If the hop between LA and San Francisco is about all you can handle cooped up in coach, then we imagine you’d get more than a bit antsy on a flight lasting 18.5 hours.
Such a record-breaking journey looks set to go into service soon, after Qatar Airways recently announced a new route between Doha and Auckland, New Zealand.
When the new service gets off the ground at some point in the coming months, the Middle East carrier will use its Boeing 777-200LR aircraft to fly the colossal 9,034-mile route.
If you choose to make the journey, you’ll have up to 258 other passengers in close proximity for the best part of a day. Eighteen hours on a plane would surely present challenges not only for the body, but also for the mind, especially if the guy in front chooses to recline his seat to the max a minute after takeoff, or if the kid behind thinks kicking the back of your seat all the way to Auckland would be a really fun way to pass the time.
It doesn’t, however, look as if Qatar Airways will be holding the flight record for long, as Singapore Airlines is looking to relaunch its 19-hour service to New York in 2018.
At the current time, the longest scheduled passenger flight is the Qantas service from Dallas to Sydney, which covers a distance of 8,578 miles and lasts just under 17 hours. However, that’s set to be eclipsed by an Emirates service starting February 1 between Dubai and Panama City, which’ll cover 8,590 miles and take 17 hours and 35 minutes.
Want more stats? The longest ever non-stop flight by a commercial jet lasted 22 hours 43 minutes from Hong Kong to London in 2005. The plane, the same type of Boeing aircraft Qatar Airways will be using for its Doha-Auckland service, traveled 11,664 miles, taking the longer route east and over the U.S. instead of the usual course over Russia. The flight was a one-off by Boeing to show off the capabilities and range of its then-new 200LR aircraft.
