Airlines

An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which they both offer and operate the same flight. Generally, airline companies are recognized with an air operating certificate or license issued by a governmental aviation body. Airlines may be scheduled or charter operators.

There are several types of passenger airlines, mainly
  • Mainline airlines operate flights by the airline's main operating unit, rather than by regional affiliates or subsidiaries
  • Regional airlines, non-"mainline" airlines that operate regional aircraft; regionals typically operate over shorter non-intercontinental distances, often as feeder services for legacy mainline networks
  • Low-cost carriers, giving a "basic", "no-frills" and perceived inexpensive service
  • Business-class airline, an airline aimed at the business traveler, featuring all business class seating and amenities
  • Charter airlines, operating outside regularly scheduled intervals
  • Flag carriers, the historically nationally owned airlines that were considered representative of the country overseas.
Airline Codes

IATA airline designator

IATA airline designators, sometimes called IATA reservation codes, are two-character codes assigned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to the world's airlines. The standard is described in IATA's Standard Schedules Information Manual and the codes themselves are described in IATA's Airline Coding Directory.

ICAO airline designator

The ICAO airline designator is a code assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to aircraft operating agencies, aeronautical authorities, and services related to international aviation, each of which is allocated both a three-letter designator and a telephony designator. These codes are unique by airline, unlike the IATA airline designator codes. The designators are listed in ICAO Document 8585: Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities, and Services.

Call signs (flight identification or flight ID)

Most airlines employ a call sign that is normally spoken during airband radio transmissions. As by ICAO Annex 10 chapter 5.2.1.7.2.1 a call sign shall be one of the following types:
  • Type A: the characters corresponding to the registration marking of the aircraft.
  • Type B: the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the last four characters of the registration marking of the aircraft.
  • Type C: the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the flight identification.
The one most widely used within commercial aviation is type C.

IATA's Airline and Airport Code Search

Airline & airport code search: search engine for airline 2-letter codes and airport/city 3-letter codes.

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