Air shuttle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An air shuttle is a shuttle service operated with aircraft. Although many airlines employ "shuttle" in their name, a true air shuttle is typically characterized by

• short, limited routes
• frequent, regular scheduled service
• simplified fare and class structures.

Many shuttle services are established by governments, businesses, or organizations which require a high level of service in an otherwise thin corridor. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey operates an air shuttle to ferry FAA employees to and from Reagan National Airport (DCA) near Washington, DC four days a week. Ohio University operates its Bobcat Air Shuttle to DCA from its Gordon K. Bush Regional Airport.

Certain dense markets may support commercial shuttles. The pioneer service was the Eastern Air Shuttle, which offered no-frills, hourly flights connecting LaGuardia Airport in New York City with DCA and Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Examples of present-day commercial air shuttle services include

• US Airways Shuttle
• Delta Shuttle
• Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways service between Tokyo and Osaka, Tokyo and Sapporo, and Tokyo and Fukuoka in Japan
• Air Canada service between Toronto and Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada
• Brazilian airlines' Ponte Aérea service between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
• Iberia Puente Aéreo service between Madrid and Barcelona each 30 minutes, in Spain.