A non-stop flight, especially in the aviation industry, is a flight by an aircraft with
no intermediate stops.
Ultra long-haul non-stop flights An ultra long-haul non-stop flight is a flight
by a commercially operated airliner with: No scheduled intermediate stop of any kind
A route length over 7,500 miles These flights usually follow a great circle
route, often passing over polar regions. As of February 2014, the longest non-stop scheduled
airline flight only operates non-stop in one direction—from Australia to North America—and
the return flight has a scheduled intermediate stop for refueling. However, this is the only
ultra long-haul flight to operate as such, with all others being non-stop in both directions.
Time determinants Along with the chosen cruising air speed,
the time taken by a flight depends mainly on:
The speed and direction of the winds at flight level, which can result in a tailwind, headwind,
or crosswind at various points of the flight ATC route
Flights crossing the middle latitudes often encounter the jet stream, which typically
flows in a general eastward direction. As a result, flights traveling from west to east
often experience a tailwind and have flight times that are considerably shorter than for
flights traveling from east to west, which experience a headwind. Flight schedules account
for this effect in an average sense, but when the jet stream is stronger or weaker than
normal, or takes an unusual direction, large differences can occur from scheduled flight
times. Records
In December 1957, an EL AL Britannia flew the longest flight by any commercial airline
on the New York/Tel Aviv route with a flying time of 14 hours and 46 minutes, at an average
speed of 645 kilometers per hour, and in January 1958, an EL AL Britannia broke its own speed
record with a flight time of 7 hours and 44 minutes on the nonstop New York/London route.
In 1961, an El Al Boeing 707 flying from New York to Tel Aviv set three world records:
the fastest flight, the first nonstop service on that route and the world’s longest nonstop
commercial flight. In August 1967, Aerolineas Argentinas established
their non-stop "Plus Ultra" service between Madrid and Buenos Aires. With a flight time
of 12 h, the Boeing 707-based service was the longest-ever scheduled flight until the
Boeing 747SP entered service in 1976. Iran Air began its scheduled non-stop service between
New York and Tehran using its newly acquired long-range Boeing 747SPs, completing the eastward
journey in 11 h 15 min. Although the airline planned a non-stop Tehran–Los Angeles flight,
it never materialized due to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The flight would have made a leap
in the time and distance records). The Tehran–New York flight was suspended in November 1979.
In April 1976 Pan Am set a new record for longest non-stop scheduled flight with its
New York–Tokyo route). In December the airline set another record with Sydney–San Francisco,
covering 11,937 kilometres. Both routes were flown by Boeing 747SP aircraft.
In May 1988 the El Al began its long-haul passenger flight from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles,
completing its journey in 13 h 41 min). In modern day aviation, in August 1989 the
first Qantas Boeing 747-438 set a new distance record for a commercial aircraft by flying
non-stop between London and Sydney. The flight covered the distance of 18,001 kilometres
in twenty hours and nine minutes, and served the dual purpose of delivering the airplane
from Boeing to Qantas in Australia and creating publicity for the airline's "Longreach" services
with the 747-400. This is followed more recently by Singapore Airlines introducing ultra long-haul
flights on 3 February 2004 to Los Angeles, and on 28 June 2004 to Newark from Singapore
Changi Airport. These two flights held the record for the longest commercial passenger
non-stop flights in the world based on both time and distance, until both routes were
cancelled in October and November 2013, respectively. The route from New York City to Hong Kong
is the longest non-stop route in the world to be served by more than one airline. The
routes served between Los Angeles and Sydney have the maximum number of airlines operating
non-stop flights in the ultra-long-haul category: 4 airlines—Delta Air Lines, Qantas, Virgin
Australia, and United Airlines. In terms of flight frequency, Emirates tops the list of
ultra-long-haul flight operators, with six flights operating from its Dubai base to Dallas/Fort
Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, São Paulo, San Francisco, and Seattle.
On 9 November 2005 a Boeing 777-200LR, dubbed the Worldliner, completed the world's longest
non-stop passenger flight. It traveled 13,423 mi eastward, as opposed to a normal westward
routing for that sector, which is much shorter at 9,647 km, from Hong Kong to London, in
roughly 22 h 22 min. Aboard the 777-200LR were eight pilots including Suzanna Darcy-Henneman,
Boeing's first female test pilot. Although the airplane seats 301, there were only 27
passengers aboard this flight. There were two Boeing executives; several Boeing 777
engineers; representatives from General Electric; and a dozen journalists from around the world.
The aircraft belonged to PIA, Commander Asif Reza, senior vice president flight operations
PIA, was in command and assisted by Captain Mohammed Ilyas Malik, designated as check
pilot Boeing 777 in PIA, to fly the aircraft as Boeing's "Launch Customer", pending delivery
of this very first plane to PIA, registered in Pakistan AP-BGY.
