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][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).

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 the current 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 nonstop flights.[2] This included the services provided by Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles,[14][15] as well as similar lengthy flights from New York to both Mumbai and Bangkok.[16]

However, in recent years the fuel prices have fallen back and more economical aircraft have been introduced to the market. The economics of ultra-long-haul flights improved with more and more distant markets being served by new 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 have been launched from Auckland to both Doha and Dubai in the past 2 years,[18] as well as new double-daily service by United and Singapore Airlines from San Francisco to Singapore.[19] As of 2020, Singapore Airlines currently operates the world's longest flight by distance from Singapore to Newark at 15,357 kilometres (8,292 nmi).[20][21]

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 15,200 km (8,200 nmi) with 544 passengers. The A350-900 can fly 15,000 km (8,100 nmi) with 325 passengers.[22]

The longest range Boeing airliner in service is the 777-200LR, which is capable of flying 15,843 km (8,555 nmi) with 317 passengers in a 2-class configuration.[23]

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.[24]

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.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27]

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.[28] It would be the longest nonstop flight to and from the Caribbean with 12,044 km (6,503 nmi).[29] Philippine Airlines is replacing its A340-300 with an A350-900 HGW high gross weight version available from 2017 enabling nonstop Manila-New York connections without payload limitations in both directions,[30] a 13,700 km (7,400 nmi) flight.[31]

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.[32] 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.[33]

• Flight length
• ETOPS/LROPS
• International flight

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