Qantas makes history with first Aussie to England direct flight.

What is the longest non stop flight you have taken? Non stop, no connections involved. For me it was around 13 hours 30 minutes from Hong Kong to Johannesburg using Cathay Pacific. Thank God it was an overnight (Red eye) flight so I slept for a fair bit of it. There are many more longer flights than this and Qantas Airways has just joined that list with the groundbreaking Perth (Australia)–London(UK) route. It becomes the first regularly scheduled nonstop commercial airline service connecting Australia and Europe. It is also the route for which Qantas’s newest aircraft, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was ordered and programmed with jetlag-reducing features to make the 17-plus hours in the air more bearable. Before this journey involved a stopover in Singapore or the Middle East to change planes or for maintenance purposes.

Qantas’s 787-9 Dreamliner has a total of 236 seats including 42 of the airline’s latest business class lie-flats in a 1–2–1 configuration so every passenger has direct-aisle access. Each is roomy at 24 inches wide and reclines to a bed that is 80 inches long. Each also has its own 16-inch entertainment screen, USB and AC power ports, and stylish wood finishes. This is now Qantas’s longest route, beating out the airline’s current flights between Dallas and Sydney. Qantas Flight 9 departed Perth on Saturday 24th March at 6:45 p.m. and arrived at London Heathrow at 5:05 a.m. the following morning on schedule.

Qantas Flight 10 departed London Heathrow at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday 25th March and arrived back in Perth the next day at 1:00 p.m.. Passengers will be on board for 17 hours, 20 minutes on the outbound, and 16 hours, 45 minutes on the return, over a distance of 9,010 miles each way.

Fir interest sake here are the current top 10 ranking for the longest flights by distance. Distance is constant thereby making it easy to gauge the rankings.  Flight times can vary widely, even on the same route. This has to do with factors like the type of aircraft flying a route, which can change, as well as airport traffic, seasonal headwinds and more.

The 10 Longest Flights in the World

1. Qatar Airways: Auckland – Doha

Distance: 9,032 miles
Flight time: 18 hours, 5 minutes

2. Qantas: Perth – London

Distance: 9,010 miles
Flight time: 17 hours, 20 minutes

3. Emirates: Auckland – Dubai

Distance: 8,824
Flight time: 17 hours, 5 minutes

4. United: Los Angeles – Singapore

Distance: 8,770 miles
Flight time: 17 hours, 50 minutes

5. United: Houston – Sydney

Distance: 8,596 miles
Flight time: 17 hours, 30 minutes

6. Qantas: Dallas Ft. Worth – Sydney

Distance: 8,578 miles
Flight time: 17 hours, 15 minutes

7. United and Singapore Airlines: San Francisco – Singapore

Distance: 8,447 miles
Flight time: 17 hours, 5 minutes (United), 16 hours, 40 minutes (Singapore Airlines)

8. Delta: Johannesburg – Atlanta

Distance: 8,436 miles
Flight time: 16 hours, 50 minutes

9. Etihad: Abu Dhabi – Los Angeles

Distance: 8,390 miles
Flight time: 16 hours, 30 minutes

10. Emirates: Dubai – Los Angeles

Distance: 8,339 miles
Flight time: 16 hours

Special case: Air India: San Francisco – New Delhi

Distance: While the polar route Air India usually follows on this flight covers 7,707 miles, the airline sometimes takes advantage of strong tailwinds to fly via the Pacific instead, covering a distance of 9,507 miles in less time than the shorter flight path.
Flight time: 15 hours, 55 minutes to 16 hours, 30 minutes

We might not have long to wait until the rankings shift again. Singapore Airlines has proposed resuming its services from Singapore to both Los Angeles and New York City once it takes delivery of specially configured ultra-long-range Airbus A350-900ULR jets.

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