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Qatar Airways may be set to launch the world’s longest direct flight, after it was revealed that a non-stop route between Doha and Auckland is part of its latest expansion plans. Should the new route go ahead, the 9,034 mile journey will take an estimated 18 hours and 34 minutes, a journey time that exceeds the current longest scheduled passenger flight – Qantas’s Dallas to Sydney route – by nearly two hours. This takes 16 hours and 55 minutes to cover a distance of 8,578 miles.
The Qantas flight itself is set to be overtaken in the spring, when Emirates launches a new route from Dubai to Panama City on 31 March. The Emirates flight will take 17 hours 41 minutes, however it will be beaten to the top spot by the Qatar route. Singapore Airlines has also shown an interest in re-scheduling its direct flights between New York and Singapore in 2018, which, at 9,535 miles and a journey time of 18 hours 50 minutes, held the record until the route was discontinued in 2013. World’s longest direct passenger flights |
