An airline is an organization providing aviation services to passengers and/or cargo. It owns or leases airliners with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for reasons of mutual benefit. Airline services may be intercontinental, intracontinental, regional Regional Airlines or domestic and may be operated as scheduled services or charters.
In view of the congestion apparent at many international airports, the ownership of slots at certain airports (the right to take-off or land an aircraft at a particular time of day or night) has become a significant tradeable asset in the portfolios of many airlines. Clearly take-off slots at popular times of the day can be critical in attracting the more profitable business traveller to a given airline's flight and in establishing a competitive advantage against a competing airline. If a particular city has two or more airports, market forces will tend to attract the less profitable routes, or those on which competition is weakest, to the less congested airport, where slots are likely to be more available and therefore cheaper.
Other factors, such as surface transport facilities and onward connections, will also affect the relative appeal of different airports and some long distance flights may need to operate from the one with the longest runway.
Where an airline has established an engineering base at an airport then there may be considerable economic advantages in using that same airport as a preferred focus (or "hub") for its scheduled flights.
Each operator of a scheduled or charter flight uses a distinct airline call sign when communicating with airports or air traffic control centres.
Most of these call-signs are derived from the airline's trade name, but for reasons of history, marketing, or the need to reduce ambiguity in spoken English (so that pilots do not mistakenly make navigational decisions based on instructions issued to a different aircraft), some airlines and air forces use call-signs less obviously connected with their trading name. Click on the previous link to discover some of these less obvious radio call-signs.
Code sharing is a business term used in the airline industry for a procedure whereby one airline operates a service using its own flight number, e.g. XX123 and one or more other airlines, in agreement with airline XX, apply their own "code share" flight number to this operation. Most if not all major airlines nowadays have partnerships with other airlines, so called airline alliances. Code sharing is a major reason to start such a partnership.
Aviation Consumer Action Project (ACAP) ACAP seeks an increase in air safety and security while protecting consumer rights through public advocacy, research and policy statements. http://www.acap1971.org/index.html
Air Transport Users Council Consumer watchdog for the airline industry in the United Kingdom. It advises air travellers on their rights, helps passengers obtain redress where they have been badly treated, and promotes the wider interests of airline passengers. http://www.auc.org.uk/
Airline Safety Dedicated to the subject of airline safety and seeks to provide a forum for the discussion of airline safety policies and issues. http://www.airlinesafety.com/
AirDisaster.Com The website includes breaking news, a crash photo gallery, CVR recordings and transcripts, crash videos, special reports, and news archives. http://www.airdisaster.com/
Watchtower - Making Air Travel Safer An article about the use of flight simulators for safety training. http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2000/9/22a/article_01.htm
Angel Flight Central Medical and charity air transportation for reasons of compassion or community service. Donor and partner list, local chapters, areas covered, volunteer forms and links. http://www.angelflightcentral.org
Aviation History of Southern California Profiles aviation accidents and early aviation history in the United States. http://www.av.qnet.com/~carcomm/wrecks.htm
AirSafe.com Provides useful information for the traveling public, including details of recent fatal accidents involving the major airlines of the world. http://www.airsafe.com/
Flying Safely on the Boeing 777 Provides passengers with basic information about flying and air travel. Image gallery, FAQs guest book and links. http://www.geocities.com/khlim777_my/
CrashDatabase.Com Commercial aviation accident database. Search by date, airline or aircraft type, contact information and disclaimer. http://www.crashdatabase.com/
Politics and Plane Crashes Describes a four-year investigation into three plane crashes TWA 800, Pan Am 103 and Air India 182. Introduces the "Plane Truth" book of the author. http://plane-truth.com/
Notable California Aviation Disasters Information on and descriptions of notable aviation disasters in California, including the state's 10 worst crashes to date. http://members.aol.com/jaydeebee1/aviation.html
HowStuffWorks: How Black Boxes Work Illustrated narrative looks at the two types of black boxes, how they survive crashes and how they are retrieved and analyzed. http://www.howstuffworks.com/black-box.htm
Sky Marshal Retired airline captain solicits ideas for preventing or surviving hijack attempts. Contact form, opinions and ideas. http://www.skymarshal.bigstep.com/
Wings of Mercy - Indiana Provides free transportation for people with limited financial means needing treatment at distant medical facilities. Service area, history, contact information and links. http://www.ffni.com/~wingsofmercy-illiana/
National Safe Skies Alliance An FAA-funded, non-profit, membership-based organization that serves aviation by providing impartial and effective testing and evaluation of safety and security systems. http://sskies.org/
