Pilots reveal how they make up time after a flight has been delayed

It's not too uncommon to have a pilot say they will strive to 'make up time' after a flight been delayed, however it is statement which might leave many travellers guessing how they are able to.

Airline pilots have revealed how they might try to cover ground more quickly - but added there are many factors, including weather, air traffic control and fuel, which can impact the ability to speed up a journey.

"I wouldn’t say that it’s easy, but it’s possible, depending on the route, the weather, the time of day, and so on," Patrick Smith, a pilot who runs the website Ask the Pilot told Yahoo7.

"And even best case, there’s only so much we can do.The amount of time you can recoup tends to be measured in minutes."

Mr Smith said pilots can request a more expeditious route or fly faster.

"Routings between cities are often indirect, zigging and zagging along a connect-the-dots series of waypoints," Mr Smith told Yahoo7.

"Sometimes we can cut a corner or ask for clearance to a point further along, bypassing waypoints and shaving off time."

But he said when the airspace is busy those requests are denied as often as they're granted.

Mr Smith recalled that a couple of weeks ago a trip was delayed about 45 minutes due to a luggage issue when flying from the US to Paris - but he managed to save 20 minutes and get to the gate close to the scheduled arrived time.

"Once airborne, we requested, and were granted, an oceanic crossing speed that was slightly faster than the one we’d been flight planned," Mr Smith said.

"Changes like this have to be coordinated with air traffic control and with the airline’s company dispatchers on the ground, who track every flight, monitoring things like weather, fuel burn, etc.

"Flying faster uses more fuel, and on longer flights, if the parameters are tight, this isn’t always possible."

Other pilots agreed with how challenging it can be to make up for lost time, with one saying jet streams can have a large impact on speed particularly during long haul flights.

"Sometimes the world's weather systems will be different "on the day" and hence it is possible to leave London on time and still arrive half an hour late or indeed half an hour early," he said.

The pilot also explained that making up just a few minutes on short trips is "good going" as there is not much of a chance for planes to increase pace as they are scheduled to travel a "optimum speed."

"The schedules are generally constructed to be so efficient that the taxi times for take-off and landing are so close to the likely times on the day that there is little room for improvement."