The Scheduled Flight That Lasts 90 Seconds
The Westray to Papa Westray flight, in Scotland's Orkney Islands, is scheduled at 90 seconds. The fastest pilot has done it in 53.
Most days, weather permitting, a Britten-Norman Islander operated by Loganair takes off from Westray, in Scotland's Orkney Islands, climbs to about 50 metres, and lands two minutes later on Papa Westray, the next island over. The scheduled time is 90 seconds. With a strong tailwind, a Loganair pilot named Stuart Linklater once made the same flight in 53 seconds — the current record.
On 4 December 1967, the route opened as part of Orkney's new Inter-Isles air service. The straight-line distance between the two airfields is about 1.7 miles, a little less than Edinburgh Airport's main runway. The plane carries up to nine passengers and a single pilot. There is no flight attendant, two engines, and a fairly relaxed safety briefing.
The economic point of the flight is not the leg between the islands — most locals take the much cheaper twenty-minute ferry — it is that the same aircraft connects both islands to Kirkwall, the regional hub on the Orkney mainland, in a single rotation. Without it, Papa Westray (population around 90) would lose same-day access to a doctor and to onward planes.
The route remains the shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world. Loganair was awarded the contract again in 2025 to operate it through 2029. Passengers who complete it get a small certificate from the pilot.
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