America


2 HOURS, 30 MINUTES IN 1996 2 HOURS, 50 MINUTES TODAY


CHICAGO NEW YORK HOUSTON


2 HOURS, 56 MINUTES IN 1983 5 HOURS, 16 MINUTES TODAY


EDINBURGH


1 HOUR, 15 MINUTES IN 1995 1 HOUR, 25 MINUTES TODAY


LONDON MADRID


2 HOURS, 34 MINUTES IN 1973 3 HOURS, 50 MINUTES TODAY


BARCELONA


55 MINUTES IN 1995 1 HOUR, 15 MINUTES TODAY


Air Flights Take Longer Now Than 50 Years Ago


And jet travel is about to get even slower — but don’t blame today’s technology. T BY MATTHEW LYSIAK


he past few decades have seen technological advance- ments in nearly every aspect of aerodynamics and engine


design. So why, then, is it taking longer for airline passengers to arrive at their destination than it did 50 years ago? The Concorde, flown by British Air-


ways and Air France, conducted its first commercial flight in 1976. It could complete the New York to London or Paris flight in under three hours, allow- ing passengers to do day trips across the Atlantic — leave Europe in the morn- ing, have lunch in New York, then fly home to London or Paris for dinner. Since Oct. 24, 2003, when British


Airways and Air France grounded their Concordes for good after a dead- ly crash — ending the world’s only supersonic passenger service — air travel has never been the same. In an era when smartphones and


artificial intelligence have helped streamline much of modern living, by contrast the slowdown in avia- tion has become significantly more pronounced.


14 NEWSMAX | DECEMBER 2024 A nonstop flight from New York to


Houston, Texas, today takes around three hours and 50 minutes, while that same flight in 1973 would have taken two hours and 34 minutes. In 1983, the Concorde took two


hours and 56 minutes to fly from New York to London. Today, to cover the same distance, the fastest of modern airliners would take at least five hours and 16 minutes. This slowdown isn’t due to a lack of


available technology, but can instead be attributed to the desire of airline companies to cut costs amid an era of escalating fuel prices and concerns over climate change. Airlines are able to save millions


a year by pushing pilots to slow the throttle, which increases fuel efficien- cy, according to an aviation expert. “The company would highly encourage us to slow down. The basic reason for this is to save fuel,” retired pilot Bob Poster told Newsmax. Further, unlike planes constructed


pre-1975, modern aircraft are con- structed with lighter materials which can also have an impact on the speed


of the craft, according to Poster. “Modern jet airliners cruise at


slower speeds than older models,” explained Poster, who piloted for nearly three decades before retiring in 2015 as a captain of a Boeing 737. A 2008 Associated Press report


claimed JetBlue saved $13.6 million a year by adding just under two min- utes to each flight. As the cost of fuel has continued to soar higher, so have the incentives for airlines to fly at slower speeds. Fifty years ago, fuel prices were


of little concern to the major airline companies. Cheap fuel was every- where, with crude oil around $1.20 per barrel. All that would change in the fall of


1973, after the United States was hit with an oil embargo from OPEC. The airline industry was hit partic-


ularly hard. The cover of the January 1974 issue of Flying magazine, pub- lished two months after the embargo began, read “Crisis: The Fuel Famine. What Will It Do to Us?” The accompanying article read: “The day of plentiful inexpensive fuel


MAP/DA-KUK/GETTY IMAGES


This map shows the length of time on flight routes between 2019 and the 1990s and 1970s. Source: MIT School of Engineering


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