Return Your Tray Tables to Their Upright and Locked Positions
Just kidding, there's no meal service on this trip.
Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. This post should really be sponsored by Trip.com, because it’s an absolute trip.
The world’s shortest flight is between two Scottish islands, spanning 1.7 miles and lasting an average of 74 seconds.
Whenever I book a flight, I’m always looking at direct options first. I will gladly spend a little more to not have to transfer flights and risk missing a connection because the first flight is on some garbage airline that won’t get me to my gate on time.
In most cases, a domestic flight for me is between two and four hours. Internationally, that could be double, triple, or, in the case of last year’s trek to Singapore, such a long amount of time that I missed an entire day of life.
Can you imagine that? You take off on the 19th and you land on the 21st. It’s like the 20th just didn’t exist at all. Time zones are wild.
Yet, if you travel between the Orkney islands of Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland, you’d be in the air for approximately 74 seconds. If weather conditions are exceptional, that might get shaved down to 47 seconds.
Let’s watch:
This flight, courtesy of Loganair, spans a mere 1.7 miles. It’s the world’s shortest commercial flight. The entire island is only four square miles, so you could theoretically walk the entirety of it within a half day. And that’s with a super casual strolling pace.
Perhaps the wildest part is that most people taking this flight still have to connect anyway. Getting to Westray requires connecting through Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney.
The Kirkwall to Westray flight is about 15 minutes. Luckily, you don’t have to deplane or recheck any bags before hopping on the record-breaking leg. You just get to admire the scenery for a magical minute or two. And that’s some of the best part about travel.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another trip to go plan.
And my husband would STILL stress if he didn't get an aisle seat....