The World's 5 LONGEST Flights!
Aviation has no doubt made leaps and bounds over the past 20 years, people are able to travel farther and faster than ever before. So if you are like me, I am sure you are wondering just how far on this earth of ours can we actually go.
Here is the list of the world’s 5 longest (nonstop) flights!
*These flight times can fluctuate nearly an hour both ways based on winds which is why the list is based on total distance.
- Auckland (AKL) → New York (JFK)
Distance: 8,828 miles
Duration: 15 hr 55 min
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Airline: Air New Zealand and Qantas(coming 6/2023)
- Melbourne (MEL) → Dallas (DFW)
Distance: 8,992 miles
Duration: 15 hr 45 min
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Airline: Qantas
- Perth (PER) → London (LHR)
Distance: 9,010 miles
Duration: 17 hr 45 min
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Airline: Qantas
- Singapore (SIN) → New York (EWR)
Distance: 9,537 miles
Duration: 17 hr 50 min
Aircraft: A350-900ULR
Airline: Singapore Airlines
And finally coming in at number 1 just edging out SIN to EWR…
- Singapore(SIN) → New York (JFK)
Distance: 9,537
Duration: 17 hr 50 min
Aircraft: A350-900ULR
Airline: Singapore Airlines
SO WHAT NEXT?!
Well if you were hoping this list will stay like that for a while it, it won’t. This is because, in the last 5 years, airlines have been competing to put a flight into this top 5 and nearly every year we can see changes to that list like with the edition of the AKL to JFK flight this past summer.
Looking into the future there is one market that holds the holy grail to the truly longest flights in the world. That is flights from Asia to South America a market which has never been done before but with technological advancements and ever-increasing globalization this may very well be a reality in the next decade. But with that comes some seriously long flights. There has been talks of flights from Shanghai to Sao Paulo which would smash the record and even break a very important milestone.
Even the current world’s longest flight is under the 10,000 miles. But a Shanghai to Sao Paulo flight would clock in at a whopping 11,500 miles. This would a flight that can be anywhere from 20 to 26 hours long. So would this ever happen? Well maybe but not anytime soon. ULR(Ultra Long Haul) flights can take quite the toll on the body both mentally and physically and it would be tough for anyone to be in a plane for more than a day. And while it might be done only very few planes in a special configurations (reduced weight for extra fuel, which also would mean less seats) would even be able to make the journey. So yes it could happen. But I am not so sure it ever will.
Check out one of my favorite Youtubers, Jeb Brooks flying from EWR – SIN, the now 2nd longest flight in the world.
*All credit to the Jeb Brooks channel for the video