Top 10 Longest Flights In The World
Here are the 10 longest flights you can take in 2023:
1. New York JFK-Singapore
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight number: SQ23
Distance: 9,537 miles
Duration: 18hr 40m
Singapore Airlines also operates a scheduled service to New York JFK, which is three miles further from the city state – making it the world’s longest non-stop flight. The same economy-class free setup is used as its Newark-Singapore route.
2. Newark-Singapore
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight number: SQ21
Distance: 9,534 miles
Duration: 18hr 45m
Fancy spending almost 19 hours on a plane? Nor us. Yet that’s what’s offered every day by Singapore Airlines. But wait – there is no economy cabin on the carrier’s Singapore-Newark flight. In this brave new world of crossing half the planet in a single bound, there is no room for “cheaper” fares. Singapore Airlines has configured its A350-900ULRs in such a way that they have only business and premium-economy compartments: 67 seats in the former, 94 in the latter. So that’s 161 passengers in total at maximum capacity, which also helps fuel consumption.
3. Perth-London Heathrow
Airline: Qantas
Flight number: QF9
9,009 miles
17h 45m
Breaking the 9,000-mile barrier is the first regular non-stop service from Australia to Britain, launched by Qantas in 2018. The route was a runaway success, with an average passenger load factor (PLF) of over 90 per cent during its first year. The pandemic saw the service halted, but Qantas was quick to restart it in May 2022.
4. Dallas Fort Worth-Melbourne
Airline: Qantas
Flight number: QF22
Distance: 8,992 miles
Duration: 17h 35m
This three-times-a-week 787-900 service started in December 2022, meaning Qantas now occupies three of the top 10 slots.
5. New York JFK-Auckland
Airline: Air New Zealand
Flight number: NZ1
Distance: 8,828 miles
Duration: 17h 50m
Airlines often save the first flight number for one of their most prestigious services, and Air New Zealand handed this route NZ1 when it launched in September 2022. But it hasn’t been all plain sailing. The carrier’s 787-900 Dreamliners can cover the 8,828-mile distance – but only just. Indeed, the prevailing winds mean the westbound route is prone to disruption, with a refueling stop in Fiji and the unscheduled unloading of luggage pre-departure not unheard of during particularly blustery conditions.
6. Auckland-Dubai
Airline: Emirates
Flight number: EK449
Distance: 8,823 miles
Duration: 17h 10m
Even harder to reach than Australia – unless you’re flying from the Americas, obviously – is its neighbour to the east, New Zealand. So it should come as little surprise to see Auckland occupying two of the top six spots. The first is EK449, a 8,823-mile haul to Dubai, which uses an A380. Emirates is the superjumbo’s best friend, with a fleet of 120 – the model, now out of production, is the core of the airline’s long-haul offering.
7. Los Angeles-Singapore
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight numbers: SQ 37 and SQ 35
Distance: 8,769 miles
Duration: 17h 10m
Eight times a week Singapore Airlines flies from LA to the Asian city state using an A350-900ULR. The “ULR” stands for “Ultra Long Range”, and the model – a modified version of the A350-900, which launched in 2005 – has a maximum range of more than 11,000 miles and can fly for up to 20 hours non-stop. Which makes the LA-Singapore service seem positively unambitious.
8. San Francisco-Bengaluru
Airline: Air India
Flight number: AI 176
Distance: 8,702 miles
Duration: 17h 55m
A recent entry, having been launched in January 2021, suspended in March 2022 and then relaunched last December, this schlep uses the Boeing 777-200LR.
United Airlines has been planning its own SFO-BLR service, in direct competition with Air India. Still, the war in Ukraine – and the closure of Russian airspace – has made the connection more difficult, requiring a polar route, and those plans are currently on ice (no pun intended).
9. Houston-Sydney
Airline: United
Flight number: UA101
Distance: 8,596 miles
Duration: 17h 45m
Another place in the charts for Sydney – living a long way from the rest of the world has fringe benefits. UA101 blasts its way Down Under from another Texan city, Houston, every day, with the scheduled flight time coming in at 17 hours and 45 minutes. That’s 30 minutes longer than it used to take.
The 787 Dreamliner also rules this route, with its fancy LED lights, big windows and vaunted fuel efficiency.
10. Dallas Fort Worth-Sydney
Airline: Qantas
Flight number: QF 8
Distance: 8,557 miles
Duration: 17h 5m
Qantas flies five times a week from New South Wales to Texas, taking 17 hours to do so. That’s more than enough time to listen to a recording of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, which has a total playing time of about 15 hours, depending on the conductor’s pacing.
The 787 Dreamliner plies this route, having recently taken over from the A380. Economy class passengers get 32 inches of legroom (seat pitch) for the 17-hour journey.
