Longest flights

Longest flights
Over time, commercial airlines have established a number of scheduled ultra long-haul non-stop flights. These exceptionally long routes reduce the travel time between distant city pairs as well as the number of stops needed for passengers' travels, thereby increasing passenger convenience. For an airline, choosing to operate long flights can also build brand image as well as loyalty among a set of flyers. Therefore, competition among airlines to establish the longest flight occurs.
Definition
The length of a flight can be defined in different ways. Typically, the great-circle distance between the origin and destination is used, but alternative metrics include the duration of the flight, and the actual distance flown (when a longer route can use the jet stream to reduce the total travel time). Also, although the term is most commonly used to compare between different non-stop flights, direct flights with stops (same flight number used for full journey) might also be compared on some occasions.
There are numerous different types of flights globally operated by different aircraft for different industries and purposes. The term "longest flight" is most commonly used in reference to flights that are commercial, passenger, and scheduled, such that the flight details are published and tickets are available for purchase.
Current longest route
The "world's longest flight" has disputed status because it is a non-specific claim. While the distance between two cities is constant, aircraft do not always follow straight paths but adjust their flight paths based on headwinds, tailwinds, and other weather events and to avoid flying over certain countries because of politics or war.
By great-circle distance
Since November 9, 2020, the longest active scheduled passenger flight by great-circle distance is Singapore Airlines’ Flights SQ23/SQ24 using an Airbus A350-900ULR between Singapore and New York–JFK at .
The longest ever scheduled passenger flight was Air Tahiti Nui's flight TN64 using a Boeing 787-9, flying non-stop from Faa'a International Airport in Papeete, Tahiti to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, a distance of in a schedule duration of 16 hours, 20 minutes. This route was operated from March to April 2020.
This route was previously operated with a refueling stop at Los Angeles International Airport, where all passengers would disembark the aircraft and pass through U.S. Customs and Border Protection before re-boarding and continuing to Paris. However, to comply with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions banning European travelers from entering the United States, this service opted not to stop at Los Angeles during its flights in March–April 2020. The route was also made possible by the aircraft's reduced passenger load of about 150 passengers, which eliminated the need to refuel. This route also set a record for the world's longest domestic passenger flight, as it flew between French territories.
By ground distance traveled
Routings may avoid great-circle routes, despite their shorter ground distance, in order to avoid headwinds and/or use tailwinds to save time and fuel, shortening the equivalent still-air distance.
Since November 9, 2020, the two longest flights (measured by ground distance traveled) are Singapore Airlines' flights SQ23 (second longest) and SQ24 (longest) between Singapore-Changi and New York–JFK in the U.S. Both of these flights have a geometrically optimal great-circle route near the North Pole of approximately . However, SQ24 to New York is typically flown a ground distance of around over the Pacific Ocean where jet streams can assist; while SQ23 back to Singapore sometimes opts, instead of the westward polar route, to fly a ground distance of eastward, across the Atlantic Ocean, when favorable jet streams winds are available to save both flying time and fuel.
Similarly, the two Air India flights from New Delhi to San Francisco, AI173 and AI183, fly an eastward ground distance of about over the Pacific Ocean instead of a shorter westward great-circle route of about over the Atlantic Ocean, to avoid prevailing westerly headwinds and save almost two hours of flying time. Both these flights can travel with some variation in ground distance, with a report of for the first such flight in 2016, and it is not unheard of for particular flights to cover more than .
Cathay Pacific flights from Hong Kong to New York–JFK will also sometimes fly ground routes, instead of a great-circle route, for the same reason.
History
Since the first scheduled commercial passenger flight in 1914 that covered , records for the longest flight (by great-circle distance) were rapidly set and continue to be set today.
1920s and 1930s
The longest non-stop commercial flights of the 1930s were operated by flying boats, which were the predominant aircraft type of the time for long-range flight, in part as they didn't require large airports capable of receiving large aircraft.
1940s and 1950s
1960s and 1970s
1980s and 1990s
2000s
2010s and 2020s
In the late 2000s/early 2010s, rising fuel prices coupled with the Great Recession caused the cancellation of many ultra long-haul, non-stop flights. This included the services provided by Singapore Airlines from Singapore to both Newark and Los Angeles that were ended in late 2013. But, as fuel prices have since decreased and more fuel-efficient aircraft have come into service, many ultra long-haul routes were reinstated or newly scheduled.
