41

With the occasional debate about Oxford airport in the UK becoming a new London airport, and hearing of a flight that once landed at Heathrow due to fog, then flew on to Gatwick, I was wondering - what is the shortest (time) regular (ie I can look it up online and book a ticket) passenger flight in the world? I'd specify distance as well, but in theory that shouldn't matter?

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    I bet on some connection between islands of an archipelago.
    – mouviciel
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 5:32
  • 1
    related: travel.stackexchange.com/q/5065/101
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 11:29
  • 1
    can't believe I missed this question when it came out. See my edit to @VMAtm's answer:-)
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Commented May 21, 2012 at 9:20

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
58

From Wikipedia (same article as your other question):

Westray - Papa Westray (Loganair)
flight number: LOG 313,
2.7km (1.7 miles)
02 min,
aircraft: Britten-Norman Islander,
first flight - 3 February 2004

It is obvious from that list that the best option is try searching near the islands. Second place is for the LI 507 (from St. Kitts to Nevis).

Update: Under the two minutes (with video)!

Update by Rory Alsop:

Flight by my father, Capt. Andy Alsop authenticated at 69 seconds by Guinness in 1974, and then reduced by him to 58 seconds!

Screenshot of the page linked above (from Orkney by Air by Guy Warner), as it may not be viewable to everyone: enter image description here

You can fly this on a sightseer ticket from Kirkwall for only £39!

Improve this answer
14
  • 5
    probably includes taxi time or something. Certainly at 2.7km, not much is going to beat it when you can physically see both airports at the same time...
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 7:28
  • 2
    @Mark Mayo That's two different islands in Scotland. Yes, we can!
    – VMAtm
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 7:40
  • 1
    According to this page flight journey is under 2 minutes.
    – Prashanth
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 9:17
  • 6
    @RoryAlsop - that is just too awesome :)
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented May 22, 2012 at 1:16
  • 2
    Seriously, why can't one have a ferry or something?
    – Grzenio
    Commented May 23, 2012 at 21:23
11

Between Norddeich, Germany and the Island of Juist there are between 6 and 10 daily scheduled flights. The distance is about 10km and the flight time listed as 5 minutes. I couldn't find information about flight numbers or plane types.

There are also a large number of on-demand and sightseeing flights out of Juist airport, allegedly making this tiny runway the second-busiest airport (by number of flights) in the state of Lower Saxony.

Juist is a very popular health spa and tourist destination, but the ferry schedule has to change with the tides, so going there by plane is often the most convenient option.

As an added curiosity, cars are not allowed on the island, so the shuttle service between the airport and the two towns is provided by horse carriage.

Improve this answer
1
9

Here it is: Papeete-Moorea: distance 18km, duration 15mn, operated by Air Tahiti.

From Air Tahiti site (fr) (select "Tahiti" on "Ile de départ" and "Moorea" on "Ile d'arrivée"), there are several flights each day (VT266, VT240, VT444).

But nothing can beat the Scottish 2.7km suggested by VMAtm!

Improve this answer
2
  • link? flight number?
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 6:03
  • 6
    wonder if you still have to go thru 2h of check ins and security procedures for this flight :)
    – iHaveacomputer
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 22:20
8

Update: From April 2017 on, this flight will no longer be served.

This isn't the sortest flight in the world, but the shortest international flight:

St. Gallen-Altenrhein (ACH, Switzerland) to Friedrichshafen (FDH, Germany)

Distance: 21km / 38.5 miles

Duration: 8 minutes

Operated by: People’s Viennaline

Aircraft: Embraer170

Flight-number: PE 200-PE 203

The route that started in November 2016 actually connects St. Gallen and Cologne, but they have a stop in Friedrichshafen and you can book ACH-FDH as a single flight for 40 €.

Source 1 - travelbook.de (sorry. Only in German)

Source 2 - The airline's website (sorry, but the airline doesn't even have an english website)

Source 3 - The Telegraph

Map:

map

Improve this answer
2
  • This flight will be last served on April 14, according to m.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/a-1141590.html (in German) – apparently, there weren’t enough passengers to make it commercially viable.
    – chirlu
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 5:54
  • 1
    @chirlu Thanks for the information. I've added a note to the post
    – FelixSFD
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 14:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .