WHILE it may feel like you are barely up in the air at all when flying between Britain and Ireland, the one-hour journey is far from the shortest flight in the world.
That honour goes to Scotland, with the world’s shortest scheduled flight travelling between Westray and Papa Westray, two of the Orkney Islands, taking just 47 seconds.
The daily route’s average flight time is two minutes, but when the tail wind is travelling with the plane the 2.7km route takes only 47 seconds including taxi.
While the list of the shortest flights in the world is mainly made up of exotic locations, Ireland joins Scotland by coming in fourth position.
The regional flight between Connemara, Co. Galway to Inishmaan, one of the Aran Islands, is run by Aer Arann and takes just six minutes.
Of course, flight times are always subject to change depending on the conditions of the day, but the Westray to Papa Westray is in the Guinness Book of Records as a 47-second flight.
See the 10 shortest flights in the world here
1. Westray to Papa Westray, Scotland: 2.7km, 47 seconds
2. Caye Chapel to Caye Caulker, Caribbean: 3,9km, roughly two minutes
3. Karpathos to Kasos Island, Greece: 19.3km, roughly five minutes
4. Connemara to Inishmaan, Ireland: 16km, roughly six minutes
5. Hoolehua - Kalaupapa, Hawaii: 14.2km, roughly 10 minutes
6. Saipan to Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands: 17km, roughly 10 minutes
7. Cayman Brac to Little Cayman, Caribbean: 19km, roughly 10 minutes
8. Minami-Daito to Kita-Daito, Japan: 11km, 15 minutes
9. Papeete to Moorea, French Polynesia: 17.7km, 15 minutes
10. Kos to Kalymnos, Greece: 22km, 20 minutes
For more, see Traveller 24.
