Definition
The carriage by aircraft of persons or property for compensation or hire, or the carriage of mail by aircraft, or the operation or navigation of aircraft in the conduct or furtherance of a business or vocation, between a place in the United States and any place outside the United States.
Plain English
Flying people, cargo, or mail for pay — or operating an aircraft as part of a business — between somewhere in the U.S. and somewhere outside the U.S.
Context Anchor
Seen in aviation law, FAA regulations, air carrier rules, and discussions of international commercial flying.
Derivation
‘Foreign’ comes from the Latin foras, meaning ‘outside.’ ‘Commerce’ comes from the Latin commercium, meaning ‘trade.’ Together the term simply means trade conducted across a national border — in this case, by air.
Why Pilots Care
Determines which FAA certificates, international agreements, and operating rules apply to the flight.
Intuition Check
Foreign does not mean the entire flight happens outside the United States. Commerce does not mean only selling goods; here it includes paid carriage of people or property, mail carriage, and business-related aircraft operation between the United States and another country.
Example Sentence 1
An air carrier flying paying passengers from Miami to Nassau is engaged in foreign air commerce.
Example Sentence 2
A charter operator planning flights to Canada must verify compliance with foreign air commerce rules before departure.