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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?

Mark Mayo
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4 Answers4

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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!

Community
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VMAtm
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  • googling that it reckons the flight is 17 minutes (from Google's automatic flight information) – Mark Mayo Jan 24 '12 at 07:26
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    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 Jan 24 '12 at 07:28
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    @Mark Mayo That's two different islands in Scotland. Yes, we can! – VMAtm Jan 24 '12 at 07:40
  • @Mark Mayo Feel free to edit my answer, if any news will be googled. – VMAtm Jan 24 '12 at 07:47
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    According to this page flight journey is under 2 minutes. – Prashanth Mar 14 '12 at 09:17
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    @RoryAlsop - that is just too awesome :) – Mark Mayo May 22 '12 at 01:16
  • I'm not sure that this qualifies! The question subject clearly states that the flight must have a flight number, but these flights do not appear to! – Doc May 23 '12 at 19:49
  • @Doc the Guinness Book of Records stamp in the screenshot says "shortest scheduled flight" and the Wikipedia excerpt has the flight number. – Laura May 23 '12 at 20:37
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    Seriously, why can't one have a ferry or something? – Grzenio May 23 '12 at 21:23
  • @Grzenio I think because it is not so easy there. And it is not so COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. – VMAtm May 24 '12 at 08:20
  • @Grzenio - the tides in Orkney are so fierce, that is where they test tidal power schemes for the UK. See http://www.emec.org.uk/orkney.asp – Rory Alsop May 26 '12 at 18:47
  • I just took a flight between two islands that are visible from one another (a 20-minute ferry ride) and thought that I'd have a chance at beating the 2-mins. NOT EVEN CLOSE! Lift off to touch down took close to 10 mins with the getting into position for the landing approach. A real disappointment! – SigueSigueBen May 30 '12 at 15:09
  • I did fly this route in 2012 or so - it's quite fun, as is the actual plane. – Aleks G Nov 03 '16 at 22:04
  • @Grzenio there is a passenger/"light cargo" ferry from nearby Pierowall to Papa Westray. It takes about 25 minutes. 3-6 sailings a day in summer. – slim Apr 06 '17 at 16:23
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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.

Michael Borgwardt
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  • At Barra, even the scheduled flights change with the tides. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barra_Airport_(Scotland) It's kind of "worth" going up there just for that. – Tom Hawtin - tackline Jan 25 '12 at 23:48
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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!

hippietrail
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mouviciel
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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

FelixSFD
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  • This flight will be last served on April 14, according to http://m.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/a-1141590.html (in German) – apparently, there weren’t enough passengers to make it commercially viable. – chirlu Apr 04 '17 at 05:54
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    @chirlu Thanks for the information. I've added a note to the post – FelixSFD Apr 06 '17 at 14:18