4

There are specific languages official for every airline (i.e. United Airlines)?

I think the mostly used is English, but what about for example AeroItalia or Cathay Pacific or Swiss Air or Air India or Aeroflot? And other international flights?

Is there a rule in this way?

Note: This is a more general version of: Are most flights to Japan staffed by hosts with good Japanese?

Improve this question
9
  • 2
    Whilst not a direct duplicate, this is mostly answered by travel.stackexchange.com/questions/4596/…
    – Doc
    Feb 7 at 18:31
  • 5
    While I don't think that you intended this with your question, English is the official language of international Air Traffic Control
    – Peter M
    Feb 7 at 18:58
  • 3
    English is the primary language of Singapore so Singapore Airlines is perhaps a poor example. Airlines on SIA are mostly in English, some are in all 4 official languages of Singapore.
    – MJeffryes
    Feb 7 at 21:20
  • 3
    Airlines based in Singapore (Scoot & SIA) usually only announces in English.
    – Anish Sheela
    Feb 8 at 4:17
  • 1
    @ArunabhBhattacharya Oh! I took flights to India only. Probably in different sectors.
    – Anish Sheela
    Feb 8 at 5:25

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

Yes. Announcements are made in the local language (to the airline, departure, or arrival) and English. Sometimes it means multiple languages.

From Europa.EU site:

ICAO Doc 10086 recommends that information provided to passengers via safety briefings, announcements and safety demonstrations should be transmitted in the language of the operator and in English to promote appropriate communication with passengers

I've never had a flight where they had no English announcements, even domestic flights in China. I've had flights where announcements where in three (pretty often) and even four (more rare) languages.

Improve this answer
14
  • 2
    It is not always a given that all local languages of departure, arrival and airline will be used and some flights may only use English.
    – Willeke ♦
    Feb 7 at 21:14
  • 5
    You've never had the pleasure of flying domestic Aeroflot! No english whatsoever.
    – Peter M
    Feb 7 at 21:16
  • 2
    @phoog: I've been on Swiss Air flights that announced in German, French, Italian and English. No Romansh though :-). It does indeed get a bit tedious.
    – Hilmar
    Feb 8 at 0:24
  • 1
    @Hilmar I flew Swiss to Tel Aviv once... So Add Hebrew to that, and I think they also had an Arabic-speaking attendant...
    – littleadv
    Feb 8 at 0:57
  • 1
    I once flew as the only obvious foreigner on a domestic Japanese flight unlikely to be of interest to tourists (Fukuoka-Komatsu, IIRC). The crew asked if I understood Japanese, and when I said yes, they happily skipped the English announcements.
    – lambshaanxy
    Feb 8 at 6:14

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.