Why a 10-Minute Commercial Flight Isn't As Dumb As It Might Sound

Here's what looks like a pretty silly business decision, not to mention an odd way for frequent flyers to spend their hard-earned cash: Austrian budget airline flyNiki recently announced a new 10-minute international route. The flight, which gate to gate will actually last about 20 minutes, will connect the Austrian capital of Vienna to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava and cover just 48 kilometers—that’s a smidge under 30 miles.

As a number of media reports have pointed out, the same trip would be less than an hour by car and even less by train. Combine the price—about £60, or $95, one way—with the time it takes to get to and from both cities' airports, including security, and certainly any savvy traveler would turn down flyNiki’s newest route. It's touted as the “shortest commercial international flight," but why would you ever get on? (I should note here that the folks over at the Telegraph have challenged that title by pointing to a 20-mile route between the Democratic Republic of the Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa and the Republic of Congo’s Brazzaville).