Singapore Airlines is set to launch the world’s first non-stop flight with almost 20 hours in the air, by the end of this year according to reports. Singapore Airlines will operate the Airbus A350-900 ULR from Singapore to New York.
Earlier, the airline used to fly the gas-guzzling, four-engine A340-500 on the 9,500-mile route, with just 100 business-class seats on board. The service proved to be inefficient, and Singapore Airlines cancelled the flights in 2013.
It has ordered seven of these Ultra Long-Range planes. On April 23, the plane had its first test flight, an almost five-hour round-trip launched from Toulouse, France.
Currently, Qatar Airways claims to have the longest flight from Doha to Auckland (about 17 hours) closely followed by Qantas flight on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from Perth to London Heathrow.
World’s shortest flight: A flight scheduled between Westray and Papa Westray, part of the Orkney archipelago, in UK, covers 2.7 km. Operated by regional airlines, Logan Air, the flight time varies between 53 seconds to two minutes depending on the direction of the wind.
World’s Longest flight ever: In 1943,Qantas Airways introduced a top-secret, non-stop service between Perth and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). This was during the World War II when Australia was completely isolated from the British Empire. It operated, Catalina flying boats, once a week with complete radio silence navigating by stars only. Flight time on these ‘double sunrise flights’ was between 27 to 32 hours and nine minutes, longer than any operating commercial flight today.
