why does it take a plane longer to fly west than east?

Answer 1

Thanks for that question. I was wondering the same thing. I went to Arizona in Feb and it took 5 hours from NY. When I return it took 4 hours.

Answer 2

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Not all of them do. I flew with Air Canada via Vancouver in August. Air New Zealand offer flights via either Hong Kong or Los Angeles so you can have it both ways with them. The real answer I suspect lies in the dim and distant past of commercial flight. The first commercial pathway between Australia and the UK was developed by the Australian national carrier Qantas. They flew west to the UK and east back because at the time there were far more opportunities to refuel in Empire influenced countries so it was easier. In addition crossing the Pacific to the USA is a very long flight and would have been too far to contemplate. So the traditional route continued to develop. There are still no direct flights down under because of refuelling but this is now done once generally. I fly three times a year to Sydney with Emirates from Birmingham. One stop in Dubai is all it takes. Years ago three or four stops with overnight accommodation would have been in order. It is true that it is less miles to Australia going east from the UK than west too.

Answer 3

BECAUSE - of the Jet Stream

The current of air that moves across the globe from West to East

When we fly west - it's into a headwind - and subtracted from airspeed

When we fly east - it's a tailwind - and added to our speed

as our plane flies in the envelope of air, and that's why planes land INTO the wind - so their groundspeed is slower

this is also why Wind Shear is so treacherous
when headwind - becomes tailwind - - - - -
say you plane lands at 150 mph and the stall speed is 130

wind is 15 mph - so actual ground speed is 150-15 or 135
so here we are doing '135' actual speed when the the WIND SHEARS and now the 15 mph is subtracted

135 - 15 = 120 which is no longer a flying speed - and we crash

all the best

Answer 4

There are probably a number of reasons, the most obvious being that passenger traffic often dictates the most profitable/cost effective route, jet streams do have a bearing, as does the means to pick-up passengers during the refuelling stop, which most UK carriers can not do via the USA. The reason why they do not continue in the same direction, is due to airlines flying schedules, ie. the same aircraft operating LHR-HKG-MEL, would be used to operate MEL-HKG-LHR on the return.

Answer 5

Because the magnetic pull of the sun. It weighs down the wings of the aircraft causing them to be heavier also the jet engines turn slower while heading west, the pilots do that to prevent collisions with birds and UFO's which also fly east to west.

Answer 6

Very interesting! It took 17 hours for my flight to get to Sydney, Australia from Los Angeles, while it only took 14 on the return flight!

Answer 7

The jet stream flows west to east.

Answer 8

its simply the Jetstream , Loretta & Billy are wrong . RMS NY