Why your flight is taking longer than it used to – and it could get even worse
ADVANCEMENTS in technology often result in more efficient, streamlined services, but when it comes to planes the aviation industry bucks the trend.
According to the Telegraph, flight times have been getting longer and longer over the last 25 years – and it could get worse yet.
For example, back in the 1970s, a flight from New York to Houston, Texas, would take two hours and 37 minutes – but these days, it will take three hours and 50 minutes.
Meanwhile in Europe, a flight from Madrid to Barcelona used to take 55 minutes in 1995, but it now takes an hour and 15 minutes.
There are a few reasons behind these lengthier flight times including airlines trying to save cash on fuel.
A couple of budget airlines have asked their pilots to fly two minutes slower every hour.
According to Business Insider, airlines can save millions of pounds every year this way.
In 2008, JetBlue saved £10 million by increasing their flight times.
Schedule padding is another reason for lengthier times on some routes.
This is where an airline states that a flight will take 80 minutes when it realistically takes an hour – this is so carriers have a little leeway in case of flight delays.
But airlines have strongly denied that they’ve been padding flight schedules in this way.
Despite the above, flight times actually fell ever so slightly during the pandemic because of the reduced demand in air travel.
That means it’s likely that delays (and longer flight times) will become more and more frequent because of the increased demand in holidays abroad.
Data supplied by FlightRadar24 revealed that the best time to fly is late morning between 11am and 12pm.
Only an average of 28 flights were grounded between that hour, or 0.75 per cent of flights scheduled – making it the best time to fly.
Meanwhile 6pm was by far the worst, with a massive 138 cancelled flights between 6pm and 6.59pm.
That works out at an average of 3 per cent of all flights in that hour.
Meanwhile the Sun Online previously explained what can cause turbulence during flights – another factor that could slow down a journey.
