Calculating Flight Times Across Different Time Zones

A proper flight planning cannot be done without time. It is one of an essential element. It is the answer to important questions like How long is the flight? When is the arrival time? What’s the fastest route?

Most of the clients consider the time zones from their take-off point to their arrival; it can also include the impact of the itinerary on jet lag. One of the biggest advantages of business aviation over airline travel is the flexibility it gives for itinerary planning. This gives the clients the chance of control their schedule and take-off time, and ensure their timely arrival.

How to Determine Time Zone Acronyms (UTC, GMT, ZULU……)

Acronyms are a common language in aviation. The language varies from the airport codes to the pilot conversation. Time itself has many expressions

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the international civil time standard for a long time. It is the time that passes through London central at the royal observatory. It is also the time that is on the Greenwich Meridian line.

In 1960, the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) superseded the GMT. The timeline is equivalent to the latter and purposely used for UK civil purposes. It is also the global time through which the global world regulates their own time. The UTC and GMT are very similar on many fronts, the main difference between them is that the UTC is very precise and does not use daylight saving. Zulu is just a code for pilots and other aviation professionals that means the mean Coordinated Universal Time.

WHAT TIME IS INDICATED ON A FLIGHT PLAN?

When traveling, there are two case scenarios, its either the countries fall in the same time zone or have different time zones. Countries that have multiple time zones within their borders include Canada, Australia, and united states.

Most operators and airlines use local times in their plans and schedules. A 24-hour clock is also used to avoid the confusion of AM and PM. With this, the time on the ground is the same when you arrive or depart.

PLANNING AN ITINERARY ACROSS TIME ZONES

Most customers that use a private jet for traveling has the different important deadline to meet whether its personal or business. It is the job of the expert flight team to give precise and accurate answers to the questions of the customers. It is also their job to create a perfect flight itinerary to give customers plenty of time to rest after their flight. There is also a process to calculate it oneself. The method is used to calculate the arrival time of one’s starting point and destination. The instructions are below;

1. Set the Local time of departure

2. Change the time to UTC

3. Add flight times

4. Convert your arrival time zone to local time

An example of a flight from New York to Greece is shown below. The table shows the date, hour, time, and local time.

	Date	Hour	Minute
Depart from New York (local time)	04/08	13	00
Conversion to UTC		-1	00
Departure from New York (UTC)	04/08	12	00
Flight duration		+2	00
Arrival in Greece (UTC)	04/08	14	00
Conversion to local time		+2	00
Arrival in Greece (local time)	04/08	16	00

 

THE IMPACT OF FLIGHT DIRECTIONS ON JET LAG

Jet Lag is mainly categorized as eastbound flight and westbound flight. It is tough to recover from an eastbound flight when compared to a westbound flight. When the aircraft flies to the west, it experiences an extension of the day while it experiences the opposite when moving to the west. The human body reacts better to a continuation of the day than shrinking of the night because it disrupts individual sleep cycles.

Traveling westward causes the reverse in time because the movement is opposite the earth rotation. Moving eastwards thus causes the opposite that is, loos of time.