Emirates airline will capture the title for world's longest passenger flight on Wednesday with the completion of its 8,824-mile flight from Dubai to Auckland.
According to USA Today, the Gulf-based company was originally set to steal the title on Feb. 1 with the commencement of regular flights between Dubai and Panama City, but the launch was postponed until March 31.
Also competing in the ultra-long-haul market is Qatar Airways, who will at some point this year likely re-take the title for longest route with the launch of service from Doha to Santiago, adding 140 miles to the record distance. After that, it will offer services from Doha to Auckland.
"We will not add a city before we have the network to support it," Qatar Airways said in a
statement to Bloomberg, however.
"While the title of longest airline flight may move and shift between carriers, only a few airlines are competing in that space. That’s where the advantage of our geography comes in."
Overall, six of the world's 10 longest routes were offered by Mideast carriers before Wednesday. Those flights are pushing flight times past the 17-hour mark, which is still much shorter than traveling the same route with stops, layovers, and plane changes.
Singapore Airlines held the world's longest flight title for some time for its flight to New York, but scrapped it in 2013. With the new Airbus A350 aircraft, however, the company said it expects to begin more non-stop flights to the U.S. starting in 2018.
If it reinstates the Singapore-New York route, that would again claim the title for longest route, clocking in at a distance of 9,537 miles.
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