Hi all.My boss just asked me a question, because he considers me knowledgeable on things such as this. Thought I better check!!He's talking about flights from Heathrow to Singapore. Apparently BA quote a flight time 90 minutes less than SA.Assuming this is a truthful claim, and not BA marketing hype, what can BA (or any airline for that matter) do to offer such a difference in flight time?Assuming also that the airlines use the same Airways, and I can't see SID's and STAR's making much, if any, difference?Also assuming that this is time in the air, not ground time.Any comments to make me look good with the boss would be much appreciated.CheersTim

Hi Tim,I don't know what equipment BA or SA operate on this route. However, if BA was to operate a B744 and SA a slower model, that could be a factor- but 90 minutes in 12 hours or so is a lot so I don't exoect that this will be the sum total of the difference. Other factors could be inadvertantly comparing a west-bound flight to an east-bound one (with prevailing jet stream winds from the west this can be a factor).Other factors are the lack of ETOPS restrictions with any aircraft with more than 2 engines (assuming ETOPS is a factor on this route, I don't know), and if the are any over-flight restrictions that SA may have that force it into being a longer route.This is all speculation, and I believe that something like 90 minutes would require a compounding of some (if not all) of the above issues.Bruce.

Not knowing which flights your boss was referring to, I did a quick check for flights on the airlines' websites. For the schedule I checked (LHR to SIN departing Sept 20), SA and BA report the same travel time, 12h45m. For example, BA7372 (actually a Qantas flight) departs LHR at 12:15 and arrives in SIN at 08:00 local time. SQ317 departs LHR at 12:00 and arrives SIN at 07:45. Both flights use B744s and are direct with no stopovers.