39 facts about air travel

facts about
air travelthat will make you a
small talk star**and make you want to question some things you believed in
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39

HelloTraveler,
Air travels are arguably the fastest and one of the safest ways to travel and explore the
world. All the modern day nomads know that, but there are slight chances they and you for
that matter don’t know all the 39 facts about air travel. So we’ve prepared a little selection
of the juicy facts, trivia and things that’ll make you a small talk star at any sort of social
gathering.So,readontraveler!Andquotetillyoudrop.
TravelWorldPassportTeam

In1987,AmericanAirlinessavedanestimated$40,000by
givingonelessoliveineachsaladservedinfirstclass.
#1

#2 In most Western airlines passenger
planes are missing thirteenth row.

#3 Themostannoyingfactorinflightforpassengersis
thesoundofaneighborbehindthebackofthechair.

#4
The windows in an airport control tower must be tilted out at
exactly fifteen degrees from the vertical to minimise reflections
from both inside and outside the control tower.

Flight attendants must not have any tattoos visible when a
uniform is worn. These requirements are designed to give the
airlines a positive representation#5

#6 Turbulence is generally only dangerous when a
person is not restrained by a seat belt

#7
Intheeventofanaircrafthavingtoditchinwater,theyare
designedtofloatforaperiodoftimewiththedoorsabovethe
waterline

#8 All International Airline Pilots speak English.

#9
Flightslongerthan8hoursrequire3pilots(1captainand2first
officers)torotateflyingduties.Flightslongerthan12hoursrequire4
pilots(1captainand3firstofficers).Theyusuallyfly3-4hourshifts.

#10Eachairlinepilotflyingtheaircraft,eatsadifferentmeal
tominimizetheriskofallpilotsonboardbeingill.

#11ThenormalratioofFlightAttendantstopassengerseats
isoneFlightAttendantforevery50passengerseats.

#12
The height requirement for Flight Attendant is for safety
reasons, making sure that all flight attendants can reach
overhead safety equipment.

#13 The normal ratio of Lavatories to passengers is
approximately one lavatory for every 50 passengers.

#14 An air traveler can lose approximately 1.5 liters of
water in the body during a three-hour flight.

#15Thereasonwhythelightsareturnedoutduringtakeoffandlanding Isforyoureyestoadjusttolower
levelsoflight.Ifthere'sanaccidentandtheyhavetoactivatetheemergencyslides,studieshaveshown
thatyouwillbeabletoseebetterandthereforebeabletoevacuatemorequicklyandsafely.

#10
The World's largest Airline in terms of Fleet Size is Delta
Airlines (United States) with 744 aircrafts and 121
aircrafts on order as of March 2011.

#17 The largest passenger plane is the Airbus 380 - nearly 240 feet long,
almost 80 feet high, and has a wingspan of more than 260 feet. The double-
decker plane has a standard seating capacity of 555 passengers.

#18The world's busiest airport in terms of passenger volume or the number of takeoffs and landings, is HartsfieldJackson
Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, United States with more than 88 million passengers shuffled through
the Atlanta airport in 2009, with another 20 million in the first three months of 2010, and with aircraft take-off and
landings approximately every 37 seconds.

#19 The Internet/On-Line check-in was first
used by Alaskan Airlines in 1999.

#20The world's Largest Airport is Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (as of 2011). By
2013 Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates is planned
to be the largest airport in the world.

#21
The airport with the longest runway in the world is
Qamdo Bangda Airport in the Peoples Republic of China
with 5.50 kilometers in length (as of 2011).

#22 In 2009, Southwest served 63.2 million cans of soda, juices, and water; 14.3 million
alcoholic beverages; 14 million bags of pretzels; 90 million bags of peanuts; 17.7 million
Select-A-Snacks; and 33.5 million other snacks.

#23 Cathay Pacific carries rice cookers, toasters, cappuccino
makers and skillets on board their airplanes.

#24 KLMofNetherlandsstandsforKoninklijkeLuchtvaart
Maatschappij(meaningRoyalDutchAirlines).

