Why does ice melt faster in water than it does in air?

Air is in gaseous phase whereas water is in liquid (condense) phase. The number of water molecules surrounding the ice is much greater than the number of air molecules surrounding the ice. When ice melts, heat has to be absorbed from the surrounding particles in contact with it. Since there are more water molecules that could provide more heat, ice would melt faster when it is put in water, assuming that the temperature of water is the same as that of the air.

http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/detailed.jsp?artid=2493&type=6&root=5&parent=5&cat=60

and in googling about that.. I also found this..
Hot water freezes faster than cold water under certain conditions among other weird properties of water
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/explan.html

Do airplanes travel faster from east to west or west to east?
The rotation of the earth has no measurable bearing on time of flight. Inertially, we start out already moving with the earth. There is not force that wants to slow us down relative to the earth's rotation.

Airplanes travel faster from west to east in the United States. That's because the prevailing winds at out latitudes are eastward and they blow the airplane toward the east. When the airplane flies toward the east, it has a tail wind and travels faster with respect to the ground. When the airplane flies toward the west, it has a headwind and travels slower with respect to the ground.
http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/airplanes.html