班机 (bānjī) vs 航班 (hángbān)

[HedgePig]

Hello

What is the difference between 班机 (bānjī) and 航班 (hángbān)

Does 班机 just mean the flight itself, e.g. CA123 to Beijing)?

Can 航班 also mean a flight number? Or can it refer to the actual aircraft itself?

Any enlightenment appreciated!

Regards

HedgePig

[Hanlink]

班机 (bānjī) and 航班 (hángbān) are often interchangeable and refer to the flight (as in a scheduled flight), but you should be aware of the make-up of the words; 班机 consisits of a measure-word + noun (here 机 short for 飞机), whereas 航班 is either a noun-phrase or an adjective + noun. That means if you say "which flight?", you would say either 哪个航班 or 哪一班机 or if you want to say "what's the flight number" 航班几号 or something similar. Neither 班机 nor 航班 refer to the aircraft itself.

[HedgePig]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Hanlink. Am I right then that the meaning of these two words is interchangeable although you might need to construct a sentence differently depending on which one you use?

Are there any situations where you could only use one because it has a meaning which the other does not have?

Regards

Hedges

[Hanlink]

Yes, you have understood me correctly. That said, in different situations, I would probably use different words, but perhaps it is more custom. I can't think of any examples where one would be more applicable, but if you were to provide some, it would be easy to say which is correct, more usual and why.

[Hanyu'sWay]

I would prefer to use 航班 instead of 班机 in the following setence.

因为大雾， 飞机无法起降，南京机场的航班都乱了。