The popular ESPN website FiveThirtyEight is launching a new tool using federal flight data aimed at helping readers select a flight with the shortest route.
The “Which Flight Will Get You There Fastest?” tool uses data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and will be updated monthly.
FiveThirtyEight is run by former New York Times reporter Nate Silver and launched as an ESPN entity in 2014. He first gained national attention during the 2008 presidential election, when he correctly predicted the results of the presidential election in 49 of 50 states and also the results of all 35 U.S. Senate races.
“Flight delays cost the equivalent of about $160 billion a year in lost productivity, which is about 1% of the whole economy,” USA Today quoted Silver as saying. “Better ways to avoid them would be something good. To be able to claw even a few minutes of that back seems like it’s valuable to me.”
With the tool, travelers can research which airlines, airports and flights are most likely to arrive on time. Travelers can also see how airlines’ flights rank over the past year.