Flight duration

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Flight duration" is a commercial aviation term that commonly refers to the amount of time a single flight (segment) is scheduled to take from 'pushing back at the departure gate to arriving at its destination gate'.[1]

Definitions[]

It is formally defined by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) as "The total time from the moment an aeroplane first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight" also referred to colloquially as "chocks to chocks" time.[2]

Flight duration is formally measured in hours & minutes as it is irrespective of geographic distance traveled.

Flight duration is commonly referred to in groups known technically as "Flight Haul Types",[3] such as "Short Haul" or "Long Haul" that have multiple different definitions depending on originating sources. See the below table for some more prominent examples:

Flight Haul Type definitions
"Short-haul" "Medium-haul" "Long-haul" "Ultra-long-haul"
ICAO[4][5] < 8 hours 8–16 hours > 16 hours
IATA[6][7][3][8] < 3 hours 3–6 hours 6–16 hours > 16 hours
CAPA (aviation industry news publisher)[9] < 6 hours 6–16 hours > 16 hours

Disambiguation[]

As flight duration refers to measuring the length of time a flight takes, it is important to also disambiguate other related, and very similar terminology such as:

  • Aircraft (Equipment) (e.g. "The Boeing 777-200ER is a long-haul wide body airplane", "JAL uses long-haul aircraft between Tokyo and Osaka")
  • Route Length/Distance (e.g. "The EU deems any city pair that is separated by a great circle distance greater than 3,500km to be a long-haul flight, regardless of time or distance flown"[10])

Flight duration variation example[]

On the same Luxembourg to Bucharest route operated by LuxAir, the scheduled flight length remains constant while the flight duration varies depending on aircraft used:

  • For lower demand periods, LuxAir operates a DHC-8 with a scheduled duration of 3 hours 10 minutes.[11]
  • For higher demand periods, LuxAir operates a Boeing 737, which reduces the scheduled duration of the flight down to 2 hours 20 minutes.[11]

A route's flight duration can be affected by anticipated routings, seasonal weather, traffic, or taxiing time.[12]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "What is "Block Time" in Airline Schedules? Why Does it Matter?". Cirium. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  2. ^ "ICAO ADREP 2000 Taxonomy" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b "FHT Flight haul type - ATSB". guides.developer.iata.org. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  4. ^ "Fatigue Management Guide for Airline Operators, Second Edition 2015" (PDF). ICAO.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "FRMS: Challengesand Lessons Learned" (PDF). ICAO.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Air Transport & Travel Industry IATA Edifact Version 20.2" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Fatigue Management Guide for General Aviation Operators of Large and Turbojet Aeroplanes. First Edition, 2016" (PDF). Flightsafety.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "IATA Cabin Waste Handbook. August 2019" (PDF). IATA.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Aviation Industry Glossary | CAPA". centreforaviation.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  10. ^ "Long-haul delays | UK Civil Aviation Authority". www.caa.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  11. ^ a b "Flight Schedule LUX-OTP". FlightMapper.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "Your Random Flight Arrival Time Isn't So Random After All". Condé Nast Traveler. 2017-08-18.
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