Other record flights (non-scheduled)
Promotional and delivery flights
A number of promotional or delivery flights have extended the record of longest non-stop flights by a commercial aircraft:
Non-scheduled commercial flights
Airliners
The longest-range Airbus jetliner in service is the Airbus A350-900ULR, which is capable of flying . The A380 is capable of flying with 544 passengers. The standard A350-900 can fly with 325 passengers.
The longest-range Boeing airliner in service is the 777-200LR, which can cover with 301 passengers. The announced Boeing 777-8 will be capable of flying with 350 to 375 passengers. The Boeing 787-9 can fly with 290 passengers.
Many long-haul, non-stop routes that used to be uneconomical to operate are being made viable by the Airbus A330neo, the Airbus A350 XWB, and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Longest passenger flights
Non-stop flights (top 30, by great-circle distance)
The following table lists the world's longest non-stop scheduled passenger routes by great-circle distance. The actual distance flown, however, can be longer than the great-circle distance for a variety of reasons, such as avoiding severe weather, taking advantage of favorable winds aloft, detouring around closed airspace, and diverting around conflict zones.
For the purposes of this table, multiple flights operated by the same airline between the same airports are counted as one flight, while different airlines operating between the same airports are counted separately. Also, each airport pair is counted separately, even though some cities have multiple airports supporting long-range flights (e.g. Heathrow and Gatwick airports serving London, and Haneda and Narita serving Tokyo).
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left;"
|-
! class="sortable" | Rank !! From !! To !! Airline
!Flight number!! Distance !! Scheduled
duration
! Aircraft !! First flight
|-
| 1 || ||| rowspan="2" ||| rowspan="2" | Singapore Airlines
|SQ 23|| || 19:2|| A350-900ULR||
|-
|2
| Newark
|SQ 21
|
|19:15
|A350-900ULR
|
|-
|3
|
|
|Qatar Airways
|QR 921
|
|18:25
|A350-1000
|
|-
|4
|
|
| rowspan="2" |Qantas
|QF 9
|
|18:00
|787-9
|
|-
|5
|
| Melbourne
|QF 22
|
|17:50
|787-9
|Dec 3, 2022
|-
| rowspan="2" |6
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" |
|Air New Zealand
|NZ 1
| rowspan="2" |
|17:45
| rowspan="2" |787-9
|
|-
|Qantas
|QF 4
|17:45
|
|-
| 7
||| ||Emirates
|EK 449|| || 17:55 || A380-800||
|-
| 8 || || || Singapore Airlines
|SQ 37, SQ 35|| || 17:50 || Airbus A350 XWB |A350-900||
|-
|9
|
| Bengaluru
|Air India
|AI 176
|
|18:10
|777-200LR
|Dec 2, 2022
|-
| 10 ||
| rowspan="2" ||| United Airlines
|UA 101|| || 17:35 || 787-9 ||
|-
| 11 || || Qantas
|QF 8|| || 17:20 || 787-9||
|-
| 12 || || || Philippine Airlines
|PR 127|| || 17:15 || A350-900 ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | 13 || rowspan="2" | San Francisco|| rowspan="2" | Singapore|| United Airlines
|UA 1, UA 29|| rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | 17:35 || 787-9 ||
|-
| Singapore Airlines
|SQ 31, SQ 33|| A350-900A350-900ULR
|
|-
|14
| Johannesburg
| Atlanta
|Delta Air Lines
|DL 201
|
|16:20
|A350-900
|
|-
|15
| San Francisco
| Mumbai
|Air India
|AI 180
|
|17:25
|777-200LR
|Dec 15, 2022
|-
| 16 ||
| rowspan="3" | Los Angeles|| Emirates
|EK 215|| || 16:20 || A380-800
|
|-
| 17 || || Saudia
|SV 41|| || 16:45 || 777-300ER ||
|-
| 18 || || Qatar Airways
|QR 739, QR 741|| || 16:25 || A350-1000||
|-
|19
|
| Rome–Fiumicino
|Qantas
|QF 5
|
|16:25
|787-9
|
|-
| 20 || || || Philippine Airlines
|PR 119|| || 16:50 || A350-900 ||
|-
| 21 || || || Air New Zealand
|NZ 27|| ||16:30 || 787-9 ||
|-
| 22 || || || Emirates
|EK 211|| || 16:15 || A380-800 ||
|-
|23
| Cape Town
| Atlanta
|Delta Air Lines
|DL 211
|
|16:05
|A350-900
|Dec 3, 2022
|-
| 24
||| rowspan="2" |
|Emirates||EK 225|| || 16:00 || A380-800||
|-
|25
| Doha
|
|QR 737
|
|16:00
|A350-1000
|
|-
| 26 || || || Cathay Pacific
||| || 16:25 || A350-900A350-1000 ||
|-
|27
| Seattle
| Singapore
|Singapore Airlines
|SQ 27
|
|16:10
|A350-900
|
|-
| 28 || || || Qatar Airways
