Commercial aviation is the part ofcivil aviation that involves operatingaircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed toprivate aviation.
Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. Allcommercial air transport and aerial work operations are regarded as commercial aviation, as well as somegeneral aviation flights.
An aircraft operation involving the transportation of people, goods, or mail for payment or hiring is referred to as commercial air transport. Both scheduled and unscheduled air transport operations are included. An aircraft used for specialized services including agriculture, construction, photography, surveying, observation and patrol, search and rescue, advertising, etc. is referred to as aerial work.
General aviation includes commercial activities such asflight instruction, aerial work, and corporate and business aviation, as well as non-commercial activities such as recreational flying.[1]
Most commercial aviation activities require at minimum acommercial pilot licence, and some require anairline transport pilot licence (ATPL). In the US, thepilot in command of a scheduled air carriers' aircraft must hold an ATPL.[2] In the UK, pilots must hold an ATPL before they be pilot in command of an aircraft with 9 or more passenger seats.[3]
Not all activities involving pilot remuneration require a commercial pilot licence. For example, inEuropean Union Aviation Safety Agency states[4] and the UK[5] it is possible to become a paid flight instructor with only aprivate pilot licence. Nonetheless, in the UK, flight instruction is considered a commercial operation.[6]
It is the purpose of the flight, not the aircraft or pilot, that determines whether the flight is commercial or private.[7] For example, if a commercially licensed pilot flies a plane to visit a friend or attend a business meeting, this would be a private flight. Conversely, a private pilot could legally fly a multi-engine complex aircraft carrying passengers for non-commercial purposes (no compensation paid to the pilot, and apro rata or larger portion of the aircraft operating expenses paid by the pilot).
Aviation technology emerged duringWorld War I.Aviation between the World Wars saw the development of the first commercial flights. The major players in the early aviation industry wereBritain,France, theUnited States, and theSoviet Union.Post-war aviation saw the rapid expansion of commercial operations around the world.
Five airlines were established in the United Kingdom between 1916 and 1922. The first of these wasAircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T), which operated the world's first regular scheduledinternational flight for passengers in 1919.[8][9]
The first commercialjet airliner to fly was the Britishde Havilland DH.106 Comet. By 1952, the British state airlineBritish Overseas Airways Corporation had introduced the Comet into scheduled service. While a technical achievement, the plane suffered a series of highly public failures, including the crashing ofBOAC Flight 781 andSouth African Airways Flight 201.[10][11] The Comet 4 was introduced in 1958. The first successful service, from October 1958, was London–New York City, which became the typicaljet set route.[12]
Société Générale des Transports Aériens (SGTA) was the first commercial airline company in France, founded as Lignes Aériennes Farman in 1919. Commercial aviation developed in the France in the 1920s, subsidised by the government.
Harry Bruno andJuan Trippe were early promoters of commercial aviation.
TheAir Commerce Act of 1926 began to regularize commercial aviation by establishing standards, facilitation, and promotion. An Aeronautical Branch was established in theDepartment of Commerce withWilliam P. MacCracken Jr. as director. To promote commercial aviation, he toldtown fathers that "Communities without airports would be communities without airmail."
Writing forCollier's in 1929, he noted "Commercial aviation is the first industry inspired by hero-worship and built upon heros". He cited the promotion in South America byHerbert Dargue in early 1927. After his 1927 trans-Atlantic flight,Charles Lindbergh made a tour of thecontiguous United States, paid for by theDaniel Guggenheim Foundation for the Promotion of Aeronautics. From that point, commercial aviation took off:
Roads were choked on Sundays, for weeks afterward, by motorists trying to get toLambert Field, Lindbergh's home port in Saint Louis, to buy their first air hop. Hundreds of thousands of you went aloft for the first time that summer.[13]
The Aeronautical Branch was charged with issuingcommercial pilot licenses,airworthiness certificates, and with investigatingair accidents.[14]
Many small regional airlines operated in the 1920s in the United States. Many of them merged or were acquired late in the decade by the first developing nationwide airlines, such asEastern Airlines,Pan Am,American Airlines, andTWA.
AfterWorld War II, commercial aviation grew rapidly, using mostly ex-military aircraft to transport people and cargo. The experience used in designingheavy bombers such as theBoeing B-29 Superfortress andAvro Lancaster could be used for designing heavy commercial aircraft. TheDouglas DC-3 also made for easier and longer commercial flights. With theBoeing 707,Pan Am made its first scheduled flight between New York City and Paris on 26 October 1958.[15]
In the 1910s,Brazil andArgentina were among the first Latin American countries to possess the instruments of aircraft that were not all locally made, yet the aircraft was locally congregated.[16] At that time, many individuals were interested to be pilots in Latin American countries, yet there were not sufficient resources and funding to support and promote the best interests of the aviation industry.[16] Amidst these obstacles, Argentina and theDominican Republic made efforts in creating jet aviation rather than creating and using propeller planes.[17] In 1944, theChicago Convention on International Civil Aviation attended by all Latin American countries except Argentina drafted the clauses of aviation law.[18] The introduction of thejet fighterF-80 by the US in 1945 pushed the Latin American countries even further away from development of aviation industry because it was simply expensive to recreate the sophisticated technology of F-80.[16]
The Latin American Civil Aviation Commission (LACAC) was formed in December 1973 "intended to provide civil aviation authorities in the region with an adequate framework for cooperation and coordination of activities related to civil aviation".[19] In 1976, about seven percent of the world logged in the Latin American and Caribbean region.[18] This contributed to the increase of average annual rate of air traffic.[18] Subsequently, higher passenger load factor decided the profitability of these airlines.
According to C. Bogolasky, airline pooling agreements between Latin American airlines contributed to better financial performance of the airlines. The economic problems related to the "airline capacity regulation, regulation of non-scheduled operations, tariff enforcement, high operating costs, passenger and cargo rates."[18]
Private jet ownership refers to individuals or corporations owning their own aircraft. Owners are responsible for the management and maintenance of their aircraft and often employ a dedicated crew. The aircraft may be operated for personal or business use.[citation needed]
Charter flights allow individuals or groups to rent an aircraft for a specific trip, without the need for long-term commitments. Charter flights provide flexibility and convenience, as travelers can choose their own schedules and destinations.[20]
Fractional ownership is a model that allows individuals or corporations to purchase a share of an aircraft, granting them access to a fleet of aircraft managed by a provider. Fractional owners typically pay an initial acquisition cost, followed by monthly management fees and hourly flight rates.[21]
Jet card programs are prepaid programs offered by private aviation companies, allowing customers to purchase a set number of flight hours on a specific aircraft or fleet. Jet card holders can use their hours to book flights, often with guaranteed availability and fixed hourly rates.[22][23][24]
Air travel is a noted source of pollution, contributing about 2.4% of global CO2 emissions in 2018.[25] Airline companies have become increasingly interested incorporate social responsibility (CSR) andenvironmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.
While aviation is oftentaxed, most jurisdictions do not tax fuel for commercial aircraft.
In 2024, Air New Zealand, having previously set emissions reduction targets, cancelled these commitments.[26]
Exposure toionizing radiation is higher in the upper atmosphere, and airline pilots are the fourth most exposed group of employees, with an average annual effective dose of 3millisieverts (mSv). This is on top of the average effective dose of a typical person in the United States of 3.11 mSv from background sources, and well below the recommended limit of 20 mSv per year.[27] Doses of less than 50 mSv over any time period are safe.[28][Note 1]
Radiation exposure is higher at higher altitudes, and higher in polar regions than in mid-latitude and equatorial regions.[27]
