Airline Meaning, and Why a Straight Route Is Called As the Crow Flies
An airline is a company that carries passengers or freight by air. The word originally meant a straight line through the air, which is what the routes were meant to be.
An airline is a business that operates aircraft to carry passengers and cargo on scheduled or chartered routes. The word covers the company, not the aeroplane: *the airline cancelled the flight*, never *the airline landed*.
- An air transport company. *The airline added two routes.*
- A straight-line distance (older sense). *Fifty miles by airline.*
- A hose supplying air (technical). *Check the airline to the compressor.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | airline | Which airline are you flying? |
| Plural | airlines | Two airlines merged. |
| Related | airliner | A wide-body airliner. |
| Related | airfare | Airfares rose in June. |
| Related | airport | Meet me at the airport. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The airline lost my bag between two connecting flights.The company, not the plane.
- Budget airlines charge separately for almost everything.A common collocation.
- Airline food has improved, though not everywhere.Attributive use.
Airline, airliner, airway
- Airline — the company
- Airliner — a large passenger aircraft
- Airway — a designated corridor in the sky, or the passage you breathe through
- Airfield — a place aircraft land, usually smaller than an airport
The straight-line meaning came first, in the nineteenth century, when *air line* described the shortest route between two points — the same idea as *as the crow flies*. American railway companies used it in their names long before aircraft existed.
What is a flag carrier?
The airline most closely identified with a country, historically state-owned, such as Air France or Japan Airlines.
Airline or air line?
One word for the company. Two words survive only in technical uses, such as a compressed air line.