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Aviation glossary

Taxiing

Also: taxi, taxying, taxi out, taxi in

Operations and flight

Movement of an aircraft on the ground under its own power between the apron and the runway, along taxiways and following instructions from ground control.

What it is

Taxiing is how an aircraft moves around an airport under engine thrust at low speed: from its stand to the runway holding point and, after landing, back to the gate. Pilots steer the nose wheel with a small wheel on the side of the flight deck, known as the tiller, and brake with the rudder pedals.

Ground control, in the tower, assigns a route along taxiways named by letters (A, B, K and so on) and tells crews where to stop before crossing a runway. Yellow centrelines and green centreline lights guide the aircraft, and red stop bars mark where it must wait.

At large airports taxiing can take more than 20 minutes and burn several hundred kilograms of fuel in a wide-body, which is why many airlines taxi on a single engine when conditions allow.

Related terms

TaxiwayPaved route linking the runways with the apron and other parts of an airport, along which aircraft move on the ground under their own power. ApronArea of an airport where aircraft park to board and disembark passengers, load cargo, refuel and receive line maintenance. Control towerAir traffic control unit based at an airport that clears take-offs, landings and ground movements and handles traffic in the immediate vicinity. PushbackThe manoeuvre in which a tug pushes an aircraft backwards away from the gate, since airliners do not normally reverse under their own power. RunwayRectangular surface at an aerodrome prepared for aircraft to take off and land, identified by its magnetic orientation.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Taxiing. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing

MLA

“Taxiing.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Taxiing.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Taxiing. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_taxiing,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Taxiing}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/taxiing |title=Taxiing |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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