Summary
- Flight time alone does not determine whether a flight is short or long-haul.
- Definitions of short and long-haul flights vary by airline, country, and organization.
- Different associations, such as CAPA and Eurocontrol, have varying definitions of short and long-haul.
We often read about an airline launching a new long-haul flight or a short-haul service, and we understand, based on the provided information, about how long those flights should last. But is there a consensus cataloging what is actually long-haul, short-haul, and even extra-long-haul and medium-haul?
Defining flight time
According to a taxonomy set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), flight time is “the total time from the moment an aeroplane first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight.” Flight times can range from a minute (if you’re onboard Loganair’s flight LM711 between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland) to Singapore Airlines’ 18-hour and 50-minute service between New York City JFK Airport and Singapore (SIN).
Photo: Markus Mainka/Shutterstock.
Nonetheless, as we will see in a bit, airlines and governments don’t define short and long-haul flights by the flight time of their services since many variables could impact how long a flight lasts, even if it is the same route on different days (or flying in different directions). For example, jetstreams can make traveling shorter while flying eastwards, but does that make the actual route faster? No. Therefore, airlines and governments mainly focus on the distance covered to establish what a short or a long-haul flight is.
What is a short and a long-haul flight?
This question is easy to answer but quite complex to put into numbers. There is no single standard of what is a short-haul flight. It varies by carrier, country, and organization. For instance, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) does not provide a definition of short and long-haul flights. Instead, it defines trip length based on the value of travel time savings and the availability of substitutes.
On the other hand, the Centre for Aviation (CAPA) defines long-haul as any long-distance international flight, which is typically intercontinental and lasts at least six hours in duration. Meanwhile, short-haul is “a short flight usually domestic or regional in nature, typically lasting less than six hours in duration.”
Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis/Shutterstock.
Agatha Kessler Fentress, in her doctoral dissertation and master’s thesis presented at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the summer of 2022, examined what is a short-haul trip. She argues that airlines define short haul differently, depending on their market focus. For instance, “Southwest defines it as 500 miles (800 kilometers) or less, while United Airlines considers a flight within 800 miles (1,200 kilometers) as short.” She agrees with Southwest and defines short haul as a flight that lasts one hour or covers a one-way travel distance of 500 miles or less.
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The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority does not agree with Southwest, United, or Mrs. Kessler Fentress. UK’s law splits flights into three categories:
- Short-haul flight, or under 1,500 kilometers (for instance, Glasgow to Amsterdam)
- Medium haul flight, or 1,500-3,500 kilometers (for instance, East Midlands to Marrakesh)
- Long-haul flight, or over 3,000 kilometers (for instance, London to New York).
Eurocontrol also disagrees with the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. The European organization defines medium-haul as any flight between 1,500 and 4,000 kilometers, and very-short-haul as any service of less than 500 kilometers. Therefore, Eurocontrol categorizes short-haul as anything between 500 and 1,500 kilometers and long-haul as anything over 4,000 kilometers.
For you, what is a short-haul and a long-haul flight? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, CAPA.