777, the A330, the B787, and the A350. On transpacific routes, the 787, for instance, has a fuel economy of about 39 passenger-kilometers per liter of jet fuel versus about 23 passenger-kilometers per liter for the Boeing 747-400ER. The triumph of widebody twinjets is most evident in the transatlantic and transpacific markets, including the introduction of the A380 in 2007 to develop a niche of a high-capacity aircraft servicing long hauls between major airports.

Air transportation is now overwhelmingly dominant in transcontinental and intercontinental travel and has become more competitive for shorter trips in many regional markets. Low-cost carriers (LCCs) have been instrumental in extending aviation’s reach to short-haul markets. The pioneering LCC, Southwest Airlines, sought to make flying cheaper than driving on the first markets it served in the early 1970s: the Texas “Golden Triangle” linking Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Since then, LCCs have proliferated across developed markets and, more recently, in emerging markets. In developing countries, the ascent of LCCs has been partly fueled by the poor quality of land transportation, making air travel an attractive option for national inter-city routes.

Interestingly, since their introduction in the late 1950s, commercial jets have  not improved much in terms of speed apart from a small fleet of supersonic but commercially unsuccessful Concorde jets (which flew on a handful of transatlantic routes between 1976 and 2003). Since the end of Concorde services, the fastest airliners in regular use have had cruising speeds about as fast as the B707s of the early 1960s. However, introducing long-haul aircraft has produced new rounds of time-space convergence. For instance, in 2018, twenty US cities had nonstop services to at least one destination in Asia, up from 13 US cities in 1998. Boston had nonstop links to Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong in 2018, whereas two decades earlier, all those markets would have required a time-consuming connection at a larger hub. Meanwhile, there have been repeated attempts to launch new supersonic airliners. In 2021, United Airlines placed orders for 15 aircraft from Boom Supersonic. The new jets, each seating 65 to 80 passengers and cruising at Mach 1.7, will begin flying in 2029 if all goes according to plan.

Perhaps the most significant improvement in aviation is the reduced risks of accidents . If civil aviation had had the same accident rate per million departures as in the early 1960s, there would have been the equivalent of about three fatal accidents somewhere in the world per day in 2018. Instead, there were nine fatal accidents worldwide for the whole year .

The world’s busiest air routes are mainly short-range sections between cities less than 1,000 km apart, with many of these city pairs found in emerging markets. More generally, short-haul flights predominate despite the expansion of long-haul flights and the increased globalization of the economy. Importantly for the world as a whole, about 59% of airline seats were on domestic flights in 2018, and for larger countries, the share was even higher, such as 88% in China.

Air transportation’s share of world trade in goods is less than 1% measured by weight but more than 35% by value . Typically, air transportation is most important for time-sensitive, valuable, or perishable freight carried over long distances. Air cargo has been central in “just-in-time” production and distribution strategies with low inventory levels, such as for Apple iPhones. Air cargo is also vital in emergencies when the fast delivery of supplies prevails over cost issues. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, air cargo carriers were crucial in rushing ventilators and other equipment worldwide. Later in the pandemic, the same carriers helped speed the distribution of vaccines and supported the increasing demand for goods due to online purchases.

2. Civil Aviation and Activity Spaces

Air transportation has transformed society at scales ranging from the local to the global. Aviation has made economic and social activities in many parts of the world faster, more interconnected, varied, and more affluent . Still, those gains have come with externalities such as congestion and environmental challenges.

a. The acceleration of the material world

As the fastest mode, air transportation has been associated with the speeding up of daily life . This effect is most apparent in the astonishing delivery times for goods ordered online from sites such as Amazon.com. In 2019, Amazon offered two-day deliveries to all of the United States for millions of goods and next-day delivery for a narrower range of goods. The speed of the company’s deliveries depended largely on the multiplicity of distribution centers Amazon operated across the country, positioning many goods close to consumers. Still, air cargo has also been vital in rushing goods from global suppliers to distribution centers and consumers. In 2016, Amazon began flying leased aircraft as Amazon Air in the United States, with nationwide flights. The surge in e-commerce during the pandemic propelled the expansion of Amazon Air to a fleet size of 96 aircraft by 2022, a small number of which now operate on routes within Europe.

Passengers move at faster speeds as well. The supersonic Concorde once advertised its service with the slogan “Arrive before you leave”, highlighting the fact that for westbound flights such as London – New York, the local time on arrival (in New York) would be earlier than at departure (in London). As noted above, the Concorde was grounded in 2003. Still, the multiplication of nonstop services means that even at conventional jet speeds (which are about 80 percent the speed of sound), the world is smaller for passengers; the number of unique city pairs served by commercial airlines grew to 22,000 in 2019, about twice the number of twenty years earlier.

The speed of human transportation has changed how people interact in ways that are both positive and negative. For instance, until the advent of low-cost air transportation, the principal means of traveling between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi was a 33- to 36-hour rail journey on the Reunification Express or a similarly tedious bus journey. Now, for those who can afford to fly (low-cost carriers have broadened that population), the cities are just 2 hours apart. The route has become among the most densely trafficked in the world, with 60 flights per day each way in 2018. The result has been an improvement in the lives of traders, bureaucrats, students, tourists, and others traveling between Vietnam’s two largest cities, and the same has occurred in countless other city pairs.

On the other hand, the acceleration of passenger flows around the world has also sped up the diffusion of infectious diseases . In late 2002, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), for instance, began spreading slowly within southern China. Still, within days of reaching Hong Kong in February 2003, the disease was transmitted to Canada, Vietnam, the United States, and the Philippines. Direct nonstop services were an important factor behind a diffusion pattern that may, at first glance, appear random. Ultimately, cases were reported in more than two dozen countries over a matter of weeks, with airports becoming the key frontiers in trying to limit the spread of SARS. Before aviation became widespread, the sheer size of the world afforded a degree of protection from the development of pandemics. But the world is, at least measured in terms of time, much smaller than in the past.

That lesson was repeated on a much larger scale during the COVID-19 pandemic . In early 2020, the coronavirus epidemic first forced the shutdown of large segments of the Chinese air transport system, including international air services to Chinese cities. As the disease spread, travel bans cascaded across the planet, precipitating the worst crisis in the history of the airline industry . In the United States, passengers cleared at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints reached a nadir of 87,500 on April 13, 2020 , just 4 percent of the level on the same date a year earlier. By June 2021, with vaccination increasingly widespread in the United States, the number of passengers processed daily by the TSA reached 70% of pre-pandemic levels, with domestic flights the main driver. By June 2022, this traffic level was at 95%, with the demand considered to have recovered to pre-pandemic levels after a two-year hiatus. Still, international travel lagged mainly due to entry restrictions involving vaccine certificates, testing before arrival, and quarantine requirements. By mid-2022, these restrictions were eased for major destinations in North America and Europe, allowing for the resumption of segments of long-distance international air travel.

b. An interconnected world

At any moment in 2018, an estimated 1.4 million people were airborne on commercial airline flights worldwide. Most were on short-haul flights linking nearby cities within the same country, as evidenced by the most densely trafficked sector, the 454-kilometer hop from Seoul to the resort island of Jeju, off South Korea’s southern coast. At the regional scale, frequent flights have amplified the political and economic integration of regions such as the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In Europe, the phrase “easyJet Generation” refers to young people who have grown up in a region where cheap aviation and porous borders have permitted unprecedented mobility.

At the global scale, increasingly long-haul nonstop services (up to 18 hours in duration ) are both a response and a driver for globalization . Most of the nodes for such flights are world cities , the command-and-control centers of the global economy rank among the best-connected cities in the global airline networks. Yet the links between globalization and the airline industry extend far beyond the main hubs. Manufacturers, especially those producing high-value electronics, rely heavily on air transport to tie together spatially disaggregated operations. For example, by 2019, Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province in China and the largest production base for Apple iPhones, was linked by numerous freighter aircraft flights daily to global markets, including a nonstop 747-freighter flight by Cargolux to Luxembourg.

In addition to the trade networks established by multinational corporations, there are also extensive social networks created by migrants involving recurring air travel. For instance, in 1998, Ethiopian Airlines launched services to Washington, DC, the carrier’s first destination in the United States and not coincidentally home to the largest community of Ethiopians outside Africa. The flow of people between Ethiopia and Washington, DC, is one strand in the larger tapestry of global connections expedited by air transportation.

c. A kaleidoscope of experience

Cheap air transport has enlarged the geographic scope of everyday life and, in so doing, has enriched the lives of many with unprecedented variety. Take first the diversity of goods. By one common measure, the United States imported more than four times the variety of goods in 2018 as in 1972. Much of the increase was attributable to the sharp reduction in transportation costs through containerized maritime shipping, but lower-cost air cargo has also played a role. Many perishables, for instance, such as Valentine’s Day roses bound from Kenya to Europe or Colombia to the United States and fresh tuna shipped from around the world to the fish markets in Japan, move exclusively by air. These markets largely did not exist a few decades ago.

Efficient and affordable air cargo has contributed to changes in diet by making available products in seasons during which they would not be available, to changes in retailing, and correspondingly to changes in manufacturing. Examples abound, such as fresh produce grown in the southern hemisphere available in the northern hemisphere during winter (a phenomenon sometimes referred to as permanent global summertime ), at least for affluent consumers.

Likewise, air transport has catalyzed the emergence of an ever-greater variety of tourist destinations . The markets with the fastest growth rely overwhelmingly on arrivals by air from major source tourist markets such as the United States, Europe, and China. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly curtailed air tourism, particularly at the international level, but by 2022, activities were returning to normalcy, and pent-up demand accelerated the recovery of air tourism.

d. The ascent of affluence

Air traffic is correlated with per capita income, but the relationship is interdependent. More affluent populations can more easily afford what is usually the most expensive mode, but aviation has also been catalytic to economic growth.

In 2019, airlines flew approximately 4.5 billion passengers. The total volume of air passengers equaled nearly 60 percent of the global population. Of course, a much smaller share are actually air travelers, as individuals who use air transportation usually do so several times per year. Therefore, the propensity to fly is highly uneven, as observed in the passenger and freight markets. Flights originating in North America and Europe accounted for 47 percent of airline seat capacity in 2018. However, that share has been declining with faster growth in other regions of the world. For instance, flights from China accounted for 14 percent of seat capacity in 2018, up from 3 percent in 1998.

Both passenger and cargo traffic  have grown rapidly as higher incomes translate into higher values for time and a stronger preference for what is the fastest mode. In fact, air passenger and air cargo traffic have outpaced the growth of the broader global economy .

At the same time, lower transportation costs, in terms of time and money, have encouraged faster income growth. The economic impact of air transportation is most strongly pronounced near air hubs, but the catalytic effect of air accessibility extends across the economy. Whole sectors are strongly dependent on aviation. Logistics, advanced business services such as consulting and advertising, and tourism are among the industries for which air accessibility is vital. It is no coincidence, for instance, that all six major Disney theme parks are located near one of the world’s busiest airports. In 2017, passenger volumes at Orlando International Airport were more than 500 times larger than they had been the year before Disneyworld opened (1971), and what was once a medium-sized Florida city had nonstop links to cities across the United States and Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. Disney’s other parks include Disneyland near Los Angeles International Airport, Disneyland Paris near Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Tokyo Disneyland near Tokyo-Haneda, Hong Kong Disneyland, which shares Lantau island with the most  expensive airport in history , and Shanghai Disney Resort located just a few kilometers south of the city’s main airport.

e. The high costs of aviation

Yet, the huge increase in traffic in Orlando and the more modest increase globally have not been cost-free. In particular, aviation externalities have risen with traffic volumes. The air transport sector accounts for about 3.5 percent of anthropogenic climate change, but its share is expected to climb towards the mid-century. Aviation is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and is likely to remain so after other modes have transitioned to more environmentally friendly fuel sources. Some airlines have experimented with biofuels, but their impact remains marginal so far. Between 2011 and 2019, about 175,000 flights were partly powered by biofuels, but in 2019, more than 100,000 flights per day were powered solely by conventional fuels. A landmark was reached in 2021 when a test flight between Chicago and Washington, DC, ran exclusively on biofuels. In 2023, this was the case for the first transatlantic flight.

