Why have airline travel times not decreased over the decades?
In: 42
A couple of reasons.
First, physics. The speed of sound varies with temperature, altitude, and approaching the speed of sound causes physical stresses on the plane. It’s called the “sound barrier” for a reason. That stress will limit a plane’s top speed. It’s actually a published stat in the plane’s instruction manual of what its speed limit is when measuring as a percentage of the speed of sound, alongside more traditional units like miles/hour.
The second is economical. Just like in a car, the faster you go, the more air resistance will try to hold you back and the more fuel you need to burn just to keep your current speed. So going faster does mean more fuel burn. You want a cheaper plane ticket? Then you need the plane to be as economical as possible… Not just the engines being super-efficient, but the plane taking a route and speed that don’t waste fuel either. So airlines are incentivized to NOT go super-fast.
The mother of all tailwinds may let a plane reach its destination ahead of schedule, but that’s just luck.
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