eli5 If I fly to the other side of the world pointing East vs the same trip heading West how much difference does the earth’s rotation make to the trip?

Question

Thinking of a trip from the UK to Australia. Is it faster going East? Can you explain the maths of this? Thanks in advance (for my 10 year old son).

In: 12

Answer 1

Others have fully answered the question about rotation and winds if your question was about the speed of the airplane. But if you want a practical answer about the trip time, what’s faster will always be determined by the available flight routes. For London to Sydney this will always be East, since connecting through the Middle East or Asia is simply a shorter trip.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=lhr-sin-syd;lhr-yvr-syd;lhr-lax-syd;lhr-dxb-syd