When you say 'what is the difference' do you mean in size/layout or in how they operate?

No frills (ryanair, easyjet) are scheduled airlines and operate as such, in the same way as BA, Virgin etc.

Thomsonfly, Firstchoice when used as part of their package tour operation are chartered. i.e. Tuesday might be Crete, Wednesday Malta, Friday Tenerife etc.

Not sure if I'm explaining this well even though I know what I mean

Perhaps someone will come along and do a better job?

Doe is absolutely right.

All I can add is that a charter flight is where a holiday company charter (rent) a whole aircraft for their passengers going to a specific destination abroad from a particular UK airport. This is the case with all the big holiday companies .. and all the seats on the aircraft are filled with passengers who have booked their holidays, such as TUI, Thomas Cook, Thomsons, First Choice etc. They may actually own the aircraft or 'rent it' from another company ... such as Air Europa, Futura, Balkanair, Excel etc.
These aircraft have the status of CHARTER FLIGHTS because although they have their own timetables, these can be subject to change (often at short notice) if a flight is not full enough to make a profit, it can be consolidated with another one, often from a different airport. Sometimes these aircraft are considered to be less 'important' to Air Traffic Control, and so if a scheduled flight is competing with a charter for a particular slot, the scheduled one is likely to 'win'. But all the charter aircraft are maintained regularly and have certificates of airworthiness to fly, even if the service on board does not live up to one's expectations!

Low cost companies such as Ryanair, Air Berlin and Easyjet, own their own aeroplanes and maintain them. Your ticket buys you the seat on the aircraft, and pays all taxes, but nothing else, such as inflight refreshments. These flights are filled with anyone who buys a ticket, and are not linked with any other aspect of holiday travel eg accommodation, fly-drive or obligatory transfers between an airport and resort accommodation. These planes fly to a fixed timetable, and are allocated 'slots' by Air Traffic Control, so they are usually reliable in their timekeeping. They are classified as SCHEDULED airlines because of their regular schedules and slots.

Major flag carriers are usually the national airlines of the country concerned or other major companies of that country. These are all scheduled airlines. Examples include BA and British Midland in the UK, Air France in France, US Air, Continental and American in the USA, Lufthansa in Germany etc.

Alsacienne,

Excellent post! Well explained!

Just to correct you on Air Berlin - you do get a light snack and drink (non alcoholic) included in your ticket price. They are a superb airline.

Pippa

Thanks Pippa! I forgot ........ sorry!!