Editing Flight number (section)

{{Short description|Airline code for a journey between multiple points}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}
[[Image:Flight numbers.jpg|thumb|200px|Flight numbers on a [[split-flap display]] (Frankfurt airport)]]
In the aviation industry, a '''flight number''' or '''flight designator''' is a code for an airline service consisting of two-character [[Airline codes#IATA airline designator|airline designator]] and a 1 to 4 digit number.<ref>IATA Passenger Glossary of Terms (15 June 2018) [www.iata.org/whatwedo/passenger/.../IATA-Passenger-Glossary-of-Terms.xlsx]</ref> For example, QF9 is a Qantas Airways service from Perth, Australia to London Heathrow. A service is called "[[direct flight|direct]]" if it is covered by a single flight number, regardless of the number of stops or [[Change of gauge (aviation)|equipment changes]]. For example, QF1 flies from Sydney to Singapore to London on Qantas Airways. A given flight segment may have multiple flight numbers on different airlines under a [[Codeshare agreement|code-sharing agreement]]. Strictly speaking, the flight number is just the numerical part, but it is commonly used for the entire flight designator.

The flight designator of the [[operating carrier]] of a commercial flight is used as a [[Aviation_call_signs|call sign]].<ref>[[ICAO]], "Glossary" [https://www.icao.int/dataplus_archive/Documents/GLOSSARY.docx]</ref> This is distinct from the [[aircraft registration|aircraft's registration number]], which identifies a specific airplane.