With its main hub at London Heathrow, British Airways serves all six inhabited continents
of the world. But, when it comes to non-stop flights, the carrier only serves five. The one
exception is Oceania, where the carrier flies to Sydney, Australia, with a stop at Singapore
Changi Airport. Due to the UK's central position between the western and eastern hemispheres,
the routes operated by British Airways aren't nearly as long as other airlines we've covered
in this series. Nonetheless, this video will examine this UK carrier's five longest non-stop
flights offered over the course of June 2023, as ranked by straight-line distance.
One note about the list and rankings before we begin:
Real-world routings as a result of airspace restrictions and meteorological factors are
likely to result in different distances and thus may actually alter rankings.
In our examination of airlines' longest flights, we see airlines like American and Air Canada
deploy a mix of aircraft types for their longest services. Indeed, American Airlines' top five
flights include services operated by the Boeing 777-300ER and -200ER, as well as the 787-8 and -9.
On the other hand, carriers United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Qantas
all rely on a single aircraft variant for their longest flights. For both United and Qantas,
it's the Boeing 787-9, while for Delta, it's the Airbus A350-900.
And, in the case of British Airways, two types are deployed, with two variants from each type:
The Boeing 777-200ER and-300ER, as well as the Boeing 787-8 and -9.
According to Planespotters.net, these aircraft have the following seating capacities:
Boeing 777-300ER: 254 seats (four classes, weighted towards premium
economy-heavy) or 297 seats (four classes, weighted towards first class and economy)
Boeing 777-200ER: 272 seats (three classes,
weighted towards business) or 332 seats (three classes, weighted towards economy)
Boeing 787-9: 216 seats (four classes) Boeing 787-8: 214 seats (three classes)
With some background out of the way, let’s move on to the actual routes!
At #5 is London Heathrow to Cape Town (BA58/59)
This route has a Direct distance of 9,648 km (5,995 miles)
Its Average duration flying to Cape Town is 11 hours and 06 minutes while
the return flight to London is 11 hours and 29 minutes on average.
Aircraft type currently used on this route is the Boeing 777-200ER.
With the exception of the pandemic, British Airways' service to Cape Town, South Africa,
has been in place for decades. Indeed, on January 20th, 2022, British Airways celebrated 90 years
of flying between London and Cape Town. While it wasn't operating by the name British Airways
at the time, 1932 saw the first service to the South African city. According to the airline,
it took the Imperial Airways multi-stop service 11 days to complete the journey.
Scheduling data indicates that this service is currently offered once daily using the Boeing
777-200ER. Over the past few months, however, there have been a few rare instances where
the 777-300ER was used instead. The carrier has seen many different aircraft types operate this
route over the years, including the 747-400ER and the Airbus A350-1000. In November 2022,
the airline launched its very first Airbus A350-1000 service to Cape Town, seeing two
daily services from London Heathrow, as well as three-times-weekly service from London Gatwick.
At #4 is London Gatwick to Mauritius, which has flight numbers BA2064/2065.
This route has a Direct distance of 9,728 km (6,045 miles)
Its Average duration on the outbound flight is 11 hours and 32 minutes,
while returning o london will see an Average flight duration of 12 hours and 12 minutes.
Just like the service to Cape Town, this flight currently uses the Boeing 777-200ER.
British Airways' service to Mauritius is the one pair of flights on this list that sees aircraft
depart from London Gatwick. At the moment, BA2064/2065 is offered three times per week.
The airline's "second hub," London Gatwick's long-haul destinations offered by British Airways
currently include numerous transatlantic flights including Vancouver, Las Vegas, and Cancun. Flying
east, we see Doha and Mauritius as the most distant destinations from this London airport.
These flights are completed using the fleet of Boeing 777-200ERs based at Gatwick.
At #3 is London Heathrow to Singapore, which see flight numbers BA11/12 & BA15/16.
The route has a direct distance of 10,887 km (6,765 miles).
Its average duration to Singapore is 13 hours and 07 minutes while
returning to london ses an average flight duration of 13 hours and 14 minutes.
There are two Aircraft types currently being used: The Boeing 777-300ER & 787-9.
British Airways' flights to Singapore make it the only city-pair on our list
to be served with flights twice per day from London Heathrow.
This begins with flight BA11 departing at a scheduled time of 19:30 local time, with BA15
departing less than two hours later at 21:10. While BA11/12 uses the 777-300ER, BA15/16 makes
use of the 787-9. Notably, its BA15 that continues onwards from Singapore Changi to Sydney Kingsford
Smith Airport. The Dreamliner then departs Sydney and stops in Singapore on its return to Heathrow.
Next, at spot #2 is London Heathrow to Buenos Aires (BA244/245)
This route has a Direct distance of 11,111 km (6,904 miles)
The Average duration outbound is 13 hours and 14 minutes while
the return flight to london is 12 hours and 38 minutes on average.
The two Aircraft variants currently used are the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9
The Argentinian capital is currently served five times per week with a mix of 787-8s and -9s. After
an extended pause due to the pandemic, British Airways resumed its non-stop service between
London Heathrow and Buenos Aires Ezeiza in November 2022. Brought forward from
an initial planned start date of March 2023, the airline began with three weekly flights.
And finally, at #1 is London Heathrow - Santiago (BA250/251)
This route has a Direct distance of 11,632 km (7,228 miles).
Its Average duration when flying towards Santiago is 13 hours and 51 minutes while
the Average flight duration back to London is 13 hours and 16 minutes.
Aircraft type currently used for this service is the Boeing 787-9.
According to the website London Air Travel, British Airways launched its direct flight
from London Heathrow to Santiago (Chile) in January 2017. The airline began this non-stop
service with a frequency of four times per week using the 787-9. At the time, this route
was the longest direct flight on the carrier's network, and has obviously held on to this title.
Prior to the 2017 launch of non-stop flights, British Airways had previously
flown to Santiago between 1993 and 1999. This saw aircraft initially
stopover in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and later on, Buenos Aires (Argentina). At present,
the airline serves Santiago non-stop with three flights per week.
One interesting aspect of British Airways' longest flights is that they
aren't all that long when compared to the services of other airlines.
While British Airways' longest flight has an average duration that is close to 14 hours,
Qantas' longest flight between Perth and London is closer to 17 hours.
This can be largely attributed to the geographical position of the UK,
with cities of Australia and New Zealand being the main destinations out of reach. Of course,
nothing is technically stopping the carrier from competing with Qantas on a London-Perth route,
but the airline has chosen to serve Australia with flights to Sydney via Singapore instead.
So What's the longest flight you've ever had
with British Airways? Share your experiences by leaving a comment!
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