Battery-electric aircraft are another avenue to ease the sector’s global climate change impacts. Air taxis using this technology are expected to launch as soon as 2024, but the aircraft being developed are small in their capacity (about five passengers) and range (about 250 kilometers). Airships , which might be suitable for freight transportation in remote areas, still comprise another area of innovation.

Aviation also has significant impacts at the local level, including emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. As with greenhouse gasses, however, growth in emissions (at least when measured per passenger-kilometer) has been stemmed by rapid advances in aviation technology, especially improvements in engine efficiency. The average fuel burn per passenger-kilometer by air transportation fell by 45 percent between 1968 and 2014, and the introduction of a new generation of jet engines portends further gains.

The most apparent externality at the local scale is aircraft noise , and technology has brought impressive gains. For instance, engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney claims up to a 75 percent reduction in the noise footprint (i.e. the area near a runway affected by high noise levels) for its newest large jet engine compared to similar-sized jets operated with an earlier generation of engines. Still, the huge increase in traffic volumes (at least before the COVID-19 pandemic) partly offsets this and other technical improvements in aviation.

3. The Geography of Airline Networks

Theoretically, air transport enjoys greater freedom of route choice than most other modes. Airline routes span oceans, the highest mountain chains, the most forbidding deserts, and other physical barriers to surface transport. Yet, while it is true that the mode is less restricted than land transport to specific rights of way, it is nevertheless more constrained than might be supposed.

a. Structuring factors

Weather events such as snowstorms and thunderstorms can temporarily create disruptions that cascade through hub-and-spoke networks . Volcanic eruptions may also impede air travel by releasing ash into the atmosphere, which can damage and even shut down turbofan engines. Fear of such calamities forced the closing down of the airspace in much of Europe as well as the North Atlantic for nearly a week following an April 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland. Meanwhile, on a more regular basis, aircraft seek to exploit (or avoid) upper atmospheric winds, particularly the jet stream , to enhance speed and reduce fuel consumption.

Yet the limitations that structure air transportation are mainly human creations , especially internationally. The Chicago Convention of 1944 established the basic geopolitical guidelines of international air operations, which became known as the freedoms of the air . First (right to overfly) and second (right for a technical stop), freedom rights are almost automatically exchanged among countries. The United States, which emerged from World War II with by far the strongest airline industry in the world, had wanted third and fourth freedom rights (the right to drop off passengers and cargo and the right to pick up passengers and cargo, respectively, in another country) to be freely exchanged as well. Instead, these and other rights have been the subject of hundreds of carefully negotiated bilateral air services agreements (ASAs). In an ASA, each side can specify which airlines can serve which cities with what size equipment and at what frequencies. ASAs often include provisions regulating fares and revenue sharing among the airlines serving a particular international route.

Other constraints on the geography of air services stem from safety and national security concerns . To limit opportunities for midair collisions, air traffic is channeled along specific corridors so that only a relatively small portion of the sky is in use. Jet Route 80, for example, links Coaldale, Nevada, and Bellaire, Ohio, and accommodates many transcontinental city pairs as well as some shorter haul sectors such as Indianapolis-Denver. Meanwhile, airlines within China face widespread capacity constraints because the People’s Liberation Army controls four-fifths of the country’s airspace and prioritizes military flights over passenger use.

Strategic and political factors also influence route choice over larger scales. The Cold War imposed numerous airspace constraints, preventing the use of polar air routes . The opening of the Siberian airspace to Western airlines in the 1990s permitted more direct routes between cities like London and Tokyo or New York and Hong Kong. However, in 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in the closing of the Russian airspace for most Western airlines, forcing international flights to detour along North America/Asia and Europe/Asia routes. For instance, Lufthansa’s flight between Frankfurt and Beijing detoured to the south of Russia (through Romania, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia), adding hundreds of kilometers and more than an hour of flying time. In turn, Russian airlines were excluded from the airspace of most Western countries. Meanwhile, there has been some progress towards opening up airspace elsewhere in the world. In 2020, some Arab governments opened their airspace to Israeli airlines as part of a broader peace initiative.

b. Liberalization of air travel

These instances of government intervention in airline networks run contrary to the broader trajectory of airline industry liberalization (a term that refers to deregulation and privatization). Since the 1970s, dozens of airlines around the world have been at least partially privatized, meaning that they are now owned by private investors instead of governments. Many airline markets have been deregulated, meaning there are fewer regulations on fares, routes, and other aspects of operations.

In the United States, the Air Deregulation Act of 1978 opened the industry to competition. The results were significant. Once hallowed names, like TWA, Pan Am, and Braniff, sank into bankruptcy, and many new players emerged . Most lasted only briefly, but some have had a more profound, enduring effect on the industry and air transportation. For instance, Southwest Airlines could only serve intra-Texas markets until deregulation freed the low-cost carrier to spread nationwide and beyond.

In Europe, deregulation advanced in a series of stages, culminating in 1997 with the opening of the European market to all European carriers. For instance, the Irish LCC Ryanair operates dozens of bases outside Ireland, its headquarters country, and most of its routes never touch Ireland.

Liberalization has also spread to emerging markets, with a transformative effect in places as different as Indonesia, India, and Brazil. In all these markets, state-owned flag carriers have lost market share to nimbler, privately owned airlines, often including LCCs. The enormous Chinese market has also been partially deregulated, and its leading airlines, while predominantly state-owned, have varying degrees of private ownership.

Meanwhile, in international markets, an important trend in the past few decades has been the proliferation of Open Skies agreements . These agreements remove most restrictions on the number of carriers and routes they may fly between signatory countries. By 2021, the United States alone had Open Skies agreements with more than 128 countries. Perhaps the most important Open Skies agreement links the European Union and the United States. Signed in 2007, the agreement permits any European carrier to fly to any city in the United States and vice versa. It makes it easier for investors from one side of the Atlantic to invest in airlines on the other side and facilitates collaboration among carriers integrated into airline alliances.

Liberalization has fueled the growth of aviation and made the world’s airline networks far more dynamic. Airlines have greater freedom to fly where and when they see commercial potential. For instance, under regulation by the US Civil Aeronautics Board, United Airlines was allowed to add only one city to its network between 1961 and 1978. By contrast, between 1978 and 2018, the airline’s network grew from 93 cities (almost all in the US) to 342 cities worldwide.

Liberalization has not been a one-way street, however. There have been numerous instances of governments reasserting their power in the industry, and the COVID-19 pandemic was an event likely to incite further interventions.

c. Aircraft technology and airline networks

In time, air transportation networks evolved to become increasingly complex, a trend that goes on par with the improvements in the technical capabilities of aircraft, but also their specialization to service-specific markets. Three major categories of passenger jet planes may be recognized, each servicing a specific air transport market :

• Regional market (Short range/haul aircraft) . This market usually involves short flights lasting anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours, which means that they can fly between 6 and 10 legs a day. Embraer’s older ERJs and new E-Jets are examples of planes with relatively small capacities (fewer than 150 passengers) that travel short distances. Regional jets (RJs) like these serve smaller markets and feed hub airports on routes such as Appleton, Wisconsin, to Chicago or Maputo, Mozambique, to Johannesburg. RJs also provide high-frequency point-to-point services between large city pairs.
• Regional and international markets (Medium range/haul aircraft) . This market involves flights between 1 and 4 hours in duration, but longer flights of 5 to 6 hours are also possible, which means 2 to 5 legs per day. The Airbus A320 and Boeing B737 are very flexible aircraft that can be efficiently deployed on short hops but also on transcontinental routes. From New York, all of North America can be serviced by the latest versions of the A320 and B737. This range can also be applied to the European continent, South America, East Asia, and Africa for corresponding market areas. These narrow-body jets are the workhorses of LCCs, including Southwest Airlines, the largest 737 operator.
• International and intercontinental markets (Long-range/haul aircraft) . This market involves flights of 7 or more hours, with 12 hours considered ultra-long-range, which means two legs or fewer per day. The North Atlantic is considered in the lower range of this category since the US East Coast and Western Europe can be connected in 6 to 8 hours. This implies a full rotation of 2 legs per day, with European-bound flights leaving the US East Coast during the night, arriving in Europe in the morning, and heading back in the afternoon to arrive on the East Coast in the evening. There is a variety of aircraft combining high payloads and long-distance ranges. Early variants, such as the B707, have evolved into planes offering high capacity, such as the B747 series, which have evolved into extra long-range abilities. Today, the emphasis in this category is on twin-engine wide-body aircraft with high fuel efficiency and range. As of 2022, the longest-range aircraft were the Boeing B787 series (14,800 km range) and the Airbus A350 series (15,600 km range for the normal version, 18,000 kilometers for the ultra-long-range version). Aircraft such as these can link almost any pair of large cities worldwide if there is enough traffic to make the service profitable.

Across all these categories, a notable trend has been ever-longer ranges. One noticeable effect of improved aircraft technology is the bypassing effect, particularly over long hauls with the possibility of direct connections without intermediary stops . The first 737s in the 1960s had a range of just over 3,000 kilometers. Some of the most recent versions can fly more than 7,000 kilometers nonstop. Longer-range aircraft of all sizes facilitate the fragmentation of intercontinental and transcontinental markets and point-to-point services that depend less on hubs. For instance, in 2019, Norwegian Airlines operated a 737 on a 5,300-kilometer route between Hamilton, Ontario, and Dublin, Ireland. This city pair otherwise would have required a transfer to a hub such as Toronto.

d. Differences by traffic type and seasonality

An important aspect of airline networks is the emergence of separate air cargo services operating on separate networks. Most air cargo is carried in the bellyhold of passenger airplanes and provides supplementary income for airline companies. However, passenger aircraft are operated on routes that make sense for passengers but may not attract much cargo or may not operate at times that make sense for cargo shippers. In response to these factors, a growing number of freighter aircraft operations have spread across the world, using airplanes that carry cargo on the main decks and in their bellyholds and operate routes attuned to the needs of shippers. More than half of all air cargo is carried in freighters, including many operated by combination carriers (e.g., Qatar Airways) that carry passengers and cargo and operate mixed fleets of passenger and freighter aircraft.

More specifically, the air freight market is serviced by five types of operations:

• Passenger airlines (e.g., United Airlines) offer the freight capacity in the bellyhold of their all-passenger aircraft fleet. For these operators, freight services are rather secondary and represent a source of additional income, such as carrying mail . It remains an important market as about 50% of all the air cargo is carried in the bellyhold of regular passenger aircraft. However, low-cost airlines usually do not offer air cargo services since their priority is a fast rotation of their planes and servicing lower-cost airports that do not generate cargo volumes.
• Combination airlines (e.g., Korean Air) have fleets with freighters and passenger aircraft able to carry freight in their bellyhold. Most of the freighter operations involve long-haul services.
• Dedicated cargo operators (e.g., Cargolux) maintain a fleet of cargo-only aircraft and offer regularly scheduled services between the airports they service. They also offer charter operations to cater to specific needs.
• Air freight integrators (e.g., FedEx Express) operate air and ground freight services, providing nearly seamless (at least from the customer’s perspective) door-to-door deliveries.
• Specialized operators (e.g., Volga-Dnepr Airlines) fulfill niche services that cater to specific cargo requirements (e.g., heavy loads) that do not fit the capabilities of standard cargo aircraft.

