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air traffic

American  

noun

  1. aircraft moving in flight or on airport runways.


air traffic British  

noun

  1. the organized movement of aircraft within a given space

  2. the passengers, cargo, or mail carried by aircraft

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of air traffic

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The crews who take to the air in Los Angeles must not only navigate each other, but air traffic to three regional airports and smaller, local air strips across the Southland when doing their job.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 19, 2026

The software, known as Smart, is expected to help the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines reduce delays and cancellations and find routes for flights when disruptions scramble air traffic.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 17, 2026

Her teams are also responsible for coordinating air traffic for North Atlantic Treaty Organization military aircraft.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 13, 2026

Four sources have told the paper that a flight plan submitted by a military aircraft led to a shutdown of British skies for several hours, causing a "meltdown" within the wider air traffic control system.

From BBC Sep. 12, 2026

Galina Burdina flew as a civilian pilot for Aeroflot for fifteen years before joining air traffic control; her friend Tamara Pamyatnykh became an air traffic controller at a civilian airport.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

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