|QR 713|| || 16:15 || A350-1000 ||
|-
| 29 || || || Emirates
|EK 221|| || 16:15 || 777-200LR
|
|-
|30
| New York–JFK
| Guangzhou
|China Southern
|CZ 600
|
|16:20
|777-300ER
|
|}
Direct flights with stops
A direct flight between an origin and final destination has an intermediate stop, with all segments having the same flight number and using the same aircraft. In the following table, the "Origin – Destination" column lists the great-circle distance between the origin and final destination, excluding the stop. The "All Sectors" column lists the total great-circle distance from the origin to the stop to the final destination.
Discontinued non-stop flights
Longest passenger flights (by aircraft type)
The sections below gives two separate views. The first one lists all the commercial passenger aircraft types and their currently scheduled and operating longest non-stop flight. The second section lists the longest non-stop flight ever regularly scheduled and operated by that commercial passenger aircraft type.
Current
The table below lists the current longest (by great-circle distance) non-stop flights operated by different types of aircraft.
Records
The table below lists the longest (by great-circle distance) regularly scheduled non-stop revenue flights ever operated by different types of aircraft. The table does not include special promotional or delivery flights, such as shown above.
Future routes
Scheduled services
New and soon to be launched non-stop flights with distances exceeding , placing them on the top 30 list, have been announced:
Envisioned services (by distance)
On August 25, 2017, Qantas announced "Project Sunrise" aiming to launch new ultra-long-haul non-stop "Kangaroo Routes" from Australia to major destinations including London, New York, and Paris. On October 20, 2019, Qantas demonstrated the New York City to Sydney flight using a Boeing 787-9. The flight took 19 hours, 15 minutes and the 49 people on the plane were staff and selected guests. In order to make the flight possible, the weight had to be precisely trimmed by limiting the number of passengers and cargo weight. Two months later, departing on November 14, 2019, and landing on November 15, Qantas demonstrated another "Project Sunrise" route using a 787-9 to fly from London–Heathrow to Sydney Airport non-stop with 52 passengers on board. The flight lasted 19 hours, 19 minutes and traveled a distance of . In December 2019, Qantas announced they had selected an Airbus A350-1000 (with some potential modifications) for Project Sunrise if the flights proceed. The Airbus A350-1000 entered into service in February 2018 with a range of and is capable of flying non-stop both Sydney – London and Sydney – New York City.
In 2018, Turkish Airlines announced it was planning an Istanbul – Sydney route, a great-circle distance of with their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. Turkish Airlines' chairman stated in June 2023 that their 787-9 current aircraft do not enable year-round nonstop flights to from Istanbul to Australia and therefore will not launch nonstop flights to Australia until they receive their next generation aircraft (Boeing 777x or Airbus A350). He further stated their intent to operate nonstop flights from Istanbul to Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, and "Sydney nonstop would be potentially be five years down the line [2028]". Ahead of nonstop flights, Turkish Airlines did announce the intention to launch direct flights from Istanbul to Melbourne via Singapore starting in December 2023. However as of September 2023, the airline has yet to receive Australian government approval for this direct route.
In May 2021, Vietnam Airlines received Vietnam Government approval to use its A350-900 and 787-9 aircraft on multiple non-stop North American routes including the long routes of Ho Chi Minh City to New York–JFK, a great-circle distance of and Ho Chi Minh City to Dallas-Fort Worth, a great-circle distance of . In November 2021, Vietnam Airlines launched the first of such transpacific flights flying between Ho Chi Minh City and San Francisco.
According to a report published in September 2015, Miami International Airport (Florida) was in talks with EVA Air and China Airlines of Taiwan to launch before 2018 a non-stop flight to Taipei. In June 2016, a chartered China Airlines Boeing 777-300ER carrying Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen flew non-stop from Taipei to Miami before continuing to Panama. The airport director spoke with President Tsai about the opportunity for scheduled service between Miami and Taipei. The airport has been actively pursuing a non-stop flight to East Asia since 2015. There are no non-stop passenger flights between Florida, the third-most populous state in the U.S., and East Asia. In May 2017, the region's aviation department director predicted such a flight would happen within the next 24 months. In November 2020, Starlux Airlines applied for rights to operate this Taipei – Miami route along with 14 others. In 2023, Starlux announced they intend to launch one new US destination per year to connect to the "Western, Midwest, and Eastern" US.
In November 2019, El Al announced it was exploring a new non-stop Tel Aviv – Melbourne route with 3 initial scheduled roundtrip "test" flights, covering a great-circle distance of ,. While tickets went on sale in December 2019, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic's impact on international flights, only the first of the three flights was operated on April 2, 2020. It covered an actual flight distance of . The flight distance was 1000 km longer than the great-circle distance for the route due to flights to and from Israel were not allowed to traverse Saudi Arabian or Omani airspace. In July 2022, Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to all Israeli carriers for the first time and in February 2023 Oman opened its airspace to all "qualified commercial carriers" thus bringing the operation of this route along the great-circle routing closer to viability. In March 2023, El Al signed a LOI and announced they are (re)launching this route "by June 2024" with thrice weekly services using their Boeing 787 fleet.
In September 2023, in its updated marketing materials, Turkish Airlines announced their future routes they are working to develop. Amongst the ones newly added was an Istanbul-Santiago route that if operated non-stop will cover a great circle distance of .
Services that never began
In August 2015, Emirates announced that non-stop flights between Dubai and Panama City, Panama would begin on 1 February 2016, covering in 17 hours, 35 minutes westbound. In January 2016, the start was postponed to 31 March 2016. In early March 2016, Emirates postponed the route until the end of 2016 or early 2017 or "as soon as conditions allow." Emirates latest public update on this route was in April 2018 where Emirates' CCO stated "We are still looking at Panama. We had some conversations recently with a delegation from Panama". In 2015, it would have been the world's longest non-stop flight.
In July 2019, Qantas announced and began selling tickets for new non-stop flights between Brisbane and Chicago-O'Hare that would begin operation in April 2020 covering in 16 hours, 20 minutes eastbound using a Boeing 787-9 aircraft. (Flight number QF 85 and 86 in reference to the Chicago Bears 1986 Super Bowl Championship team). However, in March 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic Qantas announced it was delaying the route's launch to September 2020. In July 2020, as part of Australia's pandemic response, almost all international flights were canceled until March 2021, including this new route. In January 2021, Qantas reopened its international flights for booking for 2021 and this new route was no longer included in their schedules for the foreseeable future/the rest of 2021. It would have been the world's fourth longest non-stop flight. In early 2023, the topic was surfaced again by Qantas, but still no firm plans announced for the envisioning of launching this route.
In February 2020, American Airlines announced flight AA180/181 between Seattle–Tacoma and Bengaluru, covering a great-circle distance of . Its launch was announced for October 2020. American Airlines subsequently announced because of global travel restrictions amid the global COVID-19 pandemic it would be pushed back to October 2021. Further delayed launch dates for 2021 were subsequently announced, until American Airlines definitely stated it would not launch in 2021 and would instead launch in March 2022, In January 2022, American Airlines announced that the service will start in October 2022 and started selling tickets, before announcing in May 2022 that will not launch in 2022 either, stating: "We have paused the launch of scheduled service between Seattle and Bengaluru, India until summer 2023 [...] as this route requires flying through airspace currently involved in a military conflict, we postponed the flight out of an abundance of caution." As of January 2023, this flight remains unscheduled to resume in 2023.
See also
Flight length
ETOPS/LROPS
Flight distance record
Flight endurance record
World's longest domestic flight
Westray to Papa Westray flight, the shortest commercial flight in the world
Notes
References
Further reading
Civil aviation
Flights
Commercial flights
Transport-related lists of superlatives
Flights