What is the world's longest flight?

Singapore Airlines has held the title of the world's longest regularly scheduled commercial flight since 2018, with its nonstop route between Singapore's Changi Airport and New York's JFK Airport. The distance between the two cities exceeds 15,300 kilometers, almost a third of the Earth's circumference, and the flight takes between 18 and 19 hours depending on direction, since jet stream winds favor one route and penalize the other. The airline had already operated this same route between 2004 and 2013 with the Airbus A340-500, but abandoned it due to its high fuel cost; it was only able to resume it in 2018 thanks to a much more efficient aircraft. Other airlines, such as Qantas or Qatar Airways, have operated or planned routes of similar duration, but none yet exceeds this distance in regular paying-passenger service.

The technical key is the Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range), an extended-range version designed specifically for this type of route, with additional fuel capacity and a higher maximum takeoff weight than the standard A350-900. To maintain profitability on such a long flight, Singapore Airlines configures the aircraft without an economy class: only premium economy and business class, which reduces the total number of seats but better suits passengers willing to pay to avoid a layover. The distance record has changed hands several times over the past two decades, almost always with new long-range versions of twin-engine jets.