The 10 Longest Flights in the World
Now that Singapore’s new world’s longest flight has commenced, here are the rankings of the top 10 longest flights in the world. They are ordered according to flight distance, as this metric remains constant.
The flight times listed are current as of October 2018, though these tend to vary seasonally thanks to factors like weather, climate conditions and airport traffic at different times of year. With all that in mind, here are the 10 longest flights in the world. How many have you been on?
- Singapore Airlines: Newark (EWR) to Singapore (SIN): 9,521 miles; 18 hours, 45 minutes
- Qatar Airways: Auckland (AKL) to Doha (DOH): 9,032 miles; 17 hours, 40 minutes
- Qantas: Perth (PER) to London Heathrow (LHR): 9,010 miles; 17 hours, 20 minutes
- Emirates: Auckland (AKL) to Dubai (DXB): 8,824 miles; 17 hours, 20 minutes
- United Airlines (until October 27) and Singapore Airlines (starting November 2): Los Angeles (LAX) to Singapore (SIN): 8,770 miles; 17 hours, 15-50 minutes
- United Airlines: Houston (IAH) to Sydney (SYD): 8,596 miles; 17 hours, 20 minutes
- Qantas: Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) to Sydney (SYD): 8,578 miles; 17 hours, 15 minutes
- United Airlines and Singapore Airlines: San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore (SIN): 8,446 miles; 16 hours, 35-40 minutes
- Delta Air Lines: Johannesburg (JNB) to Atlanta (ATL): 8,439 miles; 16 hours, 27 minutes
- Etihad: Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Los Angeles (LAX): 8,390 miles; 16 hours, 30 minutes
Special case. Air India: San Francisco (SFO) to New Delhi (DEL): The airline usually flies a polar route over Europe covering 7,707 miles. Sometimes, though, it flies the opposite direction over the Pacific to take advantage of strong tailwinds. When it does, the flight cover 9,507 miles — in less time that the shorter route. Flight time clocks in at 15 hours, 55 minutes to 16 hours, 30 minutes.
A flight lasting 19 hours might seem like news today. But as Boeing and Airbus continue to develop future generations of jet aircraft driven by both airline and passenger demand, we might see flights break the 20-hour mark. Or longer.
