Flight duration

"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])

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).
  3. "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.
  5. "FRMS: Challengesand Lessons Learned" (PDF). ICAO.
  6. "Air Transport & Travel Industry IATA Edifact Version 20.2" (PDF).
  7. "Fatigue Management Guide for General Aviation Operators of Large and Turbojet Aeroplanes. First Edition, 2016" (PDF). Flightsafety.org.
  8. "IATA Cabin Waste Handbook. August 2019" (PDF). IATA.org.
  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.
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