World’s Shortest Commercial Flight
Tuesday, 30th March 2010 by Noel Ballantyne
The world's shortest commercial flight is between the airports on the islands of Papa Westray and Westray in the Orkney Islands. Part of the daily service operated by Logan Air, the journey has a scheduled duration of just 2 minutes and carries passengers a total of 9 miles (14 km).
The island service is like a bus route, transporting residents, students and tourists around the Orkney islands. Tourists who take the flight are apparently presented with a certificate signed by the captain and a souvenir bottle of Orkney whisky to commemorate the occasion. The whole sightseeing trip costs £39 return (yes, including taxes).
A single flight produces approximately 0.1 tonnes (224 lb) of CO₂ which would cost around £1.15 ($1.74) to offset under the UK Government's carbon offsetting assurance scheme.
By contrast, flight SQ21 between New York's Newark and Singapore airports, operated by Singapore Airlines, is the world's longest commercial flight - covering 9,523 miles (15,325 km) in around 18 hours and 40 minutes.
One way economy, this trip costs £2,610.14 ($3,903), and produces 1.9 tonnes of CO₂ - which can be offset for just £21.85 ($33.32).
Watch a (very short) video of the world's shortest commercial flight on YouTube. Or for bookings, see the summer 2010 schedule.
cool post but a small correction, if it’s Scottish, it’s Whisky, not Whiskey
Oops, epic failure on the editor’s part. I shall see that he is punished with an early bed and a nice cup of tea.
Um, I mean thumbscrews, obviously.
Yours – the editor.
In the Hebrides, it’s uisghe bheatha, the water of life…which is interesting because the French have eau-de-vie, a cognac – and it’s the test of a good palate to see if you can distinguish whisky from cognac when you don’t know which is which, particularly when you’re dealing with a mainstream product.
Although only one runway is paved it looks like both airports have grass strips for operating in crosswinds. It looks like someone may have run off the end of one of the grass strips https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=59.350901,-2.902354&z=18 as a section of the fence is missing.
Just an FYI, Newark airport is in New Jersey not New York. It is considered a NYC area airport though.
Thanks Dawn for spotting that. I did notice but forgot change it.
I have been on that flight about 12 years ago. Everyone who goes on the flight receives a certificate (or at least they did when I went on it). It tells you what number passenger you were on the flight, the date, the captain’s name, the flight number and the time taken.
I was passenger number 610 according to this certficate. And the flight took 2 minutes…although that’s obviously been rounded off. I recall the captain telling us that they can do it in just over 1 minute if the winds are in the right direction.