Generally, the most important air cargo hubs, such as Memphis and Hong Kong, are also the hubs of key carriers. One important exception is Anchorage International Airport. Because freighters have shorter ranges than passenger aircraft and because freight is less sensitive to intermediate refueling stops than passengers, many freighters on transpacific routes refuel in Alaska to maximize their payload and clear US customs.

It is not uncommon for older aircraft, particularly wide-body aircraft, to be converted for cargo operations when they complete their commercial life on the passenger market. For instance, in mid-2022, the fleet of Amazon Air comprised converted Boeing 767 and Boeing 737 freighters. Former passenger jets like these have lower acquisition costs, a vast pool of experienced pilots, and the ready availability of parts for maintenance. On the other hand, new-build jets, such as the popular Boeing 777 freighter used by FedEx on many intercontinental routes, have greater reliability, fuel efficiency, and range.

A final feature of airline networks is their seasonality . Air cargo flows tend to peak near the Christmas season. However, some specific products (e.g., Valentine’s Day flowers in February or the shipment of thousands of tons of Beaujolais Nouveau wine from France to Asia each November) have different temporal patterns. For passenger air transport, July and August are the most traveled months overall, corresponding to the peak tourist season in Europe and North America. Elsewhere in the world, other seasonal patterns may be more important. For instance, in China, the busiest air travel days of the year tend to be close to the Spring Festival (or Lunar New Year) in January or February. The Muslim hajj generates millions of trips to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, over a five-day period each year, with the vast majority of pilgrims flying into either King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah or Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina.

4. Airlines, Hubs, and Alliances

There are several thousand airlines in the world, most of them very small. Only about 1,400 are members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and even among IATA members, a relative handful of airlines account for most of the traffic. In 2018, the top 25 airlines accounted for just over 50 percent of available seat-kilometers (ASKs), a measure of capacity.

Most airlines have strongly centralized networks, and the hubs of the largest airlines are among the busiest airports in the world. Hub-and-spoke systems rely on the usage of an intermediate airport hub. They can either connect a domestic (or regional) air system if the market is large enough (e.g. United States, China, European Union) or international systems through longitudinal (e.g. Reykjavik) or latitudinal (Panama City) or both longitudinal and latitudinal (Dubai) intermediacy. An important aspect of an intermediate hub concerns maintaining schedule integrity. Airports that are prone to delays due to congestion are not effective hubs.

The traffic feed through hubs like Dubai enables the hubbing carrier (Emirates in this instance) to offer higher frequency service with larger aircraft at higher load factors , lowering the per passenger-kilometer cost. Traffic feed further permits a carrier to add services to more thinly traveled markets (e.g., in 2019, Emirates extended new nonstop services between Dubai and Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city).

Beginning in the 1970s, deregulation freed airlines to expand, consolidate, and reconfigure their hub-and-spoke systems to optimize their performance. Computer reservation systems and frequent flyer programs amplified the hubbing advantages of large carriers. These systems and programs leveraged the economies of scale provided by large hub-and-spoke carriers to draw still more traffic onto their networks.

The ability of airlines to spread their networks internationally has been limited both by the persistence of regulations and by the preferences that travelers have for their home country airlines. Carriers have overcome these limitations, at least partially, through the formation of alliances . Alliances are voluntary agreements to enhance the competitive positions of the partners. Members benefit from greater scale economies, lowering transaction costs, and sharing risks while remaining commercially independent. Today, the largest alliance is the Star Alliance, which was launched in 1997 by Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International, and United Airlines. By 2022, 21 others had joined those five carriers, and the alliance’s combined network reached 193 countries with a combined fleet of more than 5,000 aircraft. The two other major alliances are SkyTeam (18 airlines led by Delta and Air France) and Oneworld (15 airlines led by British Airways and American Airlines).

Most large airlines belong to an alliance, a testament to the significant advantages of membership:

• Codesharing . Members of an alliance can sell seats on one another’s flights so that, from the passenger’s perspective, a single airline appears to offer a seamless service even though multiple members’ flights might be involved in getting from A to B. Codesharing effectively enlarges an airline’s network and increases the chance of capturing customers.
• Optimization of connections . Alliance members coordinate schedules at key hubs (e.g., Frankfurt for the Star Alliance) to facilitate connections from one member’s network to another. Adjacent gates in shared terminals accelerate connections. For example, all the Star Alliance airlines serving Beijing are co-located in Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3.
• Geographical specialization . An airline in an alliance can tap global markets while specializing in its home market. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, Star Alliance member Air Canada served only seven hubs in East and Southeast Asia. Still, via its alliance partners, it gained access to dozens of other cities in the region. In turn, Asian members of the Star Alliance, such as Singapore Airlines (SIA), accessed Air Canada’s vast network in its home country.
• Joint marketing . Alliance members reciprocate in frequent flyer programs and other marketing efforts. Travelers can earn and redeem miles across the members of an alliance.

The leading airlines in the alliances are full-service network carriers (FSNCs), also known as legacy airlines. FSNC refers to the fact that these airlines offer a wide array of services (especially for passengers in first or business class), and their key selling point is the reach of their networks (networks that have been stretched by the alliances). The phrase “legacy carrier” highlights the deep roots of these airlines, some of which, like KLM, Qantas, and Delta, rank among the oldest continuously operating carriers in the world.

Yet by the late 1990s, FSNCs as a group were losing the market share to LCCs. In 1998, there were approximately 60 budget airlines globally, and almost all of them were located in the US, Canada, and Western Europe. Together, they accounted for about 7 percent of all departure seat capacity per week worldwide. By 2018, there were approximately 140 LCCs; more than half were based in emerging markets, and accounting for about 31 percent of all seat capacity. Interestingly, budget airlines are most significant in middle-income emerging markets. In 2018, the countries where LCCs accounted for the largest share of capacity included Slovakia, Malaysia, Romania, India, and Mexico. In these countries (and their neighbors), the population that can afford air travel is growing, and competition from ground transport modes and from full-service network carriers (e.g., Air India) is weak. Conversely, budget carriers are weakest or altogether absent from poorer, authoritarian states with heavily protected state-owned flag carriers (e.g., Uzbekistan).

LCCs are distinguished by several  common features :

• Fleet simplicity . Legacy carriers operate diverse fleets because they serve a diversity of routes, from long-hauls to feeders. LCCs emphasize short-haul routes. The minimal number of aircraft types (Southwest and Ryanair only fly B737s, though several different models) lowers operating costs.
• High seating density . Budget airlines pack more seats in a typically all-economy class configuration. For instance, the budget airline EasyJet fits 180 seats in its Airbus A320 aircraft versus 144 seats on the same plane used on intra-European routes for British Airways.
• Fast turnaround times . LCCs operate their networks in ways that keep their aircraft in the air earning money for a higher number of hours. Minimal inflight service, for instance, reduces the time needed to clean and cater flights.
• Rapid growth . This is not just a product of the LCCs’ success but an element of it. Fast growth enables the LCCs to continue adding aircraft and staff at a steady pace, which keeps the average fleet age and average years of employee service low, both of which help keep operations costs low.
• Emphasis on secondary airports . Secondary airports, such as Houston-Hobby instead of George Bush Houston Intercontinental or Charleroi instead of Brussels National, typically have lower landing and parking fees for airlines as well as a more entrepreneurial approach to recruiting new airline services. However, LCCs have also directly challenged established carriers in major airports.
• Reduced importance of hubs . Most LCCs do have hubs, but for some carriers, hubs are substantially less important than they are for legacy carriers. Southwest Airlines, for instance, distributes air traffic more evenly among the top “focus cities” in its network than is true of any traditional hub-and-spoke airline. Whereas nearly half of all seat capacity on Delta Air Lines is on flights leaving just five hub cities, to reach the same share of capacity on Southwest Airlines requires combining eleven focus cities. Spreading traffic reduces vulnerability to congestion and frees aircraft to keep moving rather than waiting for arriving traffic at a hub.
• Aggressive digitalization . Internet booking has partially neutralized the one-time advantage that legacy carriers enjoyed through their proprietary computer reservation systems. LCCs have been industry leaders in using automated kiosks and smartphones to accelerate the check-in process. Digitalization has also facilitated segmented services and monetized once-included amenities such as seat selection, priority boarding, meals, and luggage allowance.
• Avoidance of global alliances . LCCs have stayed out of the big alliances discussed above because they come with obligations that can increase a member’s costs.

These and other advantages explain the gap between fares offered by LCCs and full-service network carriers. In advanced markets, decades of competition between these two types of airlines have whittled away the differences. In 2016, US network carriers had costs per available seat-mile about 40 percent higher than American LCCs. In developing countries, conversely, the budget airline phenomenon is newer, and the gap between LCCs and legacy carriers is generally wider. For instance, Singapore Airlines had unit costs twice as high as Malaysia-based LCC AirAsia in 2016. Still, the world’s largest airlines are almost all network carriers. Southwest Airlines, the pioneer LCC, is the only LCC to rank among the world’s  20 largest airlines .

LCCs are important in broadening the air transportation market beyond the relatively small affluent population in countries such as India and Brazil. Budget airlines’ slogans frequently highlight this democratizing effect, as in AirAsia’s motto “Now everyone can fly”, Wizz Air’s (Hungary) “Now we can all fly”, and Jambojet’s (Kenya) “Now you can fly”. These are exaggerations, but there is little doubt that LCCs have expanded the affordability of air travel.

Meanwhile, in advanced markets, the notion of a low-cost carrier is losing some of its meaning as budget airlines and full-service network carriers converge in some of their business practices and cost structures. The degree to which FSNCs have emulated low-cost carriers is a testament to the latter’s success, as is the fact that in numerous markets, the largest airline is now a budget carrier.

5. The Future of Flight

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most severe crisis in civil aviation since World War II. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated worldwide airline industry losses at $84 billion for 2020. By April 2020, air traffic in most markets plummeted by more than 90% versus the same time in the previous year. By mid-2022, however, traffic levels were back to near pre-pandemic levels in North America and Western Europe. In fact, traffic recovered faster than expected in these markets, causing significant schedule problems. Airlines had sharply downsized their fleets and staff levels early in the pandemic, leaving them ill-prepared for the resumption of high traffic levels in 2022.

Longer-term challenges may emerge from the pandemic. The shift towards forms of teleworking, tele-education, and teleconferences may engender enduring changes in business travel behavior . Leisure travel behavior may also change. For instance, in 2021, tourists preferred shorter, domestic, or regional nonstop flights due to the increased exposure that comes with long-distance travel via hubs, including the burden of regulations, testing, and quarantine procedures associated with international travel. However, such preferences were less noticeable as testing and quarantine procedures were removed for most international travel in 2022.

The pandemic may also accelerate the shift away from full-service airlines toward LCCs. A large number of network carriers’ A380s and B747s parked in desert “boneyards” will never again carry passengers. For instance, Air France retired its A380 fleet in 2022. Between 2020 and 2022, the COVID-19 crisis shifted the balance of the industry toward cargo. Freight rates jumped during the pandemic, and cargo’s share of industry revenue soared from 12 percent in 2019 to 26 percent in 2020. Some airlines even converted a part of their passenger planes into cargo planes to take advantage of historically high freight rates that resulted.

