What Are Different Types of Air Transportation?

Kecko/CC-BY 2.0

Types of air transportation include commercial airplanes, helicopters, seaplanes, blimps and hot air balloons. Two of these, blimps and hot hair balloons, are reserved for recreational purposes, and are not used to transport people one destination to another.

Commercial airplanes are the most common way that people are transported through the air. Point-to-point services provided by commercial airline services help people travel quickly from airport to airport, since air travel is much faster than ground travel. Helicopters also transport people through the air. Helicopters, however, are much more limited when it comes to passenger space and can only transport a few people at a time, whereas some commercial airplanes can transport hundreds.

Seaplanes are small airplanes that are also equipped to float. They are usually utilized for travel to island destinations or to destinations where water is prominent. Like helicopters, they are limited in the amount of passengers that they can accommodate.

Blimps and hot air balloons transport people for recreational purposes. They cover a limited area that enables tourists to see a location on a larger scope than if they tried to view the area from the ground. Blimps used to be a form of commercial transport but are no longer.