The 16,700 km-long route from Singapore to New York will take nearly 19 hours
The longest commercial flight in the world is about to relaunch today.
After a five years break, a highly anticipated 16,00 km-long direct service between Singapore and New York/Newark will return back to the sky and take 18 hours and 45 minutes.
Singapore Airlines, which relaunched the route today, have chosen an Airbus Ultra Long Range A350 XWB which requires two captains and two first officers to control it during the long trip for the flight.
The aircraft successfully completed a test flight in April and the carrier has ordered seven of them in total.
“Altogether, Singapore Airlines has ordered seven A350-900 Ultra Long Range aircraft, which it will use on non-stop flights between Singapore and the US, including the world’s longest commercial service between Singapore and New York,” Airbus said in the official statement in April.
“The A350-900ULR will bring more convenience and comfort to our customers and will enable us to operate ultra-long-range flights in a commercially viable manner. It will help us boost our network competitiveness and further grow the Singapore hub,” said Singapore Airlines CEO, Goh Choon Phong, when the manufacturer delivered the aircraft to Singapore in September.
Learn more about the Ultra Long Range #A350 XWB, the world’s longest range aircraft. #LongRangeLeader https://t.co/qS3i8BRFFw pic.twitter.com/WETeS6kncc
— Airbus (@Airbus) September 22, 2018
The new service beats current record holder, a flight between Doha and Auckland operated by Qatar Airways, and the London-Perth route carried out by Qantas.
Travellers on board of the world’s longest flight can look forward to unusual spaciousness. With just two classes – business and premium economy – the overall number on board has dropped from 253 to 161 passengers.
Singapore Airlines used to operate the same route between 2004 and 2013 but had to cancel the connection as the Airbus A340-500 used back then consumed way too much fuel making the service too expensive.
The longest flights in the world
- Singapore–New York, Singapore Airlines – 16,700 km
- Doha–Auckland, Qatar Airways – 14,529 km
- London–Perth, Qantas – 14,496 km
- Dubai–Auckland, Emirates – 14,200 km
- Los Angeles–Singapore, United Airlines – 14,113 km
- Houston–Sydney, United Airlines – 13,833 km
- Sydney–Dallas, Qantas – 13,804 km
- San Francisco–Singapore, United Airlines & Singapore Airlines – 13,592 km
- Atlanta–Johannesburg, Delta – 13,581 km
- Abu Dhabi–Los Angeles, Etihad – 13,502 km