Beyond the COVID-19 crisis, numerous clouds are on the horizon for civil aviation. First, the airline industry must be financially strong enough to continue to afford new generations of aircraft upon which further gains in efficiency and improved environmental performance depend. The development costs of new jetliners, even after adjusting for inflation, are unprecedented, partly because the latest generation of aircraft incorporates so many complex interfacing systems. The financial health of the industry’s largest airlines is particularly important because great carriers have previously provided the launch orders for new airliners. Pan Am, for instance, launched the B707 and B747; United launched the B767 and B777; Air France and Lufthansa provided the launch orders for most of Airbus’ early airliners; and Asian carriers such as Singapore Airlines and All Nippon Airways have been significant launch customers since 2000. By contrast, the LCCs’ focus on a handful of smaller, relatively short-haul aircraft limits their capacity to serve as catalysts for technological breakthroughs in aviation.

Still, both Boeing and Airbus promise that their newest jetliners will offer unparalleled fuel efficiency . That is important because a second fundamental threat to the future of the airline industry is the price and availability of fuel. In 2018, fuel accounted for about 24 percent of the operating costs of airlines globally. As noted above, aviation is less amenable to substituting conventional fossil fuels than ground transport modes, though numerous innovations show promise. The spike in fuel prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine added impetus to decarbonizing the air transport sector.

A third threat is terrorism and security . The rise of the airline industry was partly facilitated by the steady advance in the safety and predictability of air travel from the early 20th century “Flying Coffins”. Terrorism directed against civil aviation threatens the confidence of ordinary travelers, and added security constraints sap some of the speed advantages of aviation. The September 11 attacks caused a two-year dip in traffic levels. The 2001 attacks were the most significant to affect the airline industry in the United States. Still, before and after those attacks, civil aviation was a frequent target of terrorist attacks in the Middle East, Europe, and other parts of the world.

With the growth of air traffic, airports were facing capacity pressures and congestion before the COVID-19 pandemic, which in some cases, resulted in changes in the  scheduling of flights . In the United States, a flight that arrives more than 15 minutes past its scheduled time is considered late. Airlines are posting longer flight times to maintain the appearance of schedule integrity. For instance, a flight from New York to Los Angeles scheduled to take 5 hours in the 1960s is now scheduled to take more than 6 hours. A 45 minutes flight from New York to Washington saw its scheduled duration extended to one hour and 15 minutes.

Before the pandemic, emerging economies such as India, Indonesia, and Brazil saw a surge in air travel demand, both for domestic and international markets, a trend that strained their air transport systems. An essential means of dealing with this challenge has been the modernization of air traffic control systems , some of which remain highly fragmented. For instance, using satellite-based navigation, air travel can be improved with better flight paths and more direct descents. The outcomes include shorter flight times, improved safety, and lower fuel consumption and environmental emissions. Such innovations are likely to be very important again as traffic levels recover.

Environmental concerns are perhaps the darkest cloud on the horizon for civil aviation. Aviation has accounted for a growing share of environmental externalities , and strategies to curtail emissions and noise could mean higher aviation taxes, higher airfares, and restrictions on aircraft operations (e.g., nighttime curfews). Those most alarmed by aviation’s environmental impacts will likely resist the return to pre-pandemic practices, and governments may have the leverage to do so. The severe financial distress of the airline industry sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn governments back into the industry. In 2020, airlines received hundreds of billions of dollars in state aid, often with strings attached, giving governments new leverage over carriers. For instance, the French government has pressured Air France to become “greener”, including reducing competition with rail on short-haul sectors, as part of its bailout of the airline.

Ultimately, the speed with which air links have been reopened even during the pandemic speaks to the degree to which “aeromobility” is intertwined into the fabric of everyday life across much of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and responses to longer-term concerns about air transportation’s role in climate change will change the trajectory and geography of aviation. Perhaps these crises will hasten the introduction of new, more environmentally friendly technologies such as electric aircraft. However, traffic volumes will almost certainly regain and surpass the heights attained before the pandemic. Air transportation will remain a vital force shaping the contours and tempo of society at scales ranging from the local to the global.

Related Topics

• 6.5 – Airport Terminals
• B.6 – Mega Airport Projects
• 5.1 – Transportation Modes: An Overview
• B.7 – International Tourism and Transport
• B.19 – Transportation and Pandemics

Bibliography

• Adey, P., L. Budd, and P. Hubbard (2007) “Flying Lessons: Exploring the Social and Cultural Geographies of Global Air Travel”, Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 773-791.
• Agusdinata, B. and W. de Klein (2002) “The dynamics of airline alliances”, Journal of Air Transport Management, Vol. 8, pp. 201-211.
• Air Transport Association (2010) The Airline Handbook.
• Air Transport Action Group (2008) The Economic Benefits of Air Transport.
• Allaz, C. (2005) History of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th Century, London: Christopher Foyle Publishing.
• Bilstein, R.E. (1983) Flight Patterns: Trends of Aeronautical Development in the United States, 1918-1929. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
• Bowen, J. (2010) The Economic Geography of Air Transportation: Space, Time, and the Freedom of the Sky. London:  Routledge .
• Bowen, J. (2019) Low-Cost Carriers in Emerging Countries. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Brueckner, K. (2003) “Airline traffic and urban economic development”, Urban Studies, Vol. 40, No. 8, pp. 1455-1469.
• Davies, R.E.G. (1964) A History of the World’s Airlines. London: Oxford University Press.
• Dick, R. and D. Patterson (2003) Aviation Century: The Early Years. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press.
• Fuellhart, K. and K. O’Connor (2019) “A supply-side categorization of airports across global multiple-airport cities and regions”, GeoJournal,Vol. 84, No. 1, pp 15-30.
• Goetz, A.R. and L. Budd (eds) (2014) The Geographies of Air Transport, Transport and Mobility Series, Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate.
• Graham B. (1995) Geography and Air Transport, Chichester: Wiley.
• Lin, W. (2020) “Aeromobilities in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic”, Transfers, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 102–110.
• O’Connell, J.F. and G. Williams (2013) Air Transport in the 21st Century: Key Strategic Development, Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate.
• Prentice, B. (2016) “The Role of the Airship in the New Low-Carbon Era”, The Shipper Advocate, Fall, pp. 16-19.
• Solberg, C. (1979) Conquest of the Skies: A History of Commercial Aviation in America. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
• Yergin, D. R.H.K. Vietor and P.C. Evans (2000) Fettered Flight: Globalization and the Airline Industry, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

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What does air travel mean?

Definitions for air travel air trav·el, this dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word air travel ., princeton's wordnet rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes.

air travel, aviation, air noun

travel via aircraft

"air travel involves too much waiting in airports"; "if you've time to spare go by air"

Wiktionary Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

• air travel noun

Journeying through the sky, usually in an aeroplane.

Wikipedia Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, jet aircraft, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliders, parachutes, or anything else that can sustain flight. Use of air travel has greatly increased in recent decades – worldwide it doubled between the mid-1980s and the year 2000. Modern air travel is much safer than road travel.

ChatGPT Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

Air travel refers to the method of transportation in which vehicles capable of flight, such as airplanes or helicopters, are used to move people or goods from one location to another. It allows for fast, long-distance travel across land and sea, and is a crucial component of the global transportation system. Air travel can include domestic or international flights and can be used for personal, commercial, or cargo purposes.

Wikidata Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliding, parachuting, or anything else that can sustain flight.

Editors Contribution Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes

To travel on a form of transport through the air.

Air travel is an amazing experience.

Submitted by MaryC on January 27, 2021  

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How to pronounce air travel.

Alex US English David US English Mark US English Daniel British Libby British Mia British Karen Australian Hayley Australian Natasha Australian Veena Indian Priya Indian Neerja Indian Zira US English Oliver British Wendy British Fred US English Tessa South African

How to say air travel in sign language?

Chaldean Numerology

The numerical value of air travel in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

Pythagorean Numerology

The numerical value of air travel in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of air travel in a Sentence

Mark Leary :

If we're not able to travel on the river, we're all 100 percent dependent on air travel , which is hugely expensive.

Peter Baumgartner :

When we launched The Residence by Etihad last year, we wanted to challenge the conventions in commercial air travel , the Etihad Lifestyle Concierge service is a continuation of that ambition.

Daniel Scott :

All of international tourism depends on air travel , and technological innovations are urgently required for aviation to be part of the decarbonized global economy.

Ken Paxton :

Biden’s repeated disregard of the individual liberties of Texans is not only disrespectful to the U.S. Constitution, it is also troublesome that any president thinks they can act above the law while hardworking Americans standby, president Biden cannot continue governing through executive edicts. Now is the time to strike down his administration’s air-travel mask mandate. I’m proud to stand alongside my friend Congresswoman Van Duyne and her counsel at TPPF to protect Texans’ liberty and the rule of law.

Joseph Parambil :

That’s remarkable only because the risk of lung collapse with [air] travel in these patients is higher than normal, so we always caution these patients to travel, it’s reassuring that patients are able to return back to the life they desire.

• ^  Princeton's WordNet http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=air travel
• ^  Wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Air_Travel
• ^  Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Travel
• ^  ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com
• ^  Wikidata https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=air travel

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In this article, we’ll be explaining all the terms that you need to know about airports and airline travel in general . If you’re a frequent traveler, chances are that you might not even know all of these terms. Plus, a lot of them are used in the wrong context, and over here, we’ll be breaking down their correct usage. In this airport terminology guide, we’ll cover everything there is to know – from booking flights to airplane-specific terms.

Booking Flights (Purchasing Airline Tickets)

Domestic flight.

A domestic flight means a flight that starts and ends in the same country, with no stops in other countries along the way. Domestic flights are usually much quicker and they’ll have fewer security checks along the way.

International Flight

An international flight means a flight that takes off from one country and lands in another one. These flights are more complicated because passengers need to go through Customs and Immigration in the arrival country.

Direct Flight

A direct flight refers to a flight that flies directly from one destination to another one, with no connections in the middle. A direct flight could include a refueling stop if it’s too long, but passengers won’t be able to exit the plane during this time. Direct flights are usually faster, but they’re more expensive than connecting flights.

Non-Stop Flight

A non-stop flight is very similar to a direct flight – it flies directly from one destination to another one with no connections in the middle. The only difference between a direct flight and a non-stop one is that non-stop flights won’t even stop to refuel. The airplane will take off from the starting airport and land only at the final destination.

Connecting Flight

A connecting flight refers to a flight that involves at least three airports. To get from the starting airport to the destination one, the airplane will stop in one or more airports somewhere along the way. Passengers will need to get off the plane there and wait for several hours for the next one. Connecting flights may include flights from multiple airlines as well. Usually, connecting flights take longer, but they’re also cheaper.

Layover is a term that’s used for connecting flights. It refers to any of the connections along the way. As an example, you could say that you’re flying from California to New York, and you’ll have a layover in Dallas (where the plane will be stopping in the middle). During layovers, passengers need to exit the aircraft and wait in the transit area for the next flight. Layovers may last anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.

A stopover is a very similar term to a layover – it refers to the connections in connecting flights. The only difference is that stopovers are longer. There is no specific time limit when a layover becomes a stopover, but usually, airlines refer to stopovers when they’re talking about overnight connections (you have to spend the night in the airport waiting for the next flight).

A transfer is another similar term to a layover because it also refers to the connections in connecting flights (when you’re transferring from one plane to another). The only difference is that “transfer” is usually used when talking about very short layovers, usually 2 hours or less. That said, this isn’t followed by everyone, and some people use “transfer” as a synonym to “layover”.

Transit is a very similar term to a transfer because it also refers to short connections in connecting flights. The only difference is that when you’re transiting, you’re exiting and entering the same airplane, but when transferring, you’re entering a different airplane. For transits, usually, the same airline ticket is used.

Split Ticket

Split ticket refers to connecting flights when each part of the flight is bought separately on different tickets. Sometimes buying a combined ticket from a third-party provider (or an airline), which has all of the flights in a single booking, is more expensive than buying a ticket for each of these flights yourself. 

