Air shuttle
Encyclopedia
An air shuttle is a scheduled airline
service that operates a frequent, regular service on short routes with a simplified fare and class structure. Although no exact specifications exist, frequency is normally once per hour or more often and travel time is typically an hour or less, although longer and less frequent services may still be considered shuttles. Network airlines may choose to operate shuttle services as one-class or no-frill services, operating similar to low-cost airlines.
Some shuttle services are established by governments, businesses, or organizations which require a high level of service in an otherwise thin corridor. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration
's William J. Hughes Technical Center
in Atlantic City, New Jersey
operates an air shuttle to ferry FAA employees to and from Reagan National Airport
(DCA) near Washington, DC four days a week. Ohio University
operates its Bobcat Air Shuttle to Washington Dulles International Airport
from its Gordon K. Bush Airport
.
Certain dense markets may support commercial shuttles. The pioneer service was the Eastern Air Shuttle, which offered no-frills, hourly flights connecting LaGuardia Airport
in New York City
with Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Logan International Airport
in Boston, Massachusetts. Examples of present-day commercial air shuttle services include
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
service that operates a frequent, regular service on short routes with a simplified fare and class structure. Although no exact specifications exist, frequency is normally once per hour or more often and travel time is typically an hour or less, although longer and less frequent services may still be considered shuttles. Network airlines may choose to operate shuttle services as one-class or no-frill services, operating similar to low-cost airlines.
Some shuttle services are established by governments, businesses, or organizations which require a high level of service in an otherwise thin corridor. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
's William J. Hughes Technical Center
William J. Hughes Technical Center
The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center is the world's premier aviation research and development, and test and evaluation facility. The Technical Center serves as the national scientific test base for the FAA...
in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
operates an air shuttle to ferry FAA employees to and from Reagan National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to...
(DCA) near Washington, DC four days a week. Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
operates its Bobcat Air Shuttle to Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. The airport serves the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia metropolitan area centered on the District of Columbia. It is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of...
from its Gordon K. Bush Airport
Gordon K. Bush Airport
Ohio University Airport or Gordon K. Bush Airport , also known as Snyder Field, is a public-use airport located on State Route 32/U.S...
.
Certain dense markets may support commercial shuttles. The pioneer service was the Eastern Air Shuttle, which offered no-frills, hourly flights connecting LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Logan International Airport
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
in Boston, Massachusetts. Examples of present-day commercial air shuttle services include
- US Airways Shuttle
- Delta ShuttleDelta ShuttleDelta Shuttle is the brand name for Delta Air Lines' air shuttle service between LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Logan International Airport in Boston, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport serving Washington, D.C. and Chicago-O'Hare International Airport...
- Horizon AirHorizon AirHorizon Air Industries, Inc. is a regional low-cost airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. It is the eighth largest regional airline in the USA, serving 52 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico....
service between Seattle Tacoma International Airport and Portland International AirportPortland International AirportPortland International Airport is a joint civil-military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of passenger travel and more than 95% of air cargo of the state. It is located within Portland's city limits just south of the Columbia River in Multnomah... - Japan AirlinesJapan Airlinesis an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
and All Nippon AirwaysAll Nippon Airways, also known as or ANA, is one of the largest airlines in Japan. It is headquartered at the Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates services to 49 destinations in Japan and 35 international routes and employed over 14,000 employees as of May 2009...
service between TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
(Tokyo International AirportTokyo International Airport, commonly known as , is one of the two primary airports that serve the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. It is located in Ōta, Tokyo, south of Tokyo Station....
, Narita International AirportNarita International Airportis an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is located east of Tokyo Station and east-southeast of Narita Station in the city of Narita, and the adjacent town of Shibayama....
) and OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
(Osaka International AirportOsaka International Airportor Osaka-Itami International Airport is the primary domestic airport for the Kansai region of Japan, including the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is classified as a first class airport....
, Kansai International AirportKansai International Airportis an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, southwest of Ōsaka Station, located within three municipalities, including Izumisano , Sennan , and Tajiri , in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The airport is off the Honshu shore. The airport serves as an...
, Kobe AirportKobe Airportis an airport on an artificial island just off the coast of Kobe, south of Sannomiya Station Japan. It primarily handles domestic flights, but can also accommodate international charter flights. In the first year of operation the airport handled 2,697,000 passengers with an average load factor of...
) in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... - Air CanadaAir CanadaAir Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
RapidAirhttp://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/rapidair.html service between TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
as well as Toronto and OttawaOttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
in CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... - TAMTAM Linhas AéreasTAM Airlines is Brazil's and Latin America's largest airline. It is headquartered in the city of São Paulo, and operates scheduled services to destinations within Brazil, as well as international flights to Europe and other parts of North and South America...
, GOLGol Transportes AéreosGol Transportes Aéreos is a Brazilian airline based in Comandante Lineu Gomes Square, São Paulo City, Brazil....
and VarigVarigVARIG was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990 it was Brazil's leading and almost only international airline...
's Ponte Aérea (Air Bridge) service between São PauloSão PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
and Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in Brazil. - IberiaIberia AirlinesIberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A., commonly known as Iberia, is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main bases of Madrid-Barajas Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport....
