On February 6, a Qatar Airways plane made the world’s longest commercial flight from Doha to Auckland (New Zealand),
flying 14,535 km in 16 hours 23 minutes. The Boeing 777, designed for 217 economy class seats and 42 business seats, departed from the airport of the capital of Qatar, Doha, on February 5 at 05:10 and landed in Auckland at 07:15 (21:15 Moscow time) on February 6.
We decided to find out which flights can compare with this flight in duration.
1
From Auckland to Dubai, 14,200 kilometers
Who performs: Emirates
Flight number: EK 449, launched March 2016
Flight time: 17 hours 25 minutes
Plane: Airbus A380
More than seventeen hours in flight is not an easy test for passengers, but such a flight helps save an average of 3 hours of travel time. In addition, passengers fly on long non-stop flights in comfort: the Airbus A380 is designed specifically to serve ultra-long-distance flights.
Flight EK 448 from Dubai to Auckland departs at 10:05 am and arrives in Auckland at 11:00 am the next day local time. If you want to get to Auckland from Moscow, flight EK 448 has a convenient connection in Dubai lasting 3-4 hours, so the entire journey to New Zealand will take an average of 25 hours. You can find these tickets by selecting the “Fastest” option in the search and paying attention to the flight number. True, this pleasure is not cheap: in February 2017, a ticket for an Emiters Moscow-Auckland flight with a transfer in Dubai costs 99,530 rubles (the cheapest ticket on the same route costs 70,824 rubles, but the whole journey will take at least 32 hours) .
2
From Dallas to Sydney, 13,804 kilometers
Who performs: Qantas
Flight number: QF 8, launched September 2014
Flight time: 16 hours 55 minutes, 16 hours 50 minutes winter time
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
This is the only non-stop flight between Australia and the US East Coast. Planes fly six times a week: every day except Tuesday. There are four classes of seating on board: 14 private cabins in first class, 64 seats in business, 35 premium economy seats and 371 economy class seats.
The first A380, which flew flights 7 and 8, featured a special livery: a kangaroo (the airline’s traditional symbol) on the tail of the aircraft was depicted with a cowboy hat and a stars-and-stripes bandana around its neck. But today this plane, unfortunately, has been replaced by a regular one.
3
From San Francisco to Singapore, 13,593 kilometers
Who performs: United Airlines, Singapore Airlines
Flight number: UA I, launched June 2016/SQ 31, launched October 2016
Flight time: 16 hours 30 minutes summer time, 17 hours 15 minutes winter time
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9/Airbus A350-900
Passengers flying from San Francisco to Singapore are involved in an interesting game of time due to time zones. On the way from the US to Asia, they unnoticed by themselves lose almost two days: they fly out at 22:55 from the US, and land at Changi Airport at 6:15 am local time, but two days later. But the return journey on flight UA II takes only 30 minutes by the hour: departure from Singapore at 8:45 and landing in the States at 9:15 (and, of course, 16 hours in between).
4
From Johannesburg to Atlanta, 13,581 kilometers
Who performs: Delta Air Lines
Flight number: DL 201, launched June 2009
Flight time: 16 hours 50 minutes summer time, 16 hours 55 minutes winter time
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200LR
The flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta has four pilots and two separate crews who rotate during the flight. For the press, the airline summed up interesting statistics of its famous flight: passengers on this flight drink about 70 thousand cans of soda per year, eat 100 thousand packages of crackers, 200 thousand bags of peanuts, and more than 225 thousand kilograms of ice go into drinks. And the plane itself requires more than 150,000 liters of fuel.
5
From Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles, 13,502 kilometers
Who performs: Etihad Airways
Flight number: EY 171, launched June 2014
Flight time: 16 hours 30 minutes
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200LR
From the city of angels to the capital of the UAE, the flight takes only 16 and a half hours – quite modest compared to other flights from the selection. At the very beginning, the flight was operated on an Airbus 340-500, which accommodated 240 passengers (12 in first class, 28 in business and 200 in economy),
but already in July 2014, Etihad replaced the Airbus with a Boeing 777-200LR. Now there are fewer seats in economy – only 189, but the business class cabin has increased to 40 seats.
