Meaning & use
commercial airline
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A company that operates regular flights to carry passengers or goods for payment.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a commercial airline' or 'commercial airlines'.
Patterns
- a commercial airline
- fly with a commercial airline
- commercial airline industry
She has worked for a commercial airline for ten years.
Commercial airlines have raised ticket prices because of fuel costs.
The small island is served by only one commercial airline.
Word forms
| plural | commercial airlines |
|---|
Common combinations
- major commercial airline
- A major commercial airline canceled all flights to the city.
- commercial airline pilot
- He trained to become a commercial airline pilot.
- commercial airline industry
- The commercial airline industry is highly competitive.
- fly with a commercial airline
- We usually fly with a commercial airline rather than a private jet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- carrier
- Carrier is a more formal word for a company that transports people or goods, often used in news reports.
- air carrier
- Air carrier is a technical term used in law and business for an airline.
Word family
- airline noun
- A company that provides air transport.
- airliner noun
- A large passenger aircraft.
Commonly confused: commercial airline or airline?
commercial airline vs airline
'Airline' is the general word; 'commercial airline' stresses that it operates for profit, not for the military or private use.
Practice
Which of these is a commercial airline?
Choose one answer.
A commercial airline carries passengers or goods for payment on regular flights. The other options are not commercial airlines.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “commercial airline”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.