When is a route too short?

[Piltdown Man]

It's very kind of you to allow your staff to choose what they do, but as far as I am concerned, I'll do whatever I'm rostered to do. The only time this becomes an issue if your pay depends on what you do. Personally, I'll be more than happy to do a bit of island hopping - winter, summer, icing or no-icing who cares? I'm paid to fly, so that's what I'll do.

PM

[BabyBear]

The flight between Westray and Papa Westray is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s shortest scheduled flight. From take-off to touchdown, the two-minute flight covers a distance less than that of the main runway at Edinburgh. The unique service is an attraction in its own right, and passengers on our sightseeing trips receive a special certificate signed by the Captain and a miniature of Orkney’s very own Highland Park whisky to commemorate their trip.

From Loganair marketing material.

[Dan Winterland]

''Some of these services operate as feeders into longer flights. Taken in isolation they are rarely profitable.''

We took a 90nm sector off a competitor which couldn't make a profit from it. We are filling the flights with pax and freight. The difference is that we are part of an alliance and the connections make the route pay.

[FlyingKiiwii]

Down here in NZ there is a flight operated by Eagle Air, although not a big airliner flying the route (Beech 1900D), the route is Wellington to Blenheim, a nice 44nm trip, does beat taking the ferry between the North and South Islands, but from what I understand it sure is a hectic workload.

[mutt]

The shortest that I have flown in a jet is about 25 miles, Dhahran to Bahrain.... Considering that for many years this was a normal B737 route, it must be amongst the shortest...........

Takeoff, right turn onto base, then finals......... two different countries....

Mutt

[First.officer]

Recall in my early days of Line Training on the CJ, doing a short positioning hop from BHX (Birmingham) to CVT (Coventry) with the legendary Thomas Moutrie.......as i recall, was a little "quick" shall we say......can't have been more than 4 minutes.......i remember it all being a little like those cartoon scenarios, albeit very organised, but a complete shock to the system back then lol !

These days.....sectors like that.....love 'em......if everything flows and your organised, nothing more satisfying personally.......

F/O

[G-SPOTs Lost]

Once flew from Torejon to Barajas and it took 50 mins due to ineptness on behalf of Spanish ATC...

[studentpilotmcuk]

A few years ago I used to fly KLM from Humberside via Schiphol to Brussels. the flight time from Schiphol to Brussels was about 20 mins.

Another short flight I took was Las Vegas to Los Angeles about 15 to 20 mins with Ted Airways.

[Capetonian]

Some of the regional flights in and out of Buenos Aires used to do the hop between Ezeiza (Pistarini) and Aeroparque on the edge of the river. Always enjoyed the view of the city and the delta. It's probably about 25 km as the jet flies!

[Doors to Automatic]

I'm not sure if it still operates but Continental Express used to operate HPN to EWR which is a mere 45 miles.

[waren9]

Down here in NZ there is a flight operated by Eagle Air, although not a big airliner flying the route (Beech 1900D), the route is Wellington to Blenheim, a nice 44nm trip, does beat taking the ferry between the North and South Islands, but from what I understand it sure is a hectic workload

Short sectors are a pleasure if you're not burdened with excessive verbal SOP's, standard calls, briefings etc to the pilot next to you. 6 sectors of it and saying the same sh1t over and over is what I find tiring. You know whats going to be said/done and neither of you have the eye on the ball, or enjoying whats out the window