Puente Aéreo service between MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
every 30 minutes, in SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. SpanairSpanairSpanair is a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. It was, until 2009, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines, which now holds slightly under 20% of the company. Spanair provides a scheduled passenger network within Spain and...
operates the same route under the name Puente a Barcelona or Pont a Madrid depending on the point of departure, although they have cut back the frequencies recently, mainly due to the newly opened high-speed railHigh-speed railHigh-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
link between the two cities. - Air FranceAir FranceAir France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
La Navette service offers 80 flights a day from Paris-Orly Airport to MarseilleMarseilleMarseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, BordeauxBordeauxBordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, NiceNiceNice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, and ToulouseToulouseToulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, with a flight every 30–60 minutes. This service is used by more than 5.6 million travellers every year. - QantasQantasQantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
and QantasLinkQantasLinkQantasLink is a regional brand of Australian airline Qantas and is an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is a major competitor to Regional Express Airlines, Virgin Australia and Skywest Airlines. As of September 2010 QantasLink provides 1900 flights each week to 54 domestic and...
'CityFlyer' service offers flights between major Australian capital cities on weekdays, with complimentary alcoholic afternoon drinks, newspapers, flexible fares and more frequent schedules. - Korean AirKorean AirKorean Air Lines Co., Ltd. , operating as Korean Air, is both the flag carrier and the largest airline of South Korea, with global headquarters located in Seoul, South Korea. Korean Air's international passenger division and related subsidiary cargo division together serve 130 cities in 45...
, Asiana AirlinesAsiana AirlinesAsiana Airlines Inc. is one of South Korea's two major airlines, along with Korean Air. Asiana has its headquarters in Asiana Town in Osoe-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul...
and other minor Korean airlines' service between Gimpo International AirportGimpo International AirportGimpo International Airport , commonly known as Gimpo Airport , is located in the far western end of Seoul and was the main international airport for Seoul and South Korea before it was replaced by Incheon International Airport in 2001...
and Jeju International AirportJeju International AirportJeju International Airport Revised Romanization of Korean; Jeju Gukje Gonghang, McCune-Reischauer; Cheju Kukche Konghang) is the 3rd largest in South Korea, just behind Gimpo Airport in Seoul and Incheon Airport in Incheon. It is located in the city of Jeju...
. The busiest air route in Asia. - Singapore AirlinesSingapore AirlinesSingapore Airlines Limited is the flag carrier airline of Singapore. Singapore Airlines operates a hub at Changi Airport and has a strong presence in the Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and "Kangaroo Route" markets...
, Malaysia AirlinesMalaysia AirlinesMalaysian Airline System Berhad , DBA Malaysia Airlines , is the government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and its eastern hub in Kota Kinabalu. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Sultan Abdul Aziz...
and SilkairSilkAirSilkAir Private Limited is an airline based in Singapore. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and operates scheduled passenger services from Singapore to 31 cities in Southeast Asia, South Asia and China. It has its head office on the fifth storey of SIA Superhub 1...
code-share a Kuala Lumpur- Singapore shuttle every hour. - Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Norwegian Air ShuttleNorwegian Air ShuttleNorwegian Air Shuttle ASA , trading as Norwegian, is the second-largest airline in Scandinavia. In 2010, it transported 13.0 million people. As of October 2011, Norwegian operates a total fleet of 62 aircraft; 17 Boeing 737-300s and 45 Boeing 737-800s...
provide a shuttle service between the Norwegian airports of Oslo Airport, GardermoenOslo Airport, GardermoenOslo Airport, Gardermoen is the principal airport serving Oslo, Norway. It acts as the main domestic hub and international airport for Norway, and the second-busiest airport in the Nordic countries. A hub for Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, and a focus city for Widerøe, it is...
and Bergen Airport, FleslandBergen Airport, FleslandBergen Airport, Flesland is an international airport located southwest of Bergen, Norway. Opened in 1955, it is the second-busiest airport in Norway, with 5,296,325 passengers in 2010. Flesland is operated by the state-owned Avinor...
; Trondheim Airport, VærnesTrondheim Airport, VærnesTrondheim Airport, Værnes is an international airport located in Stjørdal, east of Trondheim, Norway. Operated by the state-owned Avinor, it shares facilities with Værnes Air Station of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. In 2010, the airport had 3,521,734 passengers and 55,747 air movements,...
and Stavanger Airport, SolaStavanger Airport, SolaStavanger Airport, Sola is an international airport located in Sola, Norway, southwest of Stavanger. It is Norway's third-busiest airport, with both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter traffic for the offshore North Sea oil installations...
with up to 30-minute headways. - SAS also provides an international shuttle on the triangular route between Oslo Airport, Gardermoen (Norway), Stockholm-Arlanda AirportStockholm-Arlanda AirportStockholm Arlanda Airport , is an international airport located in the Sigtuna Municipality of Sweden, near the town of Märsta, north of Stockholm and nearly , by road, south-east of Uppsala....
(Sweden) and Copenhagen AirportCopenhagen AirportCopenhagen Airport is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark and the Oresund Region. It is located on the island of Amager, south of Copenhagen city centre, and west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Oresund Bridge. The airport lies mainly in the municipality...
(Denmark) with up to hourly headways. - The routes between Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China), and between Hong Kong and Bangkok, Thailand, are served by multiple carriers providing frequent service with frequency less than an hour during day time.