Dead head flight

A dead head flight (also: Positioning or Standby - STD) is the transport of flight personnel as passengers from or to a place of action, mostly on short and medium-haul routes.

The highest possible utilization of the aircraft on the one hand and the legally prescribed rest periods, especially for the cockpit crew, on the other hand lead to duty rosters in which a change of airport to continue work may be mandatory.

The crews therefore fly as passengers in an aircraft to the destination airport and do not generate any revenue per seat for the airline , they are dead heads ( dead here in the sense of empty or standstill). If the flight is fully booked, the captain of the flight can decide whether the jump seats can also be used.

As may arise at the destination possibly high costs or schedule disruptions in the absence of crews enjoy dead-head flight crews high transport priority.

The airlines are trying to reduce dead-head flights to a minimum by standardizing the types of aircraft and training of employees and flight plan coordination.

Dead-head flight is not a uniform term in the airline industry. Some airlines also call this type of service proceeding or positioning flight because it is used in operational control to geographically position crews worldwide for the "real" services.