it never really made sense to me how you could travel the same distance in less time if the airplane isn’t going any faster. how is the time reduced?
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> it never really made sense to me how you could travel the same distance in less time if the airplane isn’t going any faster. how is the time reduced?
It *is* going faster, or it can be. If the winds are at your back, your speed across the ground is higher even if your speed relative to the air around you is the same. You might be able to change altitude to get a more favorable wind speed/direction. Also, aircraft have a variable throttle, so sometimes they just increase how fast they fly, typically at the cost of increased gas consumption. It can be better paying the gas to not have to hold other aircraft or put a bunch of people transferring into hotels if an aircraft/aircrew are going to be late.
Finally, sometimes they can take a shorter route between two points. Aircraft rarely fly a perfect direct line between two airpots, and if air traffic is light they may end up being able to cut down on the total length they have to travel.
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