Interline Agreement

An interline agreement is another term that’s related to connecting flights. Airlines group together and form interline agreements, which allow each airline participating to sell tickets for other airlines in their connecting flights. For example, if you’re buying a connecting flight from American Airlines, and a part of this connecting flight is operated by United, then probably United has an interline agreement with American Airlines. This is better for passengers because they can purchase everything on a single ticket. Interline agreements also apply to checked luggage. If two airlines have interline agreements, then on connecting flights your checked luggage will automatically be transferred to the other airline during the layover, which means that you won’t have to do it yourself.

Onward Ticket / Onward Flight

An onward ticket means a booking with two or more international flights. Some countries require all incoming travelers to have onward flights, which basically shows proof that they are intending of leaving the country eventually. For example, if you’re flying from New York to London and after a week you’d be returning back from London to New York, it would be considered an onward flight. You could also not return to New York, and fly anywhere else, as long as it isn’t in England, and it would still be considered an onward flight.

Outbound / Outward Flight

Outward (or outbound) flight refers to bookings with return flights included in them, and it refers to the first flight. For example, if you’re flying from New York to Paris and after two weeks returning the same way, the outward (outbound) flight is from New York to Paris.

Inbound Flight / Return Flight

Inbound (other called return) flight is used when talking about bookings with return flights included in them, and it refers to the second flight. For example, if you’re flying from New York to Paris and after two weeks returning the same way, the inbound (return) flight is from Paris to New York.

A Leg of the Flight

When we’re talking about “legs of flights”, we’re talking about specific flights on connecting flights. For example, for a flight from Barcelona to New York with a connection in London, the first leg of the flight would be Barcelona – London, and the second leg from London to New York.

Long-Haul Flight

Long-Haul flights just mean very long flights, usually 8 hours or more. All trans-Atlantic (crossing the Atlantic Ocean) and trans-Pacific (crossing the Pacific Ocean) flights are considered long-haul flights.

Online Check-In

Checking in online means finalizing your booking through the airline’s website or app, before arriving at the airport. For every booking that you purchase, you’ll need to check-in online (or at the airport), and during this process, you reserve a specific seat on the airplane and get a boarding pass, which you’ll need to print before arriving at the airport. Online check-in usually opens 24 hours – several weeks before the flight, and it’s cheaper to check-in online than to check-in at the airport .

Boarding Pass

Boarding passes are essentially printed (or electronic) airline tickets. Passengers can get them after checking in online or checking in at the airport. They show the passenger’s personal details and flight details, including the flight number and the correct seat.

Hidden City Ticketing

Hidden city ticketing refers to purchasing a connecting flight, and internationally missing the last leg of the flight . Sometimes, purchasing a connecting flight and only flying the first part of the flight is cheaper than purchasing a direct flight.

Read Next: What Happens if I Don’t Show Up for a Flight? (Guide)

Frequent Flyer Points / Miles

People who participate in airline advantage programs accumulate frequent flyer miles (or points) for every mile each flight does. These points can be redeemed for new bookings, upgrades, and other extras.

Flight Itinerary

The flight itinerary refers to the whole process of getting from one point to another. This includes all flights you’ll be taking, any taxis, trains, buses, or airport shuttles, and hotel bookings.

Booking Number

Each passenger gets a unique booking number whenever they purchase a new flight, and it’s usually sent over email. It’s used for checking-in and any other places where the airline needs to understand which booking you’re talking about specifically.

Flight Number

Each flight gets assigned a different flight number, which can be found in your booking or your boarding pass. It’s used to understand which terminal and gate each flight is departing from or arriving to. Flight numbers and their according gates are usually displayed on screens inside airports.

Travel Insurance

When booking a flight, sometimes airlines will offer travel insurance. Some countries require all travelers to have one and some not. Even if they aren’t required, you should get travel insurance, which will do many things but most importantly cover any medical expenses if anything goes wrong during your vacation.

Pre-Selecting Seats

Airlines usually offer passengers the option to pre-select their seats when checking in for an additional fee. This will let you choose which seat specifically you want to get. All other passengers will get assigned random seats.

Luggage Terminology

Baggage / luggage.

When talking about air travel, baggage or luggage means all the bags that passengers are taking with them on the flight. This may include suitcases, backpacks, trunks, totes, duffel bags , purses, instrument cases, sporting equipment, and anything that’s within the right size restrictions.

Tip: Looking for new luggage? Check out these 11 most durable luggage brands

Luggage Allowance

Luggage allowance refers to the size and weight requirements for luggage . Each airline has different size and weight restrictions, and they’re usually different for different types of luggage (checked luggage, carry-ons, and underseat luggage).

Checked Luggage

Checked luggage is the largest and heaviest type of luggage that passengers can bring, which is handed over to the airline employees at the airport, and it’s then stored on the plane in the cargo area. Usually, it’s a paid service and passengers need to pay 20-50$ for each checked bag. Although the size and weight restrictions differ between airlines, usually checked luggage needs to be under 62 linear inches (height + depth + width) and under 50 or 70 lbs.

Hand Luggage

Hand luggage is all luggage that passengers are allowed to bring on the plane, including carry-ons and underseat luggage.

A carry-on is a larger type of hand luggage, and airlines usually allow each passenger to bring one free of charge. Carry-ons need to be stored in the overhead compartments on airplanes, and most commonly, they need to be under 22 x 14 x 9 inches in size.

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Personal Item / Underseat Luggage

Personal items (other called underseat luggage) are a smaller type of hand luggage, and each passenger is usually allowed to bring one free of charge. Personal items need to be stored under the passenger seats in front of each passenger, which means that they’re the most accessible type of luggage. The size and weight restrictions differ very heavily for them between different airlines, but most commonly they need to be under 16 x 12 x 6 inches in size .

Oversized / Overweight Luggage

Oversized luggage refers to luggage over the size limits and overweight luggage over the weight limits. Oversized/overweight hand luggage usually needs to be checked in for additional check-in fees, and oversized/overweight checked luggage sometimes is allowed, but for very expensive fees, ranging between 100-300$ for each bag.

Due to potential security threats, the 3-1-1 rule limits the number of liquids each passenger is allowed to bring on the plane in their hand luggage. The 3-1-1 rule stands for “3.4 oz, 1 quart-sized bag, 1 person”, and it basically means the following: In hand luggage, each passenger has to store all liquids and gels in bottles no larger than 3.4 oz (100 ml), all of them must be stored in 1 quart-sized, transparent bag, and each passenger can have only 1 bag. This bag of liquids, other called “toiletry pouch”, needs to be taken out of the bag for separate screening when going through security.

Tip: Instead of getting a new Ziploc for your toiletries for every new flight, get a dedicated, transparent toiletry pouch .

Read Next: Are Liquids Still Banned on Airplanes in 2022?

Baggage Tag

When talking about baggage tags, usually people are referring to two things. The first one is personal baggage tags , which contain personal information about the passenger. Anyone can choose to attach them to their luggage in case it gets lost. The other one is luggage labels (or luggage stickers), which airlines attach to all checked bags whenever they’re checked in. These labels include information about who the bag belongs to and where is it heading.

Baggage Handling

Baggage handling refers to moving checked luggage from the airport check-in desks to the airplane, and when the plane lands, unloading luggage and getting it to the baggage claim area. It’s done by the baggage handlers and transporting it on various luggage conveyor belts.

Navigating the Airport

Large airports are usually split into multiple terminals , sometimes even upwards of 4-6 different terminals. Each terminal has all the facilities needed to operate individually. You can find out the right terminal for your flight by checking your booking confirmation or looking up the flight number on the airport’s website.

Gate Number

Gate number refers to the exact location within the airport where your flight is departing from. Each flight departs and arrives at a different gate . Gates are numbered and usually, each airport terminal contains about 20-100 gates in total.

Pier / Concourse / Satellite

Piers, Concourses, and Satellites are parts of airport terminals, and each one houses about 5-20 different airport gates. It’s just a way for airports to split their terminals into smaller pieces, so it’s easier for the passengers to find their right gates. Usually, each airport terminal has about 2-10 different piers/concourses/satellites, and they’re numbered with letters, such as A, B, C, and so on. When you find out which gate your flight departs from, you need to find out which pier/concourse/satellite it’s located in, and follow the directions within the airport.

Check-In Desks

You’ll usually find check-in desks right after you enter the airport. Passengers who haven’t checked-in online need to check in at the check-in desks. They’re also used for checked luggage – passengers who have checked luggage need to go to the check-in desks and hand it over to the airline employees. Check-in desks usually open 2-4 hours before the flight departure.

Luggage Drop-Off Points

Some airports also have dedicated luggage drop-off points, which are useful for people who have checked luggage, but who’ve already checked in online. That way they don’t need to wait in the long lines at the check-in desks.

Security is the part of the airport where all passengers are screened for dangerous and prohibited goods . Passengers go to security once they’ve gotten their boarding passes and dropped off their checked luggage. Only passengers with valid boarding passes are let through . During security, passengers need to go through screening machines and pass their luggage through x-ray scanners. After going through security, passengers enter the international, duty-free area of the airport.

Baggage Claim

Baggage claim is the area of the airport where passengers can receive their checked luggage after landing.

Conveyor Belt / Baggage Carousel

Checked luggage is transferred through airports on a giant maze of conveyor belts, which removes the need for employees to carry it by hand. When talking about conveyor belts and baggage carousels specifically, usually airports are talking about the baggage claim area. Over there, all checked bags from a single flight are put on a single, spinning carousel, and the passengers can pick their own bags from them.

Arrivals is an area in the airport accessible by the general public, where passengers arrive after leaving planes that recently landed, and where other people can come and meet them.

Read Next: Guide: How to Pick Someone up From the Airport

Departures is the area of the airport which deals with outgoing flights. It contains check-in desks, baggage drop-off desks, security, gates, and the transit area. When you arrive at an airport for an upcoming flight, you need to go to departures.

Lost Baggage

Lost Baggage is the part of the airport that deals with lost, damaged, delayed, and missing luggage.

Customs and Immigration

Customs and Immigration is a part of the airport, where passengers arriving from international flights are screened. The customs officers look for any goods that are prohibited from entering the country, illegal items, and any goods that the customer might have to pay a tax on.

Airport Lounge

Airport lounges are luxury areas of the airport, and they’re only accessible by people participating in frequent flyer programs or for high entrance fees. Passengers can spend their time there waiting for upcoming flights. Airport lounges are usually equipped with showers, fine dining, sometimes even separate rooms for sleeping, massage chairs, and similar extras.

Landside is the part of the airport that’s accessible by the general public. It includes everything up to security, including check-in desks, baggage drop-off points, ticket counters, info desks, and arrivals.

Airside/ Transit Area / Secure Area

Airside (other called transit or secure area) is the international, duty-free area of the airport. Passengers need to go through security to enter this area, which is why it’s also sometimes called a secure area. Often on connecting flights, passengers won’t need to exit the airside transit area, because this would mean that they’d need to get additional paperwork for entering the layover country.

Airport-Specific Terms

When talking about duty-free items , we’re talking about items that are purchased from the duty-free shops in the airside transit area of the airport. They’re called “duty-free” because this area is considered international, so no additional taxes have to be paid to governments, which makes them slightly cheaper. You can bring duty-free items on board the flight and they’re excluded from the 3-1-1 rule.

International Airport

An international airport has all the facilities needed for arriving and departing international flights. This usually just means that the airport has Customs and Immigration facilities and that their staff (sometimes) are trained to speak multiple languages.

Domestic Airport

A domestic airport is an airport that only accepts domestic flights. It doesn’t have any customs and immigration facilities.

