also called air cabotage
Rules that generally bar a foreign airline from carrying passengers between two points inside another country.
These are the rules that generally stop a foreign airline from flying passengers between two points inside another country. It is why domestic hops are almost always operated by local carriers. It shapes which routings are even possible to book. A fifth freedom flight is the related exception people confuse it with, where an airline is allowed to carry passengers on a leg between two foreign countries.
Someone tries to piece together a domestic flight in another country on their favourite foreign airline and finds it simply is not offered. Cabotage rules reserve those internal routes for local carriers, so the neat single-airline itinerary they wanted cannot legally exist.
It's why domestic legs are usually flown by local carriers, shaping which routings are even possible.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
An airline alliance is a partnership that pools routes, lounges and frequent-flyer benefits, and a frequent flyer program is the loyalty scheme you earn in across it.
A codeshare is one airline selling a seat on a flight another airline actually operates.
A fifth freedom flight is an airline carrying passengers between two foreign countries on the way from its home, and cabotage is the rule that generally forbids it from carrying passengers between two points inside one foreign country.
Airline alliance · Fifth freedom flight · Frequent flyer program
LOOSELY DEFINED. This term is used widely but not consistently, and its precise meaning shifts by country and by who is speaking. Treat it as a lead, not a rule.
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