What is air transport in ISIC Rev. 5?

Air transport in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, covers moving people and goods by air, using aircraft operated for passenger and freight services. It includes scheduled and non scheduled passenger flights, freight and cargo flights, and related air transport operations where aircraft carry people or goods through the air. The mode again is the organising idea, and it separates air movement from land and water movement even when the journey is part of a longer multimodal trip. This guide is a statistical description only and does not decide aviation licences or safety compliance.

Which flights belong here, and what turns an airport job into a different description?

Air transport in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, covers moving people and goods by air, using aircraft operated for passenger and freight services. Scheduled and non scheduled passenger flights, freight and cargo flights, and related air transport operations where aircraft carry people or goods through the air are all included. The mode again is the organising idea, and it separates air movement from land and water movement even when the journey is part of a longer multimodal trip.

The following kinds of work are described in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, as part of this grouping:

• Passenger air transport, scheduled and non scheduled
• Freight air transport
• Air transport of mail where described in Rev. 5
• Charter air services carrying passengers or freight
• Other air transport operations carrying people or goods

That list is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the full class description. When the heading fits but the detail in air transport does not, let the detail in the Rev. 5 publication prevail, and ask the national institute about a formal record.

How do a scheduled airline and a baggage crew differ in Rev. 5 terms?

An airline that operates scheduled passenger flights between two cities illustrates air transport directly. It owns or leases the aircraft operation, employs or contracts the crew, sells seats on a timetable, and carries passengers through the air from departure to arrival. The timetable, the aircraft, and the crew are all part of operating the flight, and the service ends when passengers disembark at the destination.

A ground handling firm that loads baggage at the airport illustrates support for air transport, which sits nearby in Section H but is a different activity. Its staff work on the apron and in the terminal, moving bags between check in and the aircraft hold, yet they do not operate the flight. The aircraft would still fly without that particular firm if another handler took over, and the handler would still have a service to sell at an airport where it handled no flights of its own. Operation and handling are tied together on the day, and Rev. 5 still describes them apart.

Charter services sharpen the same point: a charter operator flies passengers or freight on demand rather than to a published timetable, but it still operates the aircraft, so charter work stays inside air transport while ground handling stays in support.

What else sits just outside the flight itself?

Operating an airport, providing air traffic control, and handling baggage on the ground are support activities for air transport, not air transport itself. An airport operator provides runways, terminals, and stands. Air traffic control guides aircraft safely through controlled airspace. Baggage handling moves luggage between terminal and hold. Each is indispensable to a flight, and none of them is the flying of passengers or freight.

Manufacturing aircraft and arranging a flight as a broker are also described elsewhere, because making, supporting and arranging are different kinds of work from flying. A manufacturer builds the aircraft that an airline later operates. A broker brings a customer and an operator together without operating the aircraft. A firm that both provides a service and arranges it, or both builds and operates, is a mixed case, and mixed cases are handled by a principal activity rule in statistical practice. This guide does not apply that rule to any reader, because the rule needs data about the whole unit that a guide cannot see.

How can a reader use this guide without overreading it?

Real cases are often messier, with subcontracting, platforms and mixed services, which is why the full Rev. 5 explanatory notes and national guidance exist alongside short guides like this one. When a case involves several roles at once, read each relevant description in full, note which role matches which description, and then seek the formal view of the body that holds the record.

Treat this guide as general information about a statistical grouping, and nothing more. It does not decide aviation licences or safety compliance, and it does not settle any reader’s code, principal activity, or registration. Anyone who needs a formal code, a licence, or advice for a specific situation should go to the national statistical institute, the business register, or the relevant regulator, as appropriate, working from the UN Statistics Division classification detail and the ISIC Rev. 5 publication listed in the frontmatter.