“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. We’d like to welcome you onboard this flight and wish you a pleasant journey. On behalf of People’s Viennaline … Cabin crew: Prepare for landing.”
That’s what I’d imagine the pilot flying the eight minute (21 kilometre) flight across the Switzerland/Germany border from St Gallen (Switzerland) to Friedrichshafen (Germany) service would say over the loudspeaker on what will soon be the world’s shortest international flight.
Indeed, at eight minutes long, the flight will be quicker than an airport check-in!
The Austrian airline, headquartered in Vienna but based at St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport in Switzerland, will begin operating the insanely quick service linking the two cities from 2 November, and tickets will cost just €40 one way.
People’s Viennaline will use a 50-seat Embraer 145 aircraft for the service, which will run ten times a week.
Previously, the only link between the two cities, separated by Lake Constance, was to make the one hour (77 kilometre) scenic drive or take the one hour and 20 minutes ferry service across the lake – oh, the horror! Now, the flight will cut that time down to at least an eighth!
Source: www.stuff.co.nz
But this new service wasn’t just launched to make the record books.
According to The Daily Mail, the whole point of the new service is to act as a feeder flight for the airline’s Friedrichshafen-Cologne route. But of course, passengers wishing to zip across the lake can disembark at Friedrichshafen if they so desire.
The launch of the new service will steal the thunder away from Ethiopian Airlines who currently hold the record of operating the world’s shortest international flight: a 20 minute (27 kilometre) service between Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Brazzaville, Congo.
On the domestic front, the shortest flight linking two cities is currently the 47-second flight flown by Loganair between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland’s Orkney Islands!
And at the other end of the spectrum, Emirates’ Auckland-Dubai route will soon be the longest international flight in the world, clocking in at 17 hours and 15 minutes non-stop. The new service, utilising a double-decker A380, will begin operating from 30 October this year.
Original story source: cntraveler.com
