# Shortest Commercially Available Flight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442 "2014-05-01T15:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/1 "2014-05-01T15:11:33Z")
What is the shortest commercially-available passenger flight? Exclude stuff like chartered flights, where you have to make special arrangements. Also, I want to keep the focus on transportation, so exclude stuff like sight-seeing flights, or flights for the purposes of skydiving, that sort of thing. Two categories: 1. Over water (you couldn’t drive yourself there). 2. Over land For the first, I note that [Cape Air](https://www.capeair.com/) has a flight from Hyannis to Nantucket, with a scheduled duration of 22 minutes. For the second, I note that Cape Air also has a flight from Boston to Hyannis, with a scheduled duration of 35 minutes. (And no, I’m not a shill for Cape Air, I was just on the Cape over this past weekend and found myself interested in the concept of really short flights.) Can you beat those, or have I answered my own question? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/2 "2014-05-01T15:14:27Z")
I’d rather fly Sandpiper Air out of Tom Nevers Field. It’s likely to be island hopping like that somewhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/3 "2014-05-01T15:20:47Z")
Some of the Hawaiian flights are very short too. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/4 "2014-05-01T15:22:39Z")
I was hoping there was a flight between Hilo and Kailua-Kona HI. Turns out there shortest trip between the two is a few hours long, due to the layover in Honolulu :smack: ETA semi-ninja’ed 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/5 "2014-05-01T15:22:52Z")
It used to be a 2-minute flight between two islands in Shetland (Scotland) IIRC, but I think the flight no longer operates. It was listed in my old Guinness Book of Records. Edit: it’s Orkney, not Shetland, and it looks like it is still running. I misremembered this story about the pilot on the route retiring last year: [Final trip for Orkney shortest flight pilot - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-22668150) > [@](#): > > Stuart Linklater, 59, will retire after making his final trip on the route between Westray and Papa Westray. > > It takes just two minutes - including taxiing - to complete the 1.7 mile flight, which is about the same length as the runway at Edinburgh Airport. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/6 "2014-05-01T15:25:56Z")
It’s only about 7 miles as the crow flies from Oakland Airport to San Francisco Airport, but for some odd reason all the flights I’m finding list a travel time of 3-5 hours. Maybe they use actual crows… ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/7 "2014-05-01T15:26:46Z")
I don’t know if you’re counting helicopter flights, but Copterline has ten flights a day between Helsinki and Tallinn that run 18 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/8 "2014-05-01T15:26:49Z")
There are daily flights from Fort Wayne,IN to Chicago and Detroit which take 45 minutes and 35 minutes respectively,including taxiing and getting to the gates. You spend more time getting to the airport and later to your destination than you do in flight. There used to be a flight from Fort Wayne to Dayton,OH (25-30 minutes total) but it was dropped due to a lack of passengers. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/9 "2014-05-01T15:27:37Z")
You can fly United Express from John Wayne (SNA) to LAX maybe 40 miles or so. United also used to have a flight that went down the Central Valley of California. Stockton, Modesto, Merced, Fresno, then on to LAX Stockton to Modesto is about 40 miles, Modesto to Merced is maybe 50 miles. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/10 "2014-05-01T15:31:39Z")
[It’s Loganair from Papa Westray to Westray and is scheduled at just 2 minutes.](http://www.loganair.co.uk/xtra_files/OrkneySummer3Mar14-26Oct14.pdf) [You can watch the whole flight on YouTube](http://www.loganair.co.uk/xtra_files/OrkneySummer3Mar14-26Oct14.pdf). Blast, beat by Colophon while I was checking the links… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/11 "2014-05-01T15:34:13Z")
[Here is the current timetable](http://www.loganair.co.uk/xtra_files/OrkneySummer3Mar14-26Oct14.pdf) for Loganair’s interisland flights. As well as the two-minute Westray - Papa Westray flight, there are some other flights taking 10 minutes or less: Stronsay to Sanday: 6 min North Ronaldsay to Eday: 8-9 min. North Ronaldsay to Papa Westray: 10 min. I don’t think you will beat Westray to Papa Westray though! Here is a Google Map showing how close the airstrips are: [Google Maps](http://goo.gl/maps/cIVZy) ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/12 "2014-05-01T15:36:48Z")
Atlanta to Muscle Shoals is 16-19 minutes of flight time, [depending](http://www.travelocity.com/Flights-Search?trip=roundtrip&leg1=from:CLT,to:MSL,departure:05%2F08%2F2014TANYT&leg2=from:MSL,to:CLT,departure:05%2F15%2F2014TANYT&passengers=children:0,adults:1,seniors:0,infantinlap:Y&options=cabinclass:coach,nopenalty:N,sortby:price&mode=search). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/13 "2014-05-01T15:51:10Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It’s only about 7 miles as the crow flies from Oakland Airport to San Francisco Airport, but for some odd reason all the flights I’m finding list a travel time of 3-5 hours. Maybe they use actual crows… My guess is that’s a shuttle bus route, rather than an actual flight. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/14 "2014-05-01T15:57:02Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It’s only about 7 miles as the crow flies from Oakland Airport to San Francisco Airport, but for some odd reason all the flights I’m finding list a travel time of 3-5 hours. Maybe they use actual crows… Ran a generic flight search for OAK-SFO on [this flight search engine](http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego). Al flights require one stop, often through PDX (Portland, Oregon). So the most direct flight between the two cities on the Bay go through Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/15 "2014-05-01T16:29:56Z")
[Vieques Air Link](http://www.viequesairlink.com/) offers flights between Ceiba, Puerto Rico (RVR) and Vieques, Puerto Rico (VQS) that seem to be only ten minutes long. Ceiba is on the main island of PR and Vieques is one of the smaller islands, so you can’t walk there (there is a ferry though). Here’s a flight I pulled up on their site: 10/05/2014 Sat 401 06:15 RVR 06:25 VQS $34.00 Pretty cheap too! ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/16 "2014-05-01T16:40:24Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > … For the second, I note that Cape Air also has a flight from Boston to Hyannis, with a scheduled duration of 35 minutes. BOS to Provincetown is 28 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/17 "2014-05-01T16:42:37Z")
Cayman Airways offers routine service between the Sister Islands of Little Cayman And Cayman Brac. Flight time is 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/18 "2014-05-01T18:28:49Z")
Aren’t there any helicopter flights between an urban airport and its central business district? ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/19 "2014-05-01T18:32:21Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Aren’t there any helicopter flights between an urban airport and its central business district? In the US, after the 1977 Pan Am Building accident, these were pretty much stopped. Government helicopters can land on midtown rooftops; but private aviation has to land at either ground pads or specially designed heliports. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442/20 "2014-05-01T18:33:58Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > For the first, I note that [Cape Air](https://www.capeair.com/) has a flight from Hyannis to Nantucket, with a scheduled duration of 22 minutes. > > For the second, I note that Cape Air also has a flight from Boston to Hyannis, with a scheduled duration of 35 minutes. > > (And no, I’m not a shill for Cape Air, I was just on the Cape over this past weekend and found myself interested in the concept of really short flights.) > > Can you beat those, or have I answered my own question? > > Thanks! Close with Cape Air, at least for over water. Their shortest flight is New Bedford to Martha’s Vineyard and vice-versa. It’s listed as a 12 minute flight, but it is routinely about an 8 minute flight. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-commercially-available-flight/687442.md?page=2)