How we work out the flight times

The figures are estimates, and we would rather say so than dress them up. This is exactly how they are made, so you can judge them for yourself.

The sum

We take the straight-line (great-circle) distance between the two airports, add 5% for the fact that aircraft never fly a perfect straight line, divide by a typical cruise speed for the type of aircraft, and add 18 minutes for taxi, take-off, climb, descent and approach. Then we round to the nearest five minutes.

The speeds we use

• Turboprop: 270 knots (for example, King Air 350, Pilatus PC-12)
• Light jet: 400 knots (for example, Citation CJ3, Phenom 300)
• Midsize jet: 430 knots (for example, Citation Latitude, Challenger 350)
• Large jet: 470 knots (for example, Global 6000, Gulfstream G650)

Real aircraft within each group vary quite a bit, so treat these as the middle of the range.

What we do not account for

The wind on the day, the routing and altitude air traffic control gives you, holding or delays, and any fuel stop. A westbound flight against the jet stream can take noticeably longer than the figure here. Check that your aircraft can fly the sector non-stop before you rely on the time.

Where it can go wrong

Very short hops are the least reliable, because the fixed 18 minutes is a bigger share of the total. If you think a figure is out, tell us.