Most flight times are measured in hours. The world’s shortest flight, however, measures its airtime in seconds.
This journey isn’t a novelty, nor is it a certain jet-happy celebrity’s morning coffee run. It’s a daily, commercial route that people rely on to get to work, visit friends, and access the nearest supermarket. The flight in question connects Papa Westray and its 90 inhabitants with Westray in the remote Orkney islands, 120 miles north of mainland Scotland.
The journey between the two tiny islands takes a total of 90 seconds from take off to landing, only spending around 53 seconds actually flying across the one mile distance. This means that nearly half of the flight time is spent not even in the air. Basically, it’s very, very short. A return ticket costs £16, and there are only eight tickets available per journey.
Costing about £5.30 per minute, this is the cheapest way to get between the islands. There’s no bridge, or viable ferry option, and the flight is quick and easy. You don’t even need to go through the regular flight faff – you only need to turn up 10 minutes before your departure time. Additionally, all luggage is kept in the hold, so you don’t need to worry about a surprise fine when your bag is a few centimetres too wide.
If you fancy seeing what such a brief flight is like, we have bad news. To actually get to Westray, you’ll need to fly from Kirkwall, the main town in Orkney. To get there, you need to fly from Aberdeen. Depending on where in the UK you are, you might also find it easier to fly to Aberdeen than get a train. That means that by the time you get to the terminal in Westray, you’ll have already been on three planes within quick succession. You have to be a really big fan of airports for that to be worth it. On the bright side, the beaches on the Orkney islands are famously beautiful, so maybe it really is worth the trip.
If you’re ready to take on the challenge, you can buy your tickets from LoganAir here.
Planes, trains, and automobiles
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