What's a "commuter flight"?

Question

Do the flights between Chicago to Detroit count as 'commuter flight' -- Does the term "commuter flight" pertain to the size of the plane.... (I don't think so but my husband thought so....?)

I saw a poll on CNN about it yesterday and assumed it was related to the crash... but THAT flight was supposed to be pretty long...

Answer 1

its a very short flight normaly between two places 20 or more miles appart

Answer 2

A commuter flight is a sheduled flight that operates on a daily basis with one or more flights on that route per day.

A commuter flight is usually classed as a flight that is under 3 hours. The flight from Lexington to Atlanta that crashed yesterday was considered a commuter flight because the duration of the flight would have at or less than 3 hours. The duration of that flight would have been about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The aircraft often used in commuter flights are usually smaller aircraft that typically seat 50 - 60 passengers, somtimes less. On a busy route like Boston to New York, the aircraft may be slightly larger with a seating capacity of 80 - 100.

Often commuter flights are used when flying from smaller domestic airports to larger international airports. Many people don't live close to an international airport, or there city's airport doesn't have international flights or long haul flights (flights more than 5 hours), so they get a commuter flights to a larger airport such as New York, Atlanta, Toronto or Boston, or whichever one is nearest to them.

Commuter routes are also popular with business people who need to travel into major cities for business trips. And yes, a flight from Detroit to Chicago would be considered a commuter flight.

Examples of commuter flight routes:
Boston > New York
Toronto > New York
Montreal > Boston
Los Angeles > San Fransico
Nashville > Atlanta
Lexington > Atlanta
Cleveland > Chicago
Raleigh > Washington
Raleigh > Toronto

The Canada Regional Jet (CRJ), the Embraer Regional Jet (ERJ) and the Mcdonald Douglas 90 (MD90) are commonly used for commuter routes:
CRJ picture:
http://www.aircanada.com/shared/images/common/fleet/pictures/crj.jpg
MD90 Picture:
http://center-chubu.hp.infoseek.co.jp/JAS-MD90-2.jpg
ERJ Picture:
http://www.ronleon.com/erj-Eagle3.jpg

- Hope this helps :-)
- Alexandra ~ Sonic

Answer 3

What in the world is everyone babbling about???

Smaller airlines that fly CRJ's Avros and Saabs are usually called commuter airlines. Hence, a commuter flight would be one operated by one of these airlines. Some examples : Mesaba, Delta Connection, American Eagle, Comair, and Pinnacle.


The flight or time has nothing to do with it. I have worked a two hour flight on a 747 with 400 passengers. Does this make it a commuter because it was less than three hours, like one clueless soul suggested? I think not.

Another example of this term, is often used in the industry to explain your ride to work. Many of us go to work on an airplane, just as you drive to work. Over half of flight crews do not live at their base.

There was a pilot on the Comair flight that worked for Air Tran and was "commuting" to work on his commuter flight.

And no, a flight from Chicago to Detroit is not necessarily a commuter flight.

Answer 4

Do the flights between Chicago to Detroit count as 'commuter flight' -- Does the term "commuter flight" pertain to the size of the plane.... (I don't think so but my husband thought so....?)




Yes

Answer 5

A commuter flight is both short on time and space. It is a short flight and the plane usually does not hold more than 50 passengers. It's usually used from a smaller airport to get to a big airport to get a connnecting flight. Like, for me, I'm in Tallahassee Florida and I want to go to Toronto. I would fly on some small airlines that has deals with the bigger airlines that do not fly in to small airports.(Not enough runway for the big jets) So I fly the commuter plane (small) to Atlanta to get on the bigger plane to fly on to the bigger airport. The one that crashed was going from Lexington Kentucky to Atlanta Georgia, that would not be a very long flight. Maybe alittle over an hour.

Answer 6

A commuter air carrier is defined as a company which operates airplanes designed to have no more than 60 passenger seats that provides scheduled passenger service of five or more round trip flights per week on at least one route according to published flight schedules.

Answer 7

A shuttle flight such as Boston to New York, which occur on a regular schedule and do not require advance reservation.

Answer 8

An airline fight where most (if not all) passengers are using air travel as a method to transport themselves from one place to another for their employment.