Q – I have a somewhat perverse interest in long flight statistics. I can tell you who has the longest flights currently (Singapore) and I pretty much know the schedules. I’ve flown two previous “longest routes” but I am anxious to start planning for something new. Is there a longest ever route coming out soon that you can discuss?
A – This is all a part of current airline planning and most of it is kept quite confidential for competitive reasons. We can tell you that Boeing is working on a longer range 777x and the Airbus 35OULR.
The airline really pushing this development is Qantas which wants to initiate the longest flight ever, from Sydney to London in a projected 20 hours and 20 minutes, according to USA Today. The goal is to achieve this distance capability in new aircraft by 2022. If the planes can be delivered with the capabilities Qantas is requesting, the aircraft would be able to fly non-stop New York to Sydney in just about 18 hours. At Qantas, by the way, management refers to this endeavor as “Project Sunrise.”
If you want to buy a ticket before these planes are built, look to Qantas’ upcoming service from Perth to London. This 17-hour flight will cover more than 9,000 miles. You should add it to your list.