Short-Checking Baggage

Short-checking baggage is related to connecting flights. Most commonly on connecting flights with layovers, checked luggage is automatically routed to the final destination without the passenger needing to do anything. But sometimes, especially on very long layovers, the passenger might want to access their checked luggage during the layover, and that’s where short-checking your luggage comes in. When checking in your luggage, you can ask for the employee at the check-in desk to short-check your bag, which means that you will receive it when you land at the layover airport.

Checking Baggage to Final Destination

Checking baggage to the final destination is a term that’s used when talking about connecting flights. It means that checked luggage will automatically be sent over to the final destination and you won’t be able to access it during the layover.

Rechecking Baggage

Rechecking baggage is also related to connecting flights and layovers. Sometimes, when you land in the layover country, you’ll have to pick up your checked luggage from a carousel, go through customs, and recheck it again for the next part of the flight at the check-in counters. This whole process is called rechecking luggage.

Moving Sidewalk (Moving Walkway)

Moving sidewalks, other called moving walkways are used in large airports to speed up the time it takes for passengers to arrive at their gates. Because airports are so large, it often takes 20-30 minutes to get to your gate, which is why airports use moving sidewalks, which essentially are long, vertical escalators, or extra-long treadmills.

TSA stands for Transport Security Administration, and it’s the main airport security agency in airports within the United States. Over there, TSA is used as a synonym for “Security”, because they’re the agency that’s in control of security screening.

TSA PreCheck / Global Entry

TSA PreCheck and Global Entry are both paid programs used by frequent travelers. By participating, passengers can wait in shorter, expedited lines at the security, and take off fewer items when going through the scanners.

FAA stands for Federal Aviation Administration, and it’s the main airline regulator in the United States.

IATA stands for International Air Transport Association and they’re the main airline regulator worldwide. They govern about 80% of the total fights worldwide.

Escort / Gate Pass

An escort or gate pass is a special document that gives access to someone to enter the secure airside area of the airport, to accompany a minor, the elderly, or a person with special needs. They’re usually issued by airlines or airports.

Import Tax (Customs Duty, Tariff)

Import tax, other called customs duty or import tariff, is the tax that sometimes passengers need to pay for importing duty-free items. When passengers go through Customs and Immigration, the officers look at all the items each passenger is bringing into the country. If they’re over specific limits (different for each country, but, for example, 10 bottles of perfume or strong spirits), the officers will ask the passenger to declare them and pay Customs tax (usually, 5-30%).

Airport Shuttle

An airport shuttle is usually a taxi, minivan, or bus that offers a shared ride from the airport to the nearest city center. They’re usually cheaper than hiring a taxi or Uber, but more expensive than using public transport.

Flight-Specific Terms

The runway is a large stretch of tarmac, where the airplane lands / takes off from.

Airspace means all the air directly above a certain country. You might hear the pilot say “We’re now entering China’s airspace”, which just means that you’re flying directly above China.

Turbulence means a sudden shift in the airflow, which makes the airplane feel like it’s being shaken around. It’s completely normal, and when the pilot announces that some turbulence is to be expected, the seatbelt sign will turn on, and all passengers will have to fasten their seatbelts.

Emergency Exit Seats

Emergency exit seats refer to the row of seats directly next to the emergency exits. Passengers usually prefer these seats, because they offer much more legroom.

Take-off refers to the airplane taking off from the tarmac and starting to fly. When the pilot announces “prepare for take-0ff” expect more shaking than usual, and everyone must be seated during take-off.

Boarding refers to passengers boarding the airplane.

Overhead Compartments

Overhead compartments refer to the enclosed storage compartments directly above passenger heads, where carry-ons need to be stored. They must remain closed during take-off, landing, and turbulence, and passengers are able to access them once again when the seatbelt sign turns off.

In-Flight Entertainment

In-Flight Entertainment refers to the entertainment systems on airplanes. Usually, it’s just a built-in screen at the back of each seat, where you can watch movies and TV shows, read the news, listen to music, and so on.

First / Business Class

Passengers usually are split into multiple classes, with the lowest class being economy, then premium economy, then business class , and then first class. Each class above economy gets better upgrades, such as more leg-room (even horizontal beds), better entertainment systems, finer dining, and so on.

Cargo hold refers to the area of the airplane below the main deck, where all the checked luggage is stored.

Cabin refers to the area of the airplane accessible by the passengers, where they’re seated and their hand luggage is stored.

Cockpit refers to the pilot’s cabin at the front of the aircraft.

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Air Travel Vocabulary

Here are twenty words and terms often used in air travel.

Meaning of "air travel" in the English dictionary

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Definition of air travel in the English dictionary

The definition of air travel in the dictionary is transportation in aircraft.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH AIR TRAVEL

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TRANSLATION OF AIR TRAVEL

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What is a layover? How it differs from a stopover, more flight term meanings explained

If you're not flying nonstop to your destination, you probably have a layover. Or, you might have a stopover. Or, you might just have a direct flight with a stop.

That's OK, that's why we're here.

Stops, layovers and stopovers are three different ways your flights can be broken up, and it's a good idea to know what's part of your itinerary, because it can change both what you're able to do with the time between legs and what protections are available to you if something goes wrong during your trip.

According to Loulu Lima, founder of the Texas-based travel agency Book Here Give Here , layovers are typically just a few hours and designed to give you some breathing room while changing planes, but stopovers are longer, sometimes days-long pauses between flights to give you a chance to explore an extra destination as part of your trip.

Tell us your story: Mobility device lost or damaged by an airline? USA TODAY wants to hear about it

"It really just depends on how the ticket is done," she said, noting that layovers and stopovers are typically multiple flights on the same ticket.

Here's how it all works.

What's the difference between a layover and a stopover?

► Layovers are probably the most common type of pause in an airline itinerary these days, and also may be called a connecting flight. Basically, a layover is the time an airline gives you to change planes between flights. On a layover that's scheduled by the airline, you'll likely be traveling on the same ticket for every flight included in the itinerary, and you may have some time to kill at the airport.

"It could be anywhere from 35 minutes, which is considered a legal connection, sadly, and it could be a layover of, I've never seen more than like 14 hours, but it could be a little longer," Lima said. 

Especially on long intercontinental routes, an overnight layover is not unheard of, and the airline may even allow you to claim your bags and head to a hotel before your next leg in the morning. With shorter layovers, baggage is typically sent right through to your final destination, although if your connection involves transferring from an international to a domestic flight, you may need to claim and recheck your bags for customs.

Traveling with kids: Airline family seating policies highlighted amid Biden push and new DOT dashboard

► Long layovers approach stopover territory, which is, essentially, an even longer layover.

"A stopover is a legal stop (to) your trip," Lima said. "I'll use Icelandair as an example ... They have the ability for you to say, make a stop in Iceland for a couple of days before you move onto another destination." 

Lima added that with official layovers and stopovers, passengers typically have some level of protection if something goes wrong. For example, if the first flight on your itinerary is delayed or canceled and you miss the connection, airlines will have to reaccommodate you. However, she said, travelers sometimes create their own layovers or stopovers by buying tickets on different airlines or buying flights separately even on the same carrier, but on unlinked reservations. In those cases, she said, you can be on your own if something goes wrong.

"If one of those legs is not on the same ticket and something happens to my flight and I miss the other one, I'm not protected," Lima said. "You're truly at the mercy of the airlines."

She'll sometimes book unofficial layovers or stopovers for clients who want to visit extra cities on their trips, but Lima said she's always careful to build in a buffer and educate the travelers about what could happen if something goes wrong in those cases. 

How do I book a stopover to add a destination to my trip?

If you're not working with a travel advisor like Lima, who can book the stopover for you, you'll need to do a little extra legwork yourself.

On Icelandair's website, for example, itineraries that connect through Reykjavik include an option to add a stopover in Iceland on the booking page. Other carriers, like Hawaiian Airlines, may require you to use the multi-city itinerary search function to select the different flight legs individually. For complicated itineraries, it could be a good idea to work with a travel agent who is familiar with the individual carrier's rules, to make sure you have all the protections you need if something goes wrong. 

Nonstop vs. direct flight: What's the difference? 

Nonstop versus direct is very much a square versus rectangle problem.

All nonstop flights are direct, but not all direct flights are nonstop.

A direct flight can include a stop at another airport that doesn't require you to change planes.

Reader question: How do airlines decide where to fly?

"That just means you unfortunately have made your trip a little longer," Lima said.

Southwest Airlines and Breeze Airways are the airlines that are most known for having direct flights with stops on their schedules these days, with Breeze's direct stopping flights branded as "BreezeThru" service. 

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected]

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How your flight emits as much CO2 as many people do in a year

Even short-haul flights produce huge amounts of CO2, figures show

Taking a long-haul flight generates more carbon emissions than the average person in dozens of countries around the world produces in a whole year, a new Guardian analysis has found.

The figures highlight the disproportionate carbon footprint of those who can afford to fly, with even a short-haul return flight from London to Edinburgh contributing more CO2 than the mean annual emissions of a person in Uganda or Somalia.

2019 is forecast to be another record-breaking year for air travel, with passengers expected to fly a total of 8.1tn km, up 5% from last year and more than 300% since 1990.

Taking one return flight generates more CO2 than citizens of some countries produce in a year

How about your next trip.

According to figures from German nonprofit Atmosfair, flying from London to New York and back generates about 986kg of CO2 per passenger. There are 56 countries where the average person emits less carbon dioxide in a whole year – from Burundi in Africa to Paraguay in South America.

But even a relatively short return trip from London to Rome carries a carbon footprint of 234kg of CO2 per passenger – more than the average produced by citizens of 17 countries annually.

The figures are averages taking into account which aircraft models are typically used on flight routes, and the estimated occupancy of seats on board those planes. The figures include only the CO2 generated by burning jet fuel, not any emissions embedded in the construction of the plane or any other greenhouse gases that might be produced, such as water vapour.

Aviation emissions could triple in the next three decades

The aviation sector currently accounts for about 2% of global emissions, and is one of the fastest-growing polluters.

According to projections from researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, emissions from the sector could more than double by 2050 even if planes become substantially more fuel-efficient and airlines save additional carbon by optimising their operations.

Under a less optimistic scenario, a lower level of fuel savings could lead emissions to triple by 2050.

“The increase in traffic has historically outpaced the improvements in technology,” says Dr John Broderick, who researches climate policy and international transport at the University of Manchester.

How can the aviation industry’s climate impact be regulated?

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – the UN body responsible for limiting the carbon footprint from international air travel – is introducing a scheme aiming to offset emissions by allowing airlines to purchase carbon credits rather than burn less fossil fuels.

Broderick is sceptical of the scheme’s benefits. “You still have a plan to increase the size of the industry … at a time when we should be making substantial reductions in emissions, particularly from the rich parts of the world.”

When asked for comment for this story, the ICAO described it as “meaningless cherry-picking of unrelated data points”.

In 2019, almost 40m flights are expected to depart from airports worldwide – more than 100,000 trips per day.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, the industry association representing 13 UK carriers, said: “Airlines believe we need a strategy that meets the government’s ambition of promoting sustainable growth for our sector. Aviation has to earn the right to expand and that’s why we’re committed to halving our emissions by 2050, and working with national governments to agree an ambitious plan that can deliver a zero-carbon future.”

Environmental groups are calling on policymakers to constrain the total number of flights and limit further expansion of airports.

Policy proposals include a “frequent flyers’ levy” which would increase progressively with every flight a person takes in a year while minimising the impact on those who fly only occasionally.

“We don’t want to penalise hardworking families that perhaps travel abroad once a year for a holiday,” says Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth UK.

