Shortest airplane flight route in the world takes just 2 minutes and covers only 1.7 miles

The shortest airplane flight route covers 1.7 miles in Scotland, and the flight only lasts about two minutes.

So the world’s shortest flight takes less time than it probably takes to read this.

It takes off from a small island in Scotland only to land on another small island next to it.

And on a good day, with favorable winds and light luggage, it takes less than a minute.

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The reason why the shortest airplane flight route is, well, so short

Celebrities like Taylor Swift and Floyd Mayweather make headlines all the time for using their jet to go from A to B when A and B are just a few miles away.

But this is different, because it’s a scheduled passenger flight, and it takes around two minutes, including taxiing.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the flight covers just 1.7 miles (2.7KM) and, depending on different factors, it actually only spends 53 seconds in the air.

Loganair flight LM711 connects Westray, a small Scottish island, to Papa Westray, an even smaller island, two or three times per day, depending on weather conditions.

Loganair uses a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, a minute aircraft that only weighs 1,407 kg, which is around half the weight of a Cybertruck.

There are no in-flight facilities and only 10 seats in total – it’s no Airbus private jet, is it?

And here’s the kicker, you can’t choose a seat, the seat is instead allocated to each passenger based on evenly distributing weight around the airplane.

We’re sure the airline must have figured out a – how can we put it – ‘politically correct’ way of relaying this particular bit of information to passengers.

The reason why the route is covered by air and not by sea has to do with weather conditions.

Even though it may not look like a sensible option on the surface, the administration of these two islands in Scotland concluded it would be easier to guarantee a reliable scheduled service with a plane than with a boat.

What about the longest flight?

We talked about the shortest airplane flight route, but what about the longest?

The longest non-stop flight in the world available today will take you from New York to Singapore in just under 19 hours.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ23 covers 9,537 miles (15,349KM) from New York-JFK to Singapore airport in 18 hours and 50 minutes.

There’s also a ‘twin’ flight leaving from Newark, and this is a lot faster. It ‘only’ takes 18 hours and 45 minutes.

Levity aside, we should also point out that, because of the time difference between NYC and Singapore, passengers effectively land two days later.

That’s a long flight.