66.1kms
Factor in:
- getting to the airport
- checking in
- security
- boarding
- taxiing
- flight time
- taxiing
- deplaning
- baggage collection
- getting out of the airport
Driving 66.1km seems like a doddle.
Austrian airline People's Viennaline this week started flying the world's shortest international flight: a 21km hop from the Swiss town of St. Gallen to the German town of Friedrichshafen. The two towns are separated by Lake Constance and 66.1km of roads that Google tells us will take just 54 minutes to traverse. Along the …
Check-In am Flughafen Altenrhein:
Wir bitten Sie, mindestens 30 Minuten vor Abflug in Altenrhein einzuchecken
Check-In am Flughafen Friedrichshafen:
Wir bitten Sie, spätestens 60 Minuten vor Abflug in Friedrichshafen einzuchecken
I don't think I've ever arrived for an international European flight two hours before, except where I wanted to abuse the lounge.
Unless you don't drive. I suspect the main appeal of this flight is to non-drivers, because it's cheaper than a taxi.
Also baggage collection probably isn't an issue for this flight. Most people taking it are probably going to business meetings and so will only have carry-on.
Versus:
1. Getting to the city center and trying to find where to park for a business meeting.
2. Fighting rush hour traffic to hit same meeting.
It is the same as going to London. Driving is a theoretical possibility. Until you consider the availability of parking in the area.
.... but only once.
Kinshasa to Brazzaville. Seven miles.
My company flew me from Jo'burg to Brazzaville but wanted me to stop over in Kinshasa, They didn't really understand the geography. Kinshasa and Brazzaville look at each other across the river. The staff in the Kinshasa office thought I was odd when I said I was then flying on to Brazzaville.
After that single trip, I made the journey a few more time, but using the more exciting and far more frequent river boat crossings.
I will never forget the first time I saw my first Congo croc'.
Some of the best times of my working life were in the two Congos'.
P.
Nope, not quite; they have to be purchased from what you said, OR a EU approved airline.
So if you fly in on say KLM, having bought duty free on the plane, you can carry it on to your next flight; if however you were like me, and flew in the day the rules changed, on a KLM affiliate flight (China Southern), and bought your booze on the flight, they refuse not only to allow you on board with your duty free, but refuse to put it in the hold for you either.
I got a little antsy, and refused to board without my rather expensive wine; of course they wouldnt back down either, even though it took longer to get my luggage off than it would to have just put the damned stuff in the hold!!
KLM had to put me up for the night, and put me on the next flight (with my booze in the hold).
The reason it "meanders a little" would be because taking off in the same direction as the runway is a good idea, and landing in the same direction as the runway is an even better idea. Landing in a different direction from the runway tends to be rather spectacular.
Arranging for both takeoff and landing to be flying into the wind helps as well, it gives you a shorter and slower takeoff and landing. Because if the plane needs to be moving through the air at speed X in order to take off, and the wind is blowing at speed Y, then your ground speed for takeoff/landing is X minus Y.
Oh, and if everyone else is taking off & landing in a particular direction down a runway, then air traffic control are not going to let you take off in the opposite direction, because you'd fly head-on into the planes lining up to land.
Friedrichshafen IS the base of the Zeppelin operation.
Somewhere I have a nice picture of a Zeppelin NT in Friedrichshafen, moored at the nose while the rest of the vehicle experiences an updraft. Somewhat reminisent of this image: http://flashbak.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/PA-8678069.jpg (SFW)
As for short flights; Luxair flies Luxembourg-Saarbrücken-Hamburg.
The Luxembourg-Saarbrücken stretch only lasts a few minutes. The goal is off course to cover both Luxembourg-Hamburg and Saarbrücken-Hamburg. Nobody flies Luxembourg-Saarbrücken, although, coming from Hamburg, a couple of Luxemburgers tend to exit in Saarbrücken by mistake. The crew has gotten very good at rounding up these somewhat sheepish looking passengers, and herding them back into the aircraft.
The obvious of conclusion of Scottish independence is for the Orkneys to get independence from the distant imperialist oppressors in Edinburgh and then the various islands to split from each other, until Westray and littler-Westray are independent of each other. Then we will really have the shortest intentional flight