Childs cited a 2014 survey by the Department for Transport which revealed that 15% of the UK’s population took 70% of flights.

“We need to recognise that aviation is a luxury and we need to share that luxury fairly.”

Credit and data sources

Emissions data for flight connections was sourced from atmosfair.de and takes into account factors such as the fuel efficiency of different plane models and the average passenger load factor in different regions of the world.

The emissions estimates given in this article represent averages across all aircraft types serving a given route. Individual airlines might operate more or less carbon efficient planes.

The Guardian’s interactive calculator covers the world’s 100 busiest airports and selected UK airports.

Global flight path data was sourced from flightradar24.com and excludes aircraft that do not share location data with Flightradar’s network of receivers.

Emissions projections were provided by Prof David Lee at Manchester Metropolitan University and are based on work by Fleming and Ziegler in ICAO’s 2016 environmental report.

Can You Really Offset Your Carbon Footprint From Flying?

Senior Reporter, HuffPost Life

There are many important steps to take when traveling by plane, from packing a pair of compression socks to ensuring your passport is up to date if flying internationally. But there’s one important action item that many travelers overlook ― calculating your carbon emissions.

No matter how much you try to reduce the environmental footprint of your vacation or work trip, the fact remains that flying produces significant carbon dioxide emissions. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation , air travel accounts for about 3% of global carbon emissions, and the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that flying produces 10% percent of all U.S. transportation-related emissions.

That’s why many airlines, booking platforms and third-party companies have started offering “carbon offsets” to help travelers neutralize their environmental impact. But these offerings have been criticized over their actual impact (or lack thereof), with some even calling them a “ scam .”

Below, experts break down how carbon offsetting works, what you should know about its impact and other factors to keep in mind when it comes to your travel emissions.

What is carbon offsetting?

“A carbon credit is a science-backed, third-party audited certificate that says that one ton of carbon pollution has been avoided or removed from the atmosphere,” Campbell Moore, managing director of carbon markets at The Nature Conservancy , told HuffPost. “‘Offsetting’ is the act of using the carbon credit. So, if I fly to a friend’s wedding across the country, and as a result one ton of carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere, I would buy a carbon credit and use it to offset the one ton of carbon pollution I put in the atmosphere by flying.”

Basically, it’s presented as a way to compensate for the carbon dioxide emissions you produce by flying or through other activities by reducing an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide elsewhere.

“Some offsets use nature-based solutions ― like preserving or planting forests,” explained Jodi Manning, vice president of marketing and corporate partnerships at the carbon offset nonprofit Cool Effect . “Others use technological solutions, like carbon capture or replacing carbon-emitting energy sources with green technology.”

She noted that carbon offsetting has become increasingly popular in recent years, with Cool Effect’s first-quarter analysis this year showing a 186% year-over-year increase in travel offset purchases compared to 2022.

“Not all carbon credits are created equal,” Moore said. “The science on how to measure the carbon benefit of a carbon credit project is changing really rapidly. This is a good thing but means that some types of carbon credits are based on newer, stronger science than other types which are still catching up on the science.”

It’s not just individual travelers engaging with offset programs. Large companies and governments also play a big role in this practice’s growth, as the majority of Fortune 500 companies have made a public commitment to reducing their climate impact.

“A good corporate climate target focuses on reducing direct carbon pollution from the company’s business ― for example, by switching to EVs or renewable energy ― and then uses carbon offsetting to clean up remaining carbon pollution that is too expensive or technologically impossible to address in other ways,” Moore said. “Governments often use carbon offsetting as a policy tool as well because, when designed well, it can speed up overall climate progress and reduce the cost.”

What’s the issue with carbon offsets?

Many companies tout their use of third-party organizations to verify their carbon offsetting projects and ensure the money is properly invested and impact correctly measured. There’s much talk of how these programs help expand clean energy infrastructure and save vulnerable ecosystems.

But a lot of climate experts have cast doubt on the effectiveness of these carbon offsets.

“The problem is ― can you be sure that what you’re paying for is really reducing emissions in the way that it says it is?” said Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and associate provost for sustainability at Brown University. “You can’t be sure that a dollar spent on an offset is actually keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere. And there is no offset as good as not emitting that CO2 in the first place because there’s always some uncertainty or time lag or other issue associated with it.”

He offered the example of preventing deforestation. If someone is about to destroy an acre of forest but they’re suddenly offered money not to do it, they might accept the money in that moment and stop the process.

“But you don’t know if they come back next year and burn it down or go to another piece of land and burn that down,” Porder said. “You don’t know if your dollar really made an impact in the long term. Right now, it’s a voluntary market with very fluid rules. It’s not being regulated very well, and even where it is regulated very well, it’s hard to anticipate the problems that could come up.”

“You can’t be sure that a dollar spent on an offset is actually keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere. And there is no offset as good as not emitting that CO2 in the first place.” - Stephen Porder, professor and associate provost for sustainability at Brown University.

There are real concerns about whether carbon offsets actually capture or reduce emissions or ward off future emissions. The low cost of carbon offsets also gives experts pause.

“There’s no real agreed-upon price for this carbon,” Porder said. “Let’s say my wife and I want to fly from the East Coast to Paris for a vacation. I went online to various different carbon calculators, which tell me how much carbon I should pay for. But the offsets they’re offering me are $20-30 for that flight. That’s way less than the damage caused by the flight.”

Given the technological limits and lack of transparency about how many companies are actually using this money, Porder emphasized that carbon offsets can do more harm than good by “alleviating our guilty consciences” rather than actually reducing CO2.

“I could look at the menu of feel-good options, check a box and pay that money, and it might do some good things in the world depending on what I think is good for the world,” he explained. “But it’s not necessarily pulling the same amount of carbon out of the atmosphere that I’ve emitted by flying. I think there are individuals, corporations, universities and governments who use carbon offsets to trick themselves or others into thinking they’re cleaner than they actually are. But there are also others who use them in the hopes of doing good.”

What should travelers actually do?

Although the current market for carbon offsets leaves much to be desired, there have been many efforts to improve transparency and effectiveness that will no doubt continue into the future.

But in the meantime, there are better ways to reduce your environmental footprint as a traveler ― like by cutting down on unnecessary transportation emissions.

“I’ve really cut down on my flights and stopped flying across the country to give talks,” Porder said. “ Young people in Europe have started to eschew flying and driving solo.”

Consider whether travel is really necessary in a given situation. For a work trip, ask if you can effectively conduct this meeting via Zoom instead ― or if you might be able to travel in a way that produces less carbon, like by taking the train instead of driving or flying.

“Travelers should always make a concerted effort to reduce the impact of their travel,” Manning said. “Avoid air travel when possible, but if you must fly, choose economy seats and opt for airlines that utilize biofuels.”

Indeed, your cabin class choice can impact your carbon footprint because business class seats take up more space and tend to reduce the occupancy rate of a plane.

“Travelers can also reduce the environmental footprint of their travel by packing lightly , selecting nonstop flights, and more,” Manning added.

Although purchasing carbon offsets might not truly mitigate the environmental damage of flying, you should still calculate your carbon emissions when you travel ― and then use that to take action in your own life.

“The first step is to become more aware of the issues and understand your impact as a traveler,” said Kaitlyn Brajcich, senior manager of communications and training at Sustainable Travel International . “Our online carbon footprint calculator offers an easy way for travelers to calculate the emissions from flights, vehicles, and boat travel. Our website also provides a wealth of information about the issues and tips for sustainable travel.”

There are plenty of calculator options online, including Conservation International’s Flight Carbon Calculator and BlueSkyModel’s , which breaks down the average emissions per mile flown.

“Once you’ve calculated the amount of carbon, you’ll want to charge or sort of ‘tax’ yourself a reasonable amount ― probably around $200-400 per ton,” Porder advised. “Then do something else in your own life with that money to reduce emissions. So if you drive a car, put it toward an electric vehicle. Or save it to replace your home’s insulation and invest in a better option for heating your home in the winter. Tax yourself and make an actual difference in your everyday emissions that you can feel sure about.”

If you don’t own a car or house, he suggested putting that money toward an organization doing something to help other houses reduce their energy use. He pointed to one of his students, who calculated how long she’d need to eat a vegan diet to make up for her summer vacation flight. (It was about six months.)

“The key to recognizing greenwashing is to ask if an organization or individual is fundamentally going after the sources of their own emissions, while perhaps also buying offsets as a short-term strategy and during that transition,” Porder said. “But if they’re just buying offsets in perpetuity and there’s no modification to how they emit in their personal lives, then they’re not taking it that seriously.”

If you’ve exhausted all your options for reducing emissions in your own life, you might be able to research and find a carbon offset program with enough third-party verifications and support from experts to feel comfortable handing over your money. But it might take time for such programs to develop into a strong option.

“We can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Porder said. “But we can’t let the bad in ― the things that give us the latitude to continue to emit where we’re emitting. That’s the worst-case scenario.”

Remember that the environmental footprint of the travel industry goes beyond individual travelers’ emissions as well.

“It’s great when people take responsibility for their carbon footprint,” Moore said. “But if we are going to save the world, it’s going to be because we change the big systems that matter ― government policy, corporate behavior, etc.”

He recommended contacting your elected representatives to say you want them to support low-carbon transportation policy, in addition to opting for low-emissions travel options in your life and finding ways to offset any carbon pollution that remains.

“Even a perfect carbon market will be just one tool in our climate toolkit and must only be used to address carbon pollution that remains after a government, company or individual has first taken ambitious action to reduce their carbon footprint,” Moore said. “There is much work to be done to improve every climate solution. We’re in a global crisis and inaction is not an option.”

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What share of global CO₂ emissions come from aviation?

Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global co₂ emissions. but it has contributed around 4% to global warming to date..

Flying is one of the most carbon-intensive activities — yet it contributes just 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions. How does this add up? Well, almost everyone in the world does not fly. Studies estimate that just 10% of the world flies in most years. 1 But as incomes rise, this will change.

A combination of increased demand and technological improvements has driven the change in aviation emissions over the last half-century. Total CO 2 emissions are often explained through the “Kaya identity” — how many people there are, their income, the energy efficiency of economies, and the carbon intensity of energy. We can use a similar framework to understand the drivers of aviation emissions.

In this article, I look at historical changes in aviation demand, efficiency, and its contribution to climate change. Most of this work is based on an excellent paper by Candelaria Bergero and colleagues and another by David Lee and colleagues. Bergero’s paper also looks at future trajectories of aviation demand and emissions; if you’re interested, it’s worth digging into more detail.

Efficiency has improved, but increasing global demand has led to higher emissions

To calculate carbon emissions from aviation, we need to know three metrics:

• Aviation demand: How many passenger and freight kilometers;
• Energy efficiency: How much energy is used per kilometer;
• Carbon intensity: What fuel is being used, which tells us the carbon emitted per unit of energy.

Multiply these metrics together, and we get carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions.

In the chart below, I’ve shown trends in these relevant metrics since 1990. These come from the paper by Candelaria Bergero and colleagues, published in Nature Sustainability . 2

You’ll see that there is a blip in 2020 and 2021. That’s the sudden drop in international and domestic transport during the COVID-19 pandemic . Demand is rebounding quickly, and is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels again this year. For now, let’s ignore the unique period of the pandemic and focus on the trends up to 2019.

Between 1990 and 2019, both passenger and freight demand has approximately quadrupled. More people are flying, and more stuff is being moved around. In 2019, passengers traveled more than 8 trillion kilometers: that’s about the same as a light year. 3

At the same time, flying has become more than twice as energy efficient. Traveling one passenger-kilometer in 1990 used 2.9 megajoules (MJ) of energy. By 2019, this had more than halved to 1.3 MJ. This efficiency has come from improved design and technology, larger planes that can carry more passengers, and a higher ‘passenger load factor’. Empty seats are less common than in the past.

