Company that carries passengers, cargo or mail by air for payment, holding an air operator certificate issued by its national aviation authority.
What it is
To fly commercial services, an airline needs an air operator certificate (AOC) from the civil aviation authority of its home country, confirming that it has the organisation, staff, procedures and maintenance arrangements to operate safely. Most also need an operating licence, covering the economic side of the business, and traffic rights for each international route they serve.
Airlines are usually identified by a two-character IATA designator and a three-letter ICAO designator, and use a call sign when talking to air traffic control. Lufthansa, for instance, appears as LH on tickets, DLH in flight plans and ‘Lufthansa’ on the radio.
Not every airline owns its aircraft: many lease a large part of their fleet, and some fly on behalf of other carriers under contract.
On Vuelopedia
An airline page on Vuelopedia shows its IATA and ICAO codes, call sign, country, headquarters, founding date, group, alliance, history, the models it flies and its documented fleet.
Related terms
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Airline. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline
MLA
“Airline.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Airline.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Airline. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_airline,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Airline}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/airline |title=Airline |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}