Ultra long-haul

From 1943 to 1945, Qantas operated "The Double Sunrise", a weekly 5,650-kilometre (3,050 nmi) flight between Perth, Australia and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), with average flight times of 28 (maximum of 33) hours using a Consolidated PBY Catalina.[4][5]

On October 1–2, 1957, a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, the ultimate piston-engine airliner in terms of range and endurance, flew the inaugural 8,640-kilometre (4,670 nmi) London–San Francisco polar route in 23 hours, 19 minutes.[6]

In June 1961, El Al began a 9,270 kilometres (5,010 nmi) route from New York City to Tel Aviv. Previously tested in December 1957 on trial runs with a Bristol Britannia, the scheduled flight used a Boeing 707 and averaged 9 hours, 33 minutes.[7]

In February 1963, Aeroflot started a Moscow-Havana flight via Murmansk with its Tu-114D. It was around 16 hours from Havana to Murmansk, the longest for a scheduled turboprop flight.

In August 1967, Aerolineas Argentinas established nonstop Boeing 707 service on a 10,062-kilometre (5,433 nmi) route between Madrid and Buenos Aires, with a flight time of 12 hours.[8] This route is the world's first nonstop flight to exceed the 10,000-km distance threshold, and was the longest scheduled flight by distance until 1976, when the Boeing 747SP entered service. In April 1976, Pan Am set the new record with its 10,854-kilometre (5,861 nmi) JFK–Tokyo route. In December, the airline set another record with Sydney–San Francisco, covering 11,937 kilometres (6,445 nmi).

On February 10, 1974, a LAN Chile Boeing 707 flown by captain Jorge Jarpa Reyes made the world's first transpolar non-stop flight between South America (Punta Arenas Airport) and Australia (Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport), completing a 5935 nmi trip.

In May 1988, El Al introduced its long-haul passenger flight from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, completing its 12,189-kilometre (6,582 nmi) journey in 13 hours, 41 minutes.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union eventually opened the airspace over Russia, allowing new circumpolar routes to come into use for commercial airlines.[9] On 1 March 2001, Continental Airlines launched a 13,578-kilometre (7,332 nmi) nonstop service from Newark to Hong Kong—the first nonstop, long-haul route for any airline with a flying duration exceeding 16 hours.[9] A few days later, United Airlines started its own JFK–Hong Kong service, adding 3 kilometers to the distance.[9]

On 3 February 2004, Singapore Airlines introduced a 14,113-kilometre (7,620 nmi) flight from Singapore to Los Angeles, scheduled for 16 hours, 30 minutes in the summer, 15 hours, 35 minutes in the winter. It took 17 hours, 20 minutes in summer and 18 hours, 5 minutes in winter on the return trip.[10]

In June 2004, Singapore Airlines introduced Flight SQ 21, using the Airbus A340-500 (now an Airbus A350-900 ULR since October 2018) on a 15,344-kilometre (8,285 nmi) great circle route from Newark to Singapore, passing within 130 kilometres (70 nmi) of the North Pole, taking a little over 18 hours.[11] This was immediately surpassed by return Flight SQ 22, which flew a new record of 16,600-kilometre (9,000 nmi) back to Newark.[12] Despite the greater distance, Flight SQ 22 averaged a slightly shorter 17 hours, 45 minutes because of prevailing high-altitude winds.[13]

In the late 2000s/early 2010s, rapidly rising fuel prices, coupled with an economic crisis, resulted in cancellation of many ultra-long-haul non-stop flights.[2] This included the services provided by Singapore Airlines from Singapore to both Newark and Los Angeles that were ended in late 2013 [14][15] as well as similar lengthy flights from New York to both Mumbai and Bangkok.[16]

However, in recent years fuel prices have since decreased and more fuel efficient aircraft have been introduced to the market. Thusly the economics of ultra-long-haul flights improved and more distant markets became served by new and reinstated services.

On 2 December 2015, Air India launched a nonstop flight from Delhi to San Francisco, which was the world's longest flight by distance at 15,128 kilometres (8,168 nmi).[17] Similar lengthy flights were launched from Dubai and Doha to Auckland in 2016 and 2017 respectively.[18]

A noteworthy such relaunch was on October 18, 2018, Singapore Airlines relaunched Flight SQ 21/22 [19]using the fuel efficient Airbus A350-900ULR. It remained the world's longest scheduled ultra-long haul commercial flight until its indefinite suspension due to the global drop in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 24, 2020.[20]

In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impossibility of transit in the USA through Los Angeles International Airport, Air Tahiti Nui scheduled and operated Flight TN64 in March and April 2020 as a non-stop flight between Papeete and Paris Charles de Gaulle, using a Boeing 787-9 and covering 15,715 km (8,485 nmi; 9,765 mi)[21]., setting a new record for the world's longest scheduled commercial passenger flight.[22]

On November 9, 2020, Singapore Airlines launched the current world's longest ultra-long-haul commercial flight of SQ 23/24 between Singapore and JFK Airport New York City, USA. at 15,349 kilometres (8,288 nmi; 9,537 mi) operated by an Airbus A350-900.[23]

The longest range jetliner in service is the Airbus A350 XWB Ultra Long Range, capable of flying up to 18,000 km (9,700 nmi). The A380 is capable of flying 14,800 km (8,000 nmi) with 544 passengers. The A350-900 can fly 15,000 km (8,100 nmi) with 325 passengers.[24]

The longest range Boeing airliner in service is the 777-200LR, which can cover 17,446 kilometres (9,420 nmi; 10,840 mi) with 317 passengers.[25] The Boeing 777-8X will be capable of flying 16,170 kilometres (8,730 nmi; 10,050 mi) with 350 to 375 passengers.[26]

New airliners like the A330neo, A350 and B787 enable economically sustainable nonstop ultra-long haul operations on thinner routes with fewer demands, because all the previous planes capable of providing nonstop ultra-long haul services are larger and thus more expensive to operate compared to these planes, which in turn require more tickets to be sold and more demands between both destinations to maintain the profitability of those service.[27]

On 25 August 2018, Air India challenged Airbus and Boeing to extend the range of their long haul aircraft to enable flights from India to Santiago or Lima by 2022.[28] The Maharaja Route between New Delhi and Santiago Airport is 17,016 km (9,188 nmi) long, a 20 hour flight at Mach 0.8.[29] Both airframers want to avoid a specific design and Airbus sees a market for 50-100 airliners as other operators could join Air India, for which those could reach the whole world nonstop instead of 70% of its population. Aimed at business travelers, ultra-long-haul flights can charge a 20% premium over one-stop direct flights.[30]

Iran Air had planned a nonstop 12,222-kilometre (6,599 nmi) Tehran–Los Angeles flight, which never materialized due to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In November 1979, it suspended its 9,850-kilometre (5,320 nmi) scheduled nonstop service between New York and Tehran, flown eastward in 11h 15min, begun after its 747SP delivery on March 12, 1976. Emirates is contemplating a direct Dubai-San Juan flight.[31] It would be the longest nonstop flight to and from the Caribbean with 12,044 km (6,503 nmi).[32]

Qantas introduced a nonstop flight from Perth, Australia to London Heathrow, England with a flight time of 17 hours to travel 14,492 kilometres with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in 2018. This was the first regular nonstop flight connection between the continents of Europe and Oceania.[33] In 2019, Qantas also used the same aircraft fleet to debut its first experimental nonstop flights between New York and Sydney (with a distance of more than 16,000 km), and London and Sydney (with a distance of more than 17,000 km), making both routes the two longest flights ever attempted by any modern aircraft in history.[34]

• Flight length
• ETOPS/LROPS
• International flight

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