The carbon intensity of that fuel — how much CO 2 is emitted per unit — has not changed at all. We used standard jet fuel in 1990 and are using the same stuff today. It has not gotten any cleaner. Biofuels and other alternatives are just a tiny fraction of global demand.

If flying has become more than twice as energy efficient, and the carbon emitted per unit of energy has not changed, then it follows that the carbon efficiency of traveling one kilometer is also more than twice as high. In 1990, one passenger-kilometer would emit 357 grams of CO 2 . By 2019, this had more than halved to 157 grams.

How have the changes in demand and technology affected CO 2 emissions?

Well, if demand has quadrupled, but aviation has become twice as efficient, then emissions will double. The gains in efficiency have partly counteracted the emissions from increased demand.

In 1990, global aviation emitted around 0.5 billion tonnes. In 2019, that was around 1 billion.

Global CO 2 emissions from aviation have quadrupled since the 1960s

I was curious to see a longer-term perspective. To achieve this I extended the recent data back to 1940, using data from a paper by David Lee and colleagues. 4 This is shown in the chart below. Emissions have quadrupled since the mid-1960s.

Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global CO 2 emissions

I’ve calculated aviation’s share of global emissions using the time series above and total CO 2 emissions data from the Global Carbon Project . 5

You can see the results in the chart below. In 2019, aviation accounted for 2.5% of CO 2 emissions from fossil sources and land use. This share has fluctuated from 2% to 2.5% since the mid-1990s but with a marked increase since 2010.

Non-CO 2 climate impacts mean aviation accounts for around 4% of global warming to date

While aviation accounts for around 2.5% of global CO 2 emissions, its overall contribution to climate change is higher.

Along with emitting CO 2 from burning fuel, planes also affect the concentration of other atmospheric gases and pollutants. They generate a short-term increase but a long-term decrease in ozone and methane, and increased emissions of water vapor, soot, sulfur aerosols, and water contrails. While some of these impacts result in warming, others induce a cooling effect. But overall, the warming effect is stronger.

David Lee et al. (2020) quantified the overall effect of aviation on global warming when all of these impacts were included. To do this, they calculated the so-called “radiative forcing”. Radiative forcing measures the difference between incoming energy and the energy radiated back to space. If more energy is absorbed than radiated, the atmosphere becomes warmer.

Taking all of these effects into account, the authors estimate that aviation has accounted for approximately 3.5% of effective radiative forcing to date. Another study estimates that it has been responsible for 4% of global temperature rise since pre-industrial times. 6

Although CO 2 gets most of the attention, it accounts for less than half of this warming. Two-thirds come from non-CO 2 forcings. Contrails — water vapor from aircraft exhausts — account for the largest share. This explains why aviation contributes 2.5% of annual CO 2 emissions but more when it comes to its total impact on warming.

Aviation’s share of global emissions is likely to rise as other sectors decarbonize faster

Aviation is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize. Electricity can become low-carbon through the deployment of renewables and nuclear ; road transport and heating through electrification . Even “hard-to-abate” industries such as cement and steel have emerging low-carbon alternatives. 7

Aviation is, by comparison, behind the curve. Global demand will likely grow in the coming decades as populations get richer. Therefore, the rise in emissions will be determined by whether aviation can maintain improvements in energy efficiency and switch to low-carbon fuels. So far, the sector has made almost no progress on the latter.

While more efficient planes can dampen some of the growth in emissions, they can’t eliminate them completely. To do that, the industry will need to move from jet fuel to electrification, biofuels, hydrogen, or a combination. Until it makes this switch, aviation will make up an ever-increasing share of global emissions.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Max Roser, Edouard Mathieu and Candelaria Bergero for their valuable feedback and comments on this article.

Gössling, S., & Humpe, A. (2020). The global scale, distribution and growth of aviation: Implications for climate change. Global Environmental Change, 65, 102194.

Bergero, C., Gosnell, G., Gielen, D., Kang, S., Bazilian, M., & Davis, S. J. (2023). Pathways to net-zero emissions from aviation. Nature Sustainability, 6(4), 404-414.

8 trillion kilometers is equivalent to 0.85 light-years.

Pre-1990 data comes from David Lee et al. (2021). Data from 1990 onwards comes from Bergero et al. (2023), as above.

Lee, D. S., Fahey, D. W., Skowron, A., Allen, M. R., Burkhardt, U., Chen, Q., ... & Wilcox, L. J. (2021). The contribution of global aviation to anthropogenic climate forcing from 2000 to 2018. Atmospheric Environment.

Andrew, R. M., & Peters, G. P. (2023). The Global Carbon Project's fossil CO2 emissions dataset (2023v36) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10177738

The data files of the Global Carbon Budget can be found at: https://globalcarbonbudget.org/carbonbudget/

Klöwer, M., Allen, M. R., Lee, D. S., Proud, S. R., Gallagher, L., & Skowron, A. (2021). Quantifying aviation’s contribution to global warming. Environmental Research Letters.

Griffiths, S., Sovacool, B. K., Del Rio, D. D. F., Foley, A. M., Bazilian, M. D., Kim, J., & Uratani, J. M. (2023). Decarbonizing the cement and concrete industry: A systematic review of socio-technical systems, technological innovations, and policy options. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

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Definition of air

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of air  (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

intransitive verb

pose , air , airs , affectation , mannerism mean an adopted way of speaking or behaving.

pose implies an attitude deliberately assumed in order to impress others.

air may suggest natural acquirement through environment or way of life.

airs always implies artificiality and pretentiousness.

affectation applies to a trick of speech or behavior that strikes the observer as insincere.

mannerism applies to an acquired eccentricity that has become a habit.

express , vent , utter , voice , broach , air mean to make known what one thinks or feels.

express suggests an impulse to reveal in words, gestures, actions, or what one creates or produces.

vent stresses a strong inner compulsion to express especially in words.

utter implies the use of the voice not necessarily in articulate speech.

voice does not necessarily imply vocal utterance but does imply expression or formulation in words.

broach adds the implication of disclosing for the first time something long thought over or reserved for a suitable occasion.

air implies an exposing or parading of one's views often in order to gain relief or sympathy or attention.

Examples of air in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'air.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Noun and Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin aer , from Greek aēr air

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

1530, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing air

• a change of air
• air bladder
• air - breathing
• air chief marshal
• air commodore
• air - condition
• air - cushion vehicle
• air differences
• air hostess
• air marshal
• air mattress
• air - minded
• air of superiority
• air one's dirty laundry
• air passage
• air superiority
• air suspension
• air - to - air
• air traffic control
• air traffic controller
• air transportation
• air vice - marshal
• blue the air
• breath of fresh air
• castle in the air
• chief master sergeant of the air force
• clear - air turbulence
• clear the air
• come / go on the air
• compressed air
• dead - air space
• disappear / vanish into thin air
• floating on air
• forward air controller
• general of the air force
• go off the air
• hang in the air
• have one's nose in the air
• heavier - than - air
• hot - air balloon
• into thin air
• lighter - than - air
• off the air
• out of thin air
• surface - to - air
• surface - to - air missile
• take off the air
• the open air
• throw one's hands up (in the air)
• un - air - conditioned
• up in the air
• walking on air
• with one's nose in the air

Articles Related to air

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Swell words for words lacking substance.

Dictionary Entries Near air

Cite this entry.

“Air.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of air.

Kids Definition of air  (Entry 2 of 2)

Medical Definition

Medical definition of air, more from merriam-webster on air.

Nglish: Translation of air for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of air for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about air

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Example sentences air traveller

An air traveller could be seen as consenting to such a search by choosing to travel.

He was the oldest person on board the flight, and probably the most experienced air traveller .

Air travellers will be hit the more they fly.

A spokeswoman said that passenger numbers had been swelled by air travellers whose flights had been cancelled.

It sounds ridiculous, but a fair few air travellers are doing just that.

Definition of 'air' air

Definition of 'traveller' traveller

COBUILD Collocations air traveller

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What does Staus:Ticketed on American Airlines Mean - Air Travel Forum

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What does Staus:Ticketed on American Airlines Mean

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What does the status Ticketed on American Airlines mean?

2 replies to this topic

It means the reservation has been processed, confirmed and ticketed with a specific ticket number.

It means you’ve paid for your confirmed reservation and an e-ticket has been issued which you need in order to be able to travel.

The e-ticket is linked to your booking & is an accountable virtual document, it has a value which the fare & taxes.

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Thieves stealing airline travel credits: How you can protect them

By matt gephardt, ksl-tv | posted - april 23, 2024 at 8:03 p.m..

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

LEHI – Peggy Lundberg was all set to explore Virginia with friends, until life forced abrupt changes in her travel plans.

"I canceled the ticket," Lundberg said. "American Airlines gave me full credit for it and said I had a year to use the credit."

Seven months later, she was ready to use her $1,200-plus flight credit.

"I went online to book the ticket and it wouldn't let me book it," she said.

Lundberg called the airline's customer service, pronto, and got bad news. Someone had already used her credit to buy airfare in Pennsylvania for a woman with a completely different name.

"I don't know her. Never heard of her. Don't know anybody by that name," Lundberg said.

It gets worse. Lundberg won't get her credit back, even though American Airline's website says only she can use her flight credit since it's her name on the original ticket.

"'I'm sorry this happened but there's nothing we can do about it,' is what he said," Lundberg said, of her call to American's customer service. That didn't land well with her, so she contacted the KSL Investigators.

Are airlines required to refund stolen credits?

Federal law can protect your credit cards or bank accounts from thieves and hackers, but those protections don't exist for travel credits.

"It's really a case-by-case basis," said Katy Nastro of the travel website, Going. "There is no formal law around whether or not they need to reinstate them."

So, how do flight credits get stolen? Often, it's through fake travel booking websites, Nastro said.

They're slick, often looking just like legit sites asking all the right questions with the added lure of big discounts.

"Scammers are looking to sort of get your information delivered on a silver platter," Nastro said.

Information like names, addresses, payments and travel credit numbers.

What happened?

The KSL Investigators reached out to American Airlines to ask what happened with Peggy Lundberg's credit.

It appears, in her case, the thief actually booked a ticket in Lundberg's name using only a small portion of her flight credit. Then, the airline re-issued the leftover credit as trip credit which can be used by anyone.

"I would like to get my credit back," she said.

We asked American Airlines about that, and they gave us a "no," pointing to their travel credit terms and conditions that state lost or stolen credits won't be replaced. Passengers are told to guard those numbers "as you would cash."

So, no credit refund for Lundberg. An American Airlines spokesperson wrote in a statement, "Customer service is paramount to American, and we do not tolerate scammers taking advantage of our customers."

Is there any recourse?

Nastro said travel credits vary from airline to airline, and "no" will not always be the answer. She advises if you get an answer you don't like to politely hang up and try again.

"It doesn't hurt to continually contact the airline," she said. "Because it could just be that you are in the right and you need to get in touch with a person that has maybe a bit more experience with your specific case."

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Proposed bill could ban security line skipping services from California airports

I s it OK for people to pay to skip security lines at the airport? Two state lawmakers say no, and they're proposing a bill to change the way third-party security screening companies like CLEAR work.

CLEAR allows people to pay to verify their identity at a kiosk then be escorted past people waiting in the TSA security lines.

If the new bill passes, it would ban companies like CLEAR from operating at California airports unless they utilize their own security lines.

Some air travel experts say the change could mean added work for the TSA.

This bill is still a long way from becoming law. It goes before the state Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.

If it passes, there it would have to go through several more steps before making it to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk.