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As of 4 days ago (29 September 2014) the longest scheduled commercial flight in the world has just switched from a B747 to an A380. The Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney on Qantas QF8/9 is now nonstop in both directions as the B747 had to stop in Brisbane to refuel on the return. It is 13,804 km; or 8,578 statute miles, or 7,454 nautical miles and is 17 hours (less 5 or 10 minutes).
Singapore Air had flights of 15,345 km and 14,114 km from Singapore to Newark and LAX. They began them in 2004 when the Airbus A340 was delivered. In fact these flights were a significant part of the specifications in the design of the A340. But after 9 years, Singapore Air had to admit that there was no way to make these routes profitable considering how much fuel had to be carried (10X the weight of the passengers and their luggage).
Singapore Airlines has completely given up on ultra-long haul flights, and their longest distance now is San Francisco to Hong Kong at 11,147 km or 6,927 statute miles.
In Dec 1976 Pan Am flew the Sydney–San Francisco route, covering 11,937 km to set the then world record for scheduled commercial flight. So 13,804 km from 11,147 km in 38 years is only 15.64% improvement. After all this time, the dream of commercially viable London to Sydney nonstop (17,000 km) seems just as remote as ever.
Longest scheduled flight by some airlines. Delta falls only 222km short of the longest commercial flight in the world (Qantas).
13,582km Delta Air Lines:Johannesburg to Atlanta: Boeing 777-200LR
13,072km American Airlines: Dallas/Fort Worth to Hong Kong: Boeing 777-300ER
12,980km United Airlines: Newark to Hong Kong: Boeing 777-200ER
11,652km Air France: Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Santiago de Chile: Boeing 777-300ER/200ER
11,477km Lufthansa:Frankfurt to Buenos Aires-Ezeiza:Boeing 747-8I
11,111km British Airways: London-Heathrow to Buenos Aires-Ezeiza: Boeing 777-200ER
9,288km US Airways:Tel Aviv to Philadelphia :Airbus A330-200
Last edited by PacoMartin; 10-01-2014 at 11:30 PM..
I guess with the nonstop USA to Bangkok flights, I pretty much win. Of course, those flights have now been discontinued, but still, 17 1/2 hours is pretty long, I guess.
March of this year. San Francisco to Hong Kong. 15 hours. Not counting the extra two hours in San Fran grounded while the service folks unclogged one of the toilets at the back of the plane.
The longest non-stop flight I've ever had was from Atlanta-Hartfield to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. 14 hours. I thought I could handle it and wouldn't get jet lag being someone that was used to having insomnia but wow did I get a shock. That whole flight set off a chain of unfortunate events that surrounded me when I got to France.
LAX to Sri Lanka is a distance of 15,000 km. Half the circumference of the Earth is 20,000 km.
The longest historical commercial flight from LAX was to Singapore on Singapore Airlines (SQ 37) a distance of 14,114 km. The longest present day flight from LAX is to Abu Dhabi on Etihad (EY171) a distance of 13,502 km.
Not really. That is the second longest flight. The longest, which I flew in 2012, is the Dallas - Sydney flight operated by American / Qantas. It is 8578 miles and 17 hours. On the way in you get a break in Brisbane before going on in the same plane to Sydney but on the way back, it is non stop all the way from Sydney to Dallas.
It used to be a 747-400 with extra large tanks to increase range by 500 miles. Recently switched to A380.
I am used to many long distance flights. Routinely have flown from Chicago and Newark non stop to Delhi and Mumbai and also Atlanta - Dubai on the way to India.
In 1999 I flew from Newark to Dubai (12 hrs) and immediately Dubai to Kuala Lumpur (7.5 hrs) and then a short 4 hour flight from KL to Chennai. My longest set of flights to one destination. Did the same thing on way back but had a break in KL.
The flight was significantly cheaper than competitors.
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