A domestic flight is a form of

commercial flight Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ae ...

within

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, which can be both private and commercial. Most countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and ...

where the departure and the arrival take place in the same

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

. Airports serving domestic flights only are known as

domestic airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...

s. Domestic flights are generally cheaper and shorter than most

international flight An international flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the Takeoff, departure and the arrival take place in different Country, countries. Regular international passenger air service began in August 1919 with a flight ...

s. Some international flights may be cheaper than domestic ones due to the short distance between the pair of cities in different countries, and also because domestic flights might, in smaller countries, mainly be used by high paying business travellers, while leisure travellers use road or rail domestically. As far as security checks is concerned, the security check only verifies the traveler's identity. Domestic flights are the only sector of aviation not exhibiting a global long term growth trend due to many smaller countries increasingly replacing short domestic routes with

high speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single def ...

; that said, most of the busiest air routes in the world are domestic flights. Some smaller countries, like

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, have no scheduled domestic flights. Medium-sized countries like the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

have very few domestic flights; most of them are merely a leg between small regional airports such as

Groningen Airport Eelde Groningen Airport Eelde is a minor international airport in the northeastern Netherlands. It is located near Eelde in the Province of Drenthe, south of the city of Groningen in the province of Groningen. In 2015, the airport handled 220,710 ...

Maastricht Aachen Airport Maastricht Aachen Airport is a major cargo hub and regional passenger airport in Beek in Limburg, the Netherlands, located northeast of Maastricht and northwest of Aachen, Germany. It is the second-largest hub for cargo flights in the Neth ...

and

Rotterdam The Hague Airport Rotterdam The Hague Airport (formerly ''Rotterdam Airport'', ''Vliegveld Zestienhoven'' in Dutch language, Dutch), is a minor international airport serving Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second largest city, and The Hague, its administrative and r ...

to pick up passengers from various parts of the country before proceeding to international destinations. In June 2013, Dutch MP

Liesbeth van Tongeren Liesbeth van Tongeren (born 31 March 1958 in Vlaardingen) is a Dutch politician, and former civil servant and director of Greenpeace Netherlands (2003–2010). As a member of GroenLinks, she was a member of the House of Representatives from 17 ...

(

GreenLeft (, ; GL) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the ...

, previously

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

Netherlands director) proposed to prohibit domestic flights in the Netherlands with the argument that they are needlessly inefficient, polluting and expensive, but Environment Secretary

Wilma Mansveld Wilma Jacqueline Mansveld (born 11 September 1962) is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). She served as Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Environment, dealing with water policy, environment and aviation in the Second Rutte cabin ...

( Labour Party) said such a ban would violate EU regulations that allow airlines to fly domestically. Some political debaters propose

short-haul flight ban A short-haul flight ban is a prohibition imposed by governments on airlines to establish and maintain a aviation, flight connection over a flight length, certain distance, or by organisations or companies on their employees for business travel us ...

s in a number of countries.

Largest domestic markets

References

Civil aviation {{Aviation-stub

Largest domestic markets

See also

References