Thread

1. gausswho · 1791058733 · focus · HN ↗

   I'd like to hear more from someone in the industry about the resolution to this problem. As I understand it, we're trading a small non-zero risk of mistaken identity for the streamlined communication of using four digits rather than five (which carries its own non-zero benefit to safety). This has become a problem because airline consolidation means some of them operate so many flights per day that their limited pool of numbers dictate that they reuse them for either direction.

   Could we resolve this by swapping one number for a letter? 26 options instead of 10 raises the pool substantially. Letters A-J indicate inbound, K-Z outbound? Or westbound/eastbound.

   1. pbhjpbhj · 1791075384 · focus · HN ↗

      Which airlines have 10,000 flights in progress at time?

      ChatGPT says AA have the most, 1500 planes - 4 digits is plenty.

      1. gausswho · 1791076656 · focus · HN ↗

         From TFA:

         "Major U.S. airlines such as American operate between 6,000 and 7,000 flights every day, making available flight numbers a limited resource.

         Additionally, not every number is available for standard passenger flights.

         Typically:

             Flight numbers 1 through 2949 are assigned to mainline operations.
             Flight numbers 2950 through 6099 are commonly reserved for regional services.
             Flight numbers 9000 through 9999 are generally used for ferry or repositioning flights.
         

         Airlines must also reserve thousands of additional numbers for codeshare agreements with partner carriers."

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.