Flying first-class to carry five people without leader (8)
I believe the answer is:
aviation
'flying first-class' is the definition.
'aviation' can be an answer for 'flying' (I've seen this before). I'm not sure about the 'first-class' bit.
'carry five people without leader' is the wordplay.
'carry five' becomes 'avi' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'people' becomes 'nation'.
'without leader' means to remove the first letter.
'nation' with its initial letter taken off is 'ation'.
'avi'+'ation'='AVIATION'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aviation that I've seen before include "Job; date" , "The aircraft industry" , "Mechanical flight" , "The business of airlines" , "Aircraft operating business" .)