This was not, however, the record for longest time aloft for an airliner. This debatable
record is claimed either by the 1939 Berlin–New York non-stop flight of a reciprocal piston
powered Focke-Wulf Fw 200 built for Deutsche Lufthansa or by a Trans World Airlines Lockheed
L-1649 Starliner on the inaugural London–San Francisco polar route on 1–2 October 1957.
The L-1649A was the last of the Constellation series, and the ultimate piston-engine airliner
in terms of range and endurance. However, from 1943 to 1945 Qantas operated a weekly
return flight from Western Australia to Sri Lanka with flight times 28–33 h. This was
called The Double Sunrise service. The aircraft used was the Consolidated PBY Catalina.
Longest flights The following table lists the world's longest
non-stop scheduled passenger routes in distance order. City pairs may be served using different
routings on the return journey, which may therefore involve different route length and
journey times. Weather conditions, particularly the direction of jet streams, also have a
significant impact on the time needed to complete the journey. For example, Singapore Airline's
flight 21 from Newark to Singapore followed a 15,753 km great circle route within 70
nautical miles of the Geographic North Pole, while its return flight, flight 22, was a
16,600 km route via Asia and Alaska. The Singapore to Los Angeles route on Singapore
Airlines was scheduled for 16 h 30 min in summer and 15 h 35 min in winter. On the return
trip, the flight was scheduled for 17 h 20 min in summer and 18 h 5 min in winter.
Because Europe is at the centre of the land hemisphere, the distances from Europe to the
largest cities in North/South America, Africa and Asia are shorter than the flights below.
The distance from Europe to Australia and New Zealand is longer than the flights on
the list, but there are no non-stop flights between these continents at present. Currently,
all of the top 16 flights departs from or arrives at one of nine cities in North America.
Further, all but one of the top 30 have one terminus in North America.
Boeing is currently the dominant manufacturer in the ultra long-haul aircraft segment, with
25 of the 30 longest nonstop flights being operated by Boeing airliners such as the 777-300ER,
777-200LR and the 747-400ER. Currently scheduled
For the purposes of this table, multiple frequencies operated by the same airline between the same
airports is counted as one flight, while different airlines operating between the same airports
are counted separately. Also, each airport pair is counted separately, even though some
cities have multiple airports supporting long-range flights.
Discontinued Airlines and aircraft types for non-stop flights
The sections below gives two separate views. The first one lists all the commercial aircraft
types used for serving non-stop flights and their currently scheduled and operating longest
flight. The second section attempts to list all the passenger airline companies in the
world and their longest scheduled non-stop flight currently in operation.
By aircraft type The table below lists the longest non-stop
flights operated by different types of aircraft.
By airline companies The table below lists international airline
companies with their longest non-stop flight currently in operation.
Future of ultra long-haul The longest non-stop flights currently running
are not the longest city pairs theoretically possible. Flights on the Kangaroo route, if
flown non-stop, would exceed 17,000 kilometres. The longest routes possible are between antipodes,
or points on the Earth's surface opposite each other with the Earth's center directly
between, a distance of 20,038 km at the equator. Flights between Buenos Aires and Shanghai,
Quito and Kuala Lumpur, Wellington and Madrid, Perth and Bermuda or Asuncion and Taipei have
a distance of flight at 19,602 km, 19,715 km, 19,851 km, 19,918 km, and 19,933 km respectively.
A theoretical non-stop flight between Málaga and Auckland, which are nearly antipodal,
would cover a great circle distance of flight at 19,943 km.
Singapore Airlines announced the termination of its ultra-longhaul nonstop flights to Los
Angeles and Newark in late 2013, after Airbus agreed to buy back the carrier's five A340-500s.
It is believed that these services continued to fall short of revenue expectations, despite
the airline switching to an all–business class cabin layout.
The Boeing 777-200LR airliner can cover the distance between antipodes with no payload,
but its range decreases significantly with the added weight of cargo and passengers.
As of 2009, no airline has plans to introduce a non-stop service longer than the Singapore–Newark
run, though both Airbus and Boeing have hinted at interest in developing variants to their
long-haul airliners to make a London–Sydney non-stop flight economically feasible, for
which purpose the Airbus consortium will offer the special Airbus A350-900R XWB variant to
British Airways. The great-circle distance between London Heathrow Airport and Sydney
Airport is 16,995 km. On November 2013, Boeing officially launched
the 777X program, with the Boeing 777-8X capable of traveling 9,300 nautical miles. The 777X
is scheduled to enter service in 2020. The length of flights using current operational
procedures would still limited by flight planning considerations including having sufficient
reserve fuel for adverse weather, holding, an alternate airport and restrictions like
ETOPS, which would reduce potential flying distances.
Other proposals include utilization of point-to-point sub-orbital spaceflight for the ultra long-haul
distances. Shortest flights
The following table lists the shortest non-stop scheduled passenger routes per airline.
Compare Direct flight
See also
Domestic flight Flight length
ETOPS/LROPS International flight
Longest train journeys Flight distance record
Mainline World's busiest passenger air routes
References
External links Understanding Travelspeak