✈️ Exclusive Benefits for Readers
Verified codes to save on your next trip.
Today we talk about direct flight or without scales, an explanation and clarification more than necessary from the commercial concept of the airline industry.
Perhaps, especially if you read me from Ecuador, Recently you heard that there is a new direct route between Cuenca and the islands Galapagos which operates twice a week, but that flight, on the way, has an obligatory stop in Quito, then, Is the route not direct??
In the general concept of day to day, we could say no, by simple logic. When we think that something is direct, how to go straight from home to the supermarket, We don't plan to make any stops., but in aviation the logic is different and that is how it has been handled many years ago.. There are specific issues in the airline industry that not all of us are used to..
Direct flight and with stops
Then, why the flight Cuenca to Galapagos They sell it as "direct" if it has a scale?
In aviation, many specific concepts are handled from a commercial perspective.. A flight is direct or non-stop (non-stop in Spanish). The difference is very clear in the second term: without scales, We will not do any technical or any kind on our trip, how to go to the supermarket without having to put gas first.
But, on the direct flight side, It is considered this way as long as the passenger continues his trip to the next point on the same plane and without changing aircraft., even though I stopped for a few minutes at an airport. This difference is what has led many to say that "there is deception" in the new route mentioned., but in reality it is just a lack of knowledge of how aviation is sold to the general public.
Specific, The flight has the following configuration:
- Cuenca – Quito – Baltra: direct flight, with stopover in Quito, but we do not get off or change aircraft.
- Baltra – Cuenca: non-stop flight, The obligatory stop on the way in Quito is eliminated and passengers will travel to Cuenca faster.
Did you notice the difference? Direct flight may include stopover/s, but as long as you don't have to get off or change planes, you will continue traveling directly, while without stops there will not be even an intermediate stop.
Another example of this and a very local one is the route of KLM from amsterdam a Guayaquil, which is marketed as direct, even though the flight makes a stop in Quito.
Why can't you fly non-stop from Cuenca to Galapagos??
Yes ok, There will be a few non-stop flights in the coming Saturdays when the Quito airport closure for scheduled maintenance of its landing strip, The normal operation of the route will be passing through Quito to refuel..
The crux of the matter here is the short length of the runway. Cuenca Airport, that added to the altitude at which it is located, limits the maximum weight with which planes can take off, bringing with them that they must stop at an intermediate point to load more vital liquid (Jet A1) and then continue its normal service.
For this reason also, the thing is Cuenca doesn't count yet, with international routes to cities further away from their own within Ecuador.
I hope this information focused on clarifying aviation concepts, has been to your liking, The idea is to continue learning more about the enormous aerial world every day.
Have you ever traveled on a direct flight? Tell me which route it was in the comments.
✈️ Exclusive Benefits for Readers
Search here for hotels ALL over the world at the best price.
