Originally Posted by
neerajnevatia
By the way, I've always wondered - what exactly is a 5th freedom route? And while I'm at the FT glossary, what's a metal flight?
5th freedom: An airline that has permission to operate a flight, and sell tickets on it, between two "foreign" airports. Eg.: BA between BKK-SYD, GRU-EZE etc. These are 5th freedom flights.
And a counter example: BA between GIG-GRU does not have 5th-freedom rights. i.e. they cannot sell tickets between those two points. Only can sell GRU to/from LHR and GIG to/from LHR, but not between GRU and GIG.
Airline metal: BA flight operated on BA metal would be a BA flight operated by BA aircraft and crew. BA flight on QF metal would be a BA flight number (codeshare) but operated by QF on QF aircraft with QF crew.