På Memory Alpha lär vi oss att Företaget verkade ha en unik tidsförflyttningsförmåga vid den tidpunkt då slanghot-effekten användes:
In the novel Forgotten History, it is revealed that, initially, the Enterprise was the only ship capable of performing a slingshot maneuver due to its engines being exposed to a unique set of conditions during their jump back in time after a cold start in "The Naked Time", resulting in the newly-formed Department of Temporal Investigations claiming the engines during the ship's refit to create a timeship.
Det fortsätter emellertid att säga:
However, the knowledge of how to make any ship capable of performing a slingshot maneuver was revealed to Kirk by Agent Lucsly of the DTI when he was forced to work with Kirk during a malfunction of Timeship Two, which trapped them between 2273 and 2383.
Självklart ändras någonting vid tiden för ST: IV, eftersom de använder samma slanghotseffekt (AFAIK) till tidsresor också.
Så i korthet var det inte vanligt i det 23: e århundradet - bara Företaget kunde.