This is the airport on Papa Westray, one of the smallest of the Orkney Islands,
这是帕帕韦斯特雷机场 奥克尼群岛中最小的岛屿之一
off the tip of Scotland.
位于苏格兰的边缘
It is just a windsock, and a hut, and a gravel runway.
只有一个风向袋 一个小屋和一条碎石跑道
I didn’t pick a great day to travel to this tiny little island.
虽然我没有选一个好日子来这个小岛旅行
The rain is going to return in just a few minutes, but it’s still been a
几分钟后又要下雨了 但这仍是一场
nice little trip out to visit the world’s oldest still standing house.
不错的旅行 可以参观到世界上最古老的房子
[wind and rain noise]
［风和雨的噪声］
It’s raining sideways.
雨在斜着下
…and also watch some seabirds.
还可以看到一些海鸟
From quite a distance.
从很远的地方
That’s a bird.
那是一只鸟
…that’s a bird.
一只鸟
That is also a bird.
还是一只鸟
But leaving here, I’m taking the world’s shortest commercial flight
但要离开这里时 我要乘坐世上航程最短的商业航班
from this airport to the next island, a mile away.
它从这个机场到下一个岛屿 有一英里远
Which sounded like a great video.
这听起来像是个很棒的视频
But as I started to write the script, I found some problems.
但当我开始写稿的时候 我发现了一些问题
It’s a commercial flight and it’s August 2021 as I record this.
正如我记录的 它是一个商业航班 时间是2021年八月
So masks are required, which won’t look great.
所以口罩是必须的 尽管不好看
And the planes in use on this route are incredibly loud and rattly.
这条航线使用的飞机声音大到难以置信
You wouldn’t hear a thing.
你什么也听不见
And I’m not going to be the jackass who’s vlogging on a tiny little plane
我不会像个傻瓜一样 在一架有其他乘客的小飞机上拍视频
with other passengers on it, loudly talking and bothering people and
大声喧哗 打扰别人
accidentally poking a selfie stick in someone’s face.
不小心用自拍杆戳到别人的脸
I’m just going to swap this GoPro out for a 360-camera,
我要把这个GoPro换成相机360
and just record voiceover afterwards.
然后后期录制画外音
But… a video about commercial aviation logistics, using voiceover?
但是……一个关于商业航空物流的视频 使用画外音？
Well, that doesn’t sound like me.
嗯 那听起来可不像我
That sounds like something that the Wendover Productions channel would do.
这听上去像是《文多弗出品》频道会做的事
So, Sam?
所以 Sam在吗？
– Hey there, Tom! – I’m going to leave this up to you.
-嘿我在这儿 Tom！ -这事就交给你了
I’m going to go catch my flight.
我要去赶航班
Spanning a distance of 1.7 miles or 2.7 km over some 80-or-so seconds,
在80秒左右内跨越1.7英里或2.7公里的距离
the flight Tom’s about to take
Tom要乘坐的航班
might seem an affront to logic, economics, environmentalism and more.
可能看起来冒犯了逻辑 经济学 环保主义等等
But the world’s shortest flight has a very real purpose
但世上最短途的航班对于现实中的人来说
for very real people.
有着一个非常实际的目的
You see, the Orkney Islands are a sparsely-populated archipelago.
你看 奥克尼群岛是一个人烟稀少的岛
The vast majority of their 22,000-strong population lives on what’s known,
他们的2.2万人口中 绝大多数生活在众所周知的“大陆”上
despite its island status, as the “mainland”,
尽管它是岛屿
leaving only about 4,000 on the outer islands.
只有大约4000人生活在外岛
These outer islanders need ways of getting to the mainland, of course,
当然 这些外岛人需要到达大陆的方法
but bridges are expensive,
但桥很贵
especially over some of the longer interisland spans in the Orkneys.
尤其是奥克尼群岛的部分岛屿间跨度较大
And while ferries do operate throughout the archipelago,
尽管渡轮在群岛运作
they’re slow and lack a direct connection to onward travel.
但它们还是太慢了 缺乏一个直达的线路
Therefore, the answer is airplanes.
