"I am flying to New York"
Help me to understand the using of the Present Continuous in future meaning, please.

Could you tell me when I can say "I'm flying to NY"?
a) all is prepared for the flight
b) the flight must be very soon, in near future

Can I say that when all my preparations is done, but I must fly in 3 months?
Can I say that when nothing is prepared yet, but the flight must be, say, this week?

Thank you.

Question

"I am flying to New York"
Help me to understand the using of the Present Continuous in future meaning, please.

Could you tell me when I can say "I'm flying to NY"?
a) all is prepared for the flight
b) the flight must be very soon, in near future

Can I say that when all my preparations is done, but I must fly in 3 months?
Can I say that when nothing is prepared yet, but the flight must be, say, this week?

Thank you.

Answer

Yes, so long as there is a fixed plan, as in the case where you have flight reservations, you can use the present continuous. You can quite well say "I am flying to New York in May". Another way of saying it is "I am going to fly to New York in May". Either form is preferable to using "will fly" when it is understood there is a definite arrangement in place.

Answer

Typically you can say "I'm flying to New York" and people will assume you mean at some point in the near future. If you say it too far out from your actual flight, it would sound weird. But generally people understand that you mean you will soon be flying to New York.

Answer

The present continuous is used to show that an arrangement is fixed and certain.

It has nothing to do with how near in time the event is.

For example, you would say 'The 2020 Olympic Games are taking place in Tokyo'. It doesn't matter that it's four years away - what matters is that it is fixed.

Answer

Владимире, The Present Continuous Tense, у изражавању будућности употребљава се само за акције које ће се десити у кратком времену:

We ARE LEAVING this evening. 
She IS SINGING in the opera tomorrow. 
He IS MEETING me at the station at 7 p.m.