Cricket From India, joined Aug 2005, 2936 posts, RR: 7 Posted (7 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 2957 times:
A year and a half ago, I flew on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 831 ADD-BZV-FIH for work. I always knew that Brazaville and Kinshasa were the closest international capitals, separated by just the river Congo, from which both their countries draw this name. The airports BZV and FIH are just 16nm apart, and reviewing a video I shot of the flight I time wheels-up to touchdown at just over nine minutes.
Is this the shortest scheduled widebody flight in the world, in fact is it the shortest scheduled flight not counting helicopter vertical ascents?
This is the video, fyi, sorry about the shakiness http://youtu.be/1xFWxpI90fk
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8357 posts, RR: 47 Reply 1, posted (7 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 2930 times:
IIRC, Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands is the shortest scheduled service - and pretty hard to beat, too, so it has become a bit of a tourist attraction. It is, however, not operated by a widebody for some strange reason...
[Edited 2012-10-04 04:46:55]
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Pe@rson From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 18832 posts, RR: 54 Reply 2, posted (7 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 2930 times:
Quoting Cricket (Thread starter): Is this the shortest scheduled widebody flight in the world, in fact is it the shortest scheduled flight
No. The record is Papa Westry (PPW) to Westry (WRY), in the Orkneys in Scotland. As the crow flies, it is a 2-mile sector, with a block time of 2 minutes. It is flown 8-seat Islanders (BNI) operated by Loganair. When I flew it, it took 90 seconds (I counted). We took off, very quickly turned right over the sea, approached, and landed on the other island (Westry). In contrast, BZV-FIH is a 16-mile sector, so is clearly also extremely short even with the requisite maneuvering.
Edited to add aircraft details.
[Edited 2012-10-04 04:49:29]
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Cricket From India, joined Aug 2005, 2936 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (7 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 2881 times:
Quoting aloges (Reply 1): IIRC, Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands is the shortest scheduled service - and pretty hard to beat, too, so it has become a bit of a tourist attraction. It is, however, not operated by a widebody for some strange reason...
Quoting Pe@rson (Reply 2): No. The record is Papa Westry (PPW) to Westry (WRY), in the Orkneys in Scotland. As the crow flies, it is a 2-mile sector, with a block time of 2 minutes. It is flown 8-seat Islanders (BNI) operated by Loganair. When I flew it, it took 90 seconds (I counted).
Thanks guys, but this could be the shortest scheduled widebody and jet-powered flight? I don't know if ET sells this sector, even though the rickety ferries across the Congo are positively scary.
ScottB From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 6363 posts, RR: 34 Reply 6, posted (7 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 2636 times:
Quoting Cricket (Reply 3): Thanks guys, but this could be the shortest scheduled widebody and jet-powered flight?
It might be the shortest widebody/jet-powered flight currently, but OAK-SFO has been flown in the past with widebodies -- apparently even with the 747SP.
Sabena used to fly the B743 on the FIH BZV sector back in the days.
That would have been a fun 747 flight, I wonder if ET actually sells this sector?
It doesn't look like ET sells BZV-FIH, probabably because they only operate it in one direction since it's a triangular routing ADD-BZV-FIH-ADD. Or they may not have 5th freedom rights.
UK_Dispatcher From United Arab Emirates, joined Dec 2001, 2550 posts, RR: 33 Reply 12, posted (7 months 2 weeks 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 2195 times:
Not a widebody, but an interesting one which is on sale is NBO-WIL operated SAX using a Beech 1900, as part of a multi-sector flight. When myself and a fellow nutter enquired about this at the ticket desk at NBO, naturally the staff took some convincing and had to make a few phone calls to find out what to charge us. Unfortunately it was too much for my liking and we didn't do it.
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