Meaning & use
air bridge
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Meanings
nouncountable
A regular series of flights used to carry people or supplies between two places that are hard to reach by land or sea.
Grammar: Takes an or the: an air bridge was set up.
Patterns
- an air bridge between places
- an air bridge to a place
Pilots set up an air bridge to carry food into the flooded region.
The air bridge between the two cities ran every day.
Aid groups relied on an air bridge when the roads were closed.
nouncountableBritish
An agreement between countries that lets travelers fly between them without having to isolate on arrival.
Grammar: Used in travel news: the air bridge opened.
Patterns
- an air bridge with a country
Travelers welcomed the new air bridge with Portugal.
The government announced an air bridge for summer holidays.
Airlines hoped the air bridge would bring tourists back.
Word forms
| plural | air bridges |
|---|
Common combinations
- set up an air bridge
- Several countries set up an air bridge for rescue teams.
- establish an air bridge
- The army established an air bridge in just two days.
- humanitarian air bridge
- The humanitarian air bridge carried tons of medicine.
- air bridge between
- The air bridge between the island and the mainland saved many lives.
- open an air bridge
- Officials opened an air bridge with several European nations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- airlift
- Airlift is the more common word for the operation itself, while air bridge stresses the continuing link between two places.
- air corridor
- Air corridor describes a protected flight route, not the stream of flights using it.
- air link
- Air link is a looser term for any regular flight connection, including ordinary commercial ones.
Word family
Commonly confused: air bridge or jet bridge?
air bridge vs jet bridge
A jet bridge is the covered walkway between an airport gate and a plane, which is not the same as an air bridge.
Practice
Why did the country create an air bridge during the flood?
Choose one answer.
An air bridge is a series of flights that links places hard to reach otherwise. Building a bridge across the river takes the word too literally.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “air bridge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.