Trivia quiz: Big planes on short flights

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by Devesh Agarwal

LoganAir. Photo by Dave Wheeler. Used under CC license.

While many of us will be aware of the longest non-stop flights; Singapore Airline’s soon to be withdrawn Newark Singapore and Los Angeles Singapore, and Qantas’ Sydney Dallas-Fort Worth which become the longest; how many of us are aware of the shortest non-stop flights?

The world’s shortest flight is performed by Loganair, Flight 353, from Westray to Papa Westray airports, in the Orkney islands off the northern tip of Scotland, using a Britten-Norman Islander. The 1.7 mile (2.7 kms) distance is covered in just two minutes.

Passengers have to carry their own baggage to the plane.

Some of the shortest trips performed by a jet aircraft.

Narrow body

• Alaska Airlines uses a Boeing 737 to operate flight AS 65 from Wrangell to Petersburg in Alaska. The distance of 32.4 miles (51.1 kms) is covered in 20 minutes, giving an average speed of about 90 miles per hour.
• Etihad investee airberlin also uses a 737 to operate flight AB 4651 from Lanzarote to Fuerteventura airports in the Spanish Las Palmas islands, off the western coast of Morocco. The 37 miles (60 kms) is covered in 30 minutes making the average speed 74 miles per hour; the speed on many US highways.

Wide body

• Arkefly uses a wide-body Boeing 767-300ER to perform flight OR 365 on the 46 mile (75 kms) flight between the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Bonaire. Bonaire’s airport is aptly named Flamingo.
• Cathay Pacific subsidiary DragonAir uses a 300+ seat Airbus A330-300 to perform its 73 mile (118 kms) 50 minutes long flight from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (Canton).
• The 91 miles (146 kms) from Bahrain to Doha in the Gulf is performed by two wide-bodies on a regular basis. British Airways flight BA 125 a Boeing 777-200 takes 40 minutes while Lufthansa LH 620 an Airbus A330-300 takes 30 minutes. Time to pull up your socks old chap.

There are two flights in India on the global shortest flights list. Take a guess on the routes, and which airline performs it. One is performed in a narrow body jet aircraft, and one is in a fast turbo-prop. Send your answers via a comment.

In fair spirit, do not refer to any external reference sites like Wikipedia till the answers are posted tomorrow.

Update July 25, 2013

Thanks for the answers. The correct and most complete answers are posted in the comments.