I took one of the shortest scheduled flights in the world: 18km and 7 minutes of actual flight time

Of course, it's not the Papa Westray/Westray Scottish connection - the one that, if you have favorable wind, lasts less than 60 seconds - But the flight I just took from the capital of French Polynesia is one of the shortest ever, and it is the shortest I have ever taken.

If last year I flew nonstop from Singapore to New York, And I'm planning the madness of flying China Eastern São Paulo-Guangzhou, this is the exact opposite: very short, but exciting in the same way.

"Local" companies

There are two carriers that (almost) daily fly between the two most populous islands of the archipelago, which is in effect the European territory further from Brussels.

On this route we flew aboard Air Tahiti, not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui. The other carrier is the newcomer Air Moana And of course we flew with them as well.

Both operate a fleet of ATRs and a few Beechcraft, because there are islands that can afford a "real" airstrip and more than 100 that, on the other hand, barely have a strip of land to land on.

At the airport in Papeete

During the monsoon period, the most normal thing that can happen is. leave under an intermittent downpour. And that is more or less what happened to us.

The first thing we learned is that these connections are a kind of circle line: The plane takes off and then makes a series of stops, each time with people getting on and people getting off. This results in variable schedules and very different airport experiences than we are used to, even in secondary airports such as Parma, Where trades are cut to the bone.

For example. you can't pass the checks whenever you want, simply because there is little space.

You can only proceed when they tell you to, and "they" is an attendant who acts as a controller (like on the bus) and tells you first, "It's too early..." and 30 seconds later, "...hurry up that your flight is about to leave!"

They are Very strict about the weight of hand luggage: 5 kg (10 kg if you are in comfort class). Much less on the packages to be shipped: if you have 23 kg included you can ship even 5 boxes of 4 kg, no problem.

Past the controls there is nothing, although a new terminal is being built to better manage flows.

At other airports it is even "worse"

Next we flew from Moorea to Bora Bora, stopping in Huahine, and here the situation is: airports made with a stencil. Excluding Bora Bora, where there is no real terminal, no check-in counters, not even a baggage belt ... and most importantly there are no security checks.

Just like in the pre-9/11 world: no metal detectors, no X-rays, no limits on liquids--not even all the flights on the board.

The umbrella to avoid getting wet

Imagine when you board Ryanair on foot from Bergamo and are left under water. Here, that doesn't happen because there are the airport umbrellas.

You go out to board and, if it rains, you get an umbrella: red for Air Tahiti, blue for Air Moana.

In front of the ATR's rear ladder is the more classic umbrella stand, where you leave it. Pure poetry for a AVgeek like me.

"Multi-purpose" aircraft

Now imagine the scene: you are someone who has anxiety when flying, and in the middle of a monsoon storm you find yourself having to get into a turboprop, so a plane with propellers.

The first thing you see as soon as you step on board is. a stretcher. And he immediately snaps, "Maria, I'm going out."

The flight

The flight is so short that not even turn off the seatbelt signal: is longer boarding and taxiing than the flight itself. To speed things up, Air Tahiti does not assign places: flight attendants distribute the weights--oops, passengers--on board.

Safety comes first. Not only is there demonstration, as expected, and pretakeoff cabin check, but three minutes later having taken the wheels off the ground, when no one has moved or thought about it, the captain announces the start of the descent. The two attendants unbuckled, walked down the aisle to check closed tables, belts fastened, curtains up, and bags under the seat...then sat down just in time for the landing.

Seven minutes of actual flight time, 18 km traveled and three turns. If it were not for the landing route that requires a U-turn, the flight would last less than 5 minutes.

Upon arrival, same scene: passengers with umbrellas, luggage delivered by hand, and in less than five minutes you are already in the cab.

The alternative

The alternative was the ferry, cheaper and overall faster (about 30 minutes). The ticket cost us 70€, but you want to put the poetry of this experience?