因此 解决方法是飞机
Of course, flying is expensive.
当然 飞机也贵
And in the world of commercial aviation, it’s typically the case
在商业航空的领域 通常情况下
that the lower the demand, the more expensive it is
基于每位乘客的基础上 需求越低
for an airline to operate a route on a per passenger basis.
航空公司经营每条航线的成本就越高
That’s because smaller destinations lack the economies of scale afforded
因为小型目的地缺乏
by operating larger airplanes more frequently at larger airports.
大型机场更频繁地驾驶飞机所带来的规模经济
So air service to places with 600 or 90 residents like Westray and Papa Westray
因此 在自由市场的基础上 像韦斯特雷和帕帕韦斯特雷这样
is essentially impossible on a free market basis.
有600或90名居民的地方提供航空服务基本上是不可能的
The fares would be enormous per passenger, meaning people wouldn’t choose to fly.
每个乘客的费用可能是巨大的 这意味着人们不会选择乘飞机
Meaning there wouldn’t be enough passengers to fill a plane.
也意味着不会有足够的乘客坐满一架飞机
Therefore, flights to Westray and Papa Westray are subsidized through the UK’s
所以 前往韦斯特雷和韦斯特雷帕的航班是通过英国的
public service obligation scheme,
公共服务义务计划获得补贴的
meaning only a small portion of Logan air’s
这意味着洛根航空只有一小部分收入
revenue is earned through selling the flight’s £17 or £18 tickets.
是由17英镑或18英镑的机票所得
Still, filling a nine-passenger plane to Papa Westray, in particular,
然而 坐满一架飞往帕帕韦斯特雷的九人飞机
with its 90-person population would be difficult even at rock bottom prices.
尤其是在拥有90名人口的情况下 即使是最低价格也很难做到
Price elasticity only goes so far.
价格弹性也只能止步于此
Therefore, Loganair uses a network design referred to as a “milk run”.
因此 洛根航空采用了被称为“循环取货”的网络设计
Essentially, it means operating a plane like a bus or train.
意思是像驾驶汽车或火车一样驾驶飞机
In this case, the BN-2 Islander aircraft leaves Kirkwall, the largest town
这种情况下 BN-2“海岛人”客机载着乘客飞离奥克尼
in the Orkneys, with passengers destined for Papa Westray and Westray.
最大的城镇柯克沃尔 前往帕帕韦斯特雷和韦斯特雷
Then it lands in Papa Westray, drops off any passengers destined for
然后在帕帕韦斯特雷着陆 到达目的地的乘客下飞机
that island and picks up any passengers traveling to Westray and Kirkwall.
然后飞机载着其他乘客前往韦斯特雷和柯克沃尔
Next, it flies those 80 or so seconds to Westray,
接下来 它航行80秒左右到达韦斯特雷
drops off its passengers and picks up any final travelers headed for Kirkwall.
将乘客送下飞机后载着最后的旅客前往柯克沃尔
This way, it aggregates the cumulative demand of two islands onto one flight,
这样 它在一个航班上汇集了两个岛的需求量
allowing for operations to each more regularly than if they both had dedicated flights.
考虑到比起开设两个专用的航班 这样每班更有规律
Altogether, this means the only people that might take the flight exclusively
总之 这意味着只有那些长途跋涉
between Papa Westray and Westray are aviation enthusiasts and tourists
飞这世界上最短商业航班的航空爱好者和旅客
who make the pilgrimage to fly on the world’s shortest commercial flight.
才会专门乘坐这个飞往帕帕韦斯特雷与韦斯特雷的航班
Tom, however, is returning to Kirkwall.
但是 Tom正返程飞回柯克沃尔
– Sam, thank you so much.
Sam 非常感谢
There’s a link to Sam’s channel, Wendover Productions,
《Sam的频道》和《文多弗出品》
in the description and on screen. And sure enough,
在简介和屏幕上都有链接 果然
the plane spent two minutes on the ground while one passenger disembarked
当一名乘客下飞机后 飞机在地面停留了两分钟
and the pilot filled out some paperwork, and then we were off in the air again.
飞行员填写了一些文件后我们再次起飞