Airline timetable

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Timetable of EVA Air, Oct. 29,06-Mar. 24,07
Timetable of EVA Air, Oct. 29,06-Mar. 24,07

Airline timetables are booklets that many airlines worldwide use to inform passengers of several different things, such as schedules, fleet, security, in-flight entertainment, food menu, restriction and phone contact information.

Airline timetables used to be mainly produced as small, paperback books that would be handed to passengers inside airplanes, at ticket agencies and airport counters, or upon request by phone or mail. On January 16, 1928, Pan Am published one of their first timetables. It read The air-way to Havana, Pan American Airways, Pershing Square building, New York.

Timetable of China Airlines with their official spokesperson, the supermodel, Lin Chi-ling and flight attendants in new uniform on the cover
Timetable of China Airlines with their official spokesperson, the supermodel, Lin Chi-ling and flight attendants in new uniform on the cover

Airline timetable books are famous for their diversity: Many had colorful covers, such as the ones produced by many Latin American airlines. Others, such as Scenic Airlines' timetables, consisted only of one paper, with their hub's flight time information on the front, and the return times on the back.

Online timetable of Cathay Pacific Airways.Data shown on the picture are flights from Hong Kong International Airport to its secondary hub, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport of Taipei
Online timetable of Cathay Pacific Airways.Data shown on the picture are flights from Hong Kong International Airport to its secondary hub, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport of Taipei

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, most airlines worldwide have stopped production of timetable books, in order to cut costs and reduce the delay between a change of schedule and a new timetable being in the hands of the public. As a consequence, most airlines now post their timetables only online (the larger airlines often offering a stand-alone application, while others provide just a downloadable document such as a PDF), and the value of many airline timetable books has risen among collectors.

[edit] External links

  • The Official Airline Guides manages the schedules for all airlines and produces timetables for them. While some parts of the website are subscription based, a book is published monthly and often in larger libraries

The four main Computer Reservation Systems (also known as Global Distribution Systems) contain virtually all data for airlines they serve[citation needed]. Amadeus in particular offers a publicly available searchable interface.