Definition
The carriage by aircraft of persons or property for compensation or hire, or the carriage of mail by aircraft, between a place in the United States and a place outside the United States, when any part of that transportation is by aircraft.
Plain English
Flying people, cargo, or mail for pay between a U.S. location and a location in another country, where at least part of the trip is done by airplane.
Context Anchor
Seen in airport category and airport certification discussions, where the FAA describes what kinds of air service an airport supports.
Derivation
‘Foreign’ comes from the Latin foras, meaning ‘outside.’ In this term it simply marks the operation as crossing the U.S. border, distinguishing it from domestic flights that stay inside the country.
Why Pilots Care
The category an operation falls under affects which certificates, customs procedures, and operating rules apply. Knowing whether a flight is foreign, domestic, or interstate transportation matters for legal compliance and airport selection.
Intuition Check
Foreign air transportation does not mean every flight to another country. In this context, it means for-hire air carriage, such as airline-style movement of passengers, cargo, or mail between the United States and another country.
Example Sentence 1
A cargo flight carrying freight for hire from Miami to Bogotá is considered foreign air transportation.
Example Sentence 2
Airport planning documents distinguish domestic operations from foreign air transportation when calculating international terminal capacity.