#25SingaporeAirlinesspendsabout$700milliononfoodeveryyearand$16milliononwinealone.First
classpassengersconsume20,000bottlesofalcoholeverymonthandSingaporeAirlinesisthe
secondlargestbuyerofDomPerignonchampagneintheworld.

#26 KLM is the worlds' oldest airline
established in 1919.

#27 QANTAS - Australia's national airline, originally stood for
Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service.

#28 Virgin Atlantic lists catering as their third
biggest expense, after fuel and maintenance.

#29
lufthansa is the world’s safest airline of 2013, with 37
points from Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA) and the
Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC).

#30AbuDhabiAirportServicesoncedidacompleteturn-aroundforaBoeing777inunder40minutes,
asopposedtoanormalminimumofonehour.Theyunloadedpassengers,cargo,mail,cleanedthe
aircraft,andloadedoutboundpassengers,cargoandmailinthatshorttime.

#31
In one year, British Airways passengers consume:
* 40.5 tons of chicken
* 6 tons of caviar
* 22 tons of smoked salmon
* 557,507 boxes of chocolate
* 90 thousand cases (9 liter cases) of sparkling wine.

#32 American Airlines spent about $425 million
on food for domestic passengers in 2001.

#33In-flight catering is an $18 billion worldwide
industry employing up to 200,000 people.

#34
In 2001, Dubai Duty Free sold 1,570,214 cartons of cigarettes,
2,909 kilograms of gold, 101,824 watches, 690,502 bottles of
perfume, 52,119 mobile phones.

#35
Whatifsomeonetriestoopenadoor?
Before take-off, you will hear the command ‘Doors to automatic and cross check’. Passengers assume that the cabin crew are
being told to lock the doors. In fact, the instruction is to put the inflatable evacuation slides on to automatic, so that they shoot
out if the door is opened. In practice, plane doors don’t need to be locked because once airborne it’s virtually impossible to open
them. That’s partly because of the unusual way they swing — inwards first and then outwards — and the fact that cabin air
pressure is so much higher than the surrounding air pressure. As a result, as the plane climbs, the cabin air pressure pushes the
door outwards, sealing it into place. The higher the plane flies, the stronger the seal becomes. So strong that it would be
impossible for anyone to open it. But, please, don’t try.

#36
Whydoesmycupofteatastefunny?
Proper tea is made with water that has been heated to 100c — the temperature at which it boils on the ground.
Unfortunately, in the reduced-pressure environment of an aircraft cabin, the boiling point of water is lowered to
around 90c, which means that the brewing process is unsatisfactory. For the same reason, you cannot have a
decent cuppa high in the mountains.

#37
Whydoplanesleavelongwhitetrails?
These are called vapour trails, or more accurately, con trails (short for condensation trails). Aviation fuel is a hydrocarbon which, when
burnt, produces two compounds: carbon dioxide and water. Because of the high temperature of combustion in a jet engine — around
1,300c — water is expelled as a gas but, as it meets the very cold air of the high-altitude atmosphere, it condenses into tiny droplets
or, if it’s cold enough, ice crystals. That’s why, if you look closely, there’s always a gap between the plane and the beginning of the
vapour trail — it takes a bit of time for the gas to form droplets, so they form some distance behind the plane.

#38
Whatactuallyliftstheplaneintotheair?
Generations of schoolchildren have been taught that a plane flies because of the curved shape, in cross-section, of its aerofoil wings.
This makesthe air flowfasterover thetopand sloweroverthebottomof the wing,creating highpressurebelowandapartialvacuum
above, literally ‘sucking’ the wing (and the plane) into the sky — the so-called Bernoulli Effect.
This isnot(quite) correct. Infacthowawing‘works’ isextremely complex.The mostimportantfactoristhesimple‘angleofattack’of
the wing to the air through which it is moving. If the wing is angled slightly upwards, at its leading edge, air will be forced under the wing
pushing it up, much like a kite. If the first explanation was correct, planes could never fly upside down — when clearly they can.

#39 QANTAS is the second world's oldest airline
established in 1920.

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39 facts about air travel

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39 facts about air travel