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World’s Longest Flights. The 20 Longest Flights in the World by Distance Flown



World’s Longest Flights

The world’s longest flight is from New York-Newark, NJ (EWR) to Singapore (SIN) flown by Singapore Airlines (SQ).

I’ve been very fortunate to be able to fly almost at the drop of a hat.  I love very long flights (my friends think I’m weird, you may too) and have taken some of the longest flights in the world including the longest one, the re-launch of Newark, NJ (EWR) to Singapore (SIN) on Singapore Airlines (SQ) using an Airbus A350-900ULR. I’ve also flown San Francisco, CA (SFO) to Singapore (SIN) and Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to Singapore (SIN).

World Longest Flights. Doha to Auckland

These world’s longest commercial flights have been made possible with advancement in aviation and primarily five airplanes: The Boeing 777-200LR (LR is for Longer Range), Boeing 777-300ER (ER is for Extended Range), Boeing 787, Airbus A380 and the Airbus A350-900. The manufacturers keep pushing the envelope giving us the Airbus A350-900 ULR (Ultra Long Range) and the Airbus A350-1000.

I’ve compiled what is today’s (January 20, 2020) top 21 longest commercial flights by distance flown along with the airlines flying them plus some more details.  There’s one route which have been flown in the past and currently not being flown, that’s Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to New York’s JFK which was flown by Thai Airways (TG) on an Airbus A340-500.

Enjoy and please add your comment below.  I’d love to hear if you’ve flown any of these routes, airlines and/or airplanes. I’ve flown *1, #6, #11, #12, but on South Africa Airways and #18 when it was a 77LR. How about you?

As of January 20, 2020

Top 20 World's Longest Commercial Flights by Distance Flown

RankAirlineBlock TimeFromToEquipmentDistance
1Singapore Airlines (SQ)18:30EWRSIN359 (ULR)9,539M/15,351KM
2Qatar (QR)16:20DOHAKL77L9,043M/14,554KM
3Qantas (QF)18:20PERLHR7899,025M/14,524KM
4Qantas (QF) [April 2020]16:10BNEORD7898,916M/14,349KM
5Emirates (EK)17:20AKLDXB77L8,834M/14,216KM
6Singapore Airlines (SQ)17:50LAXSIN3598,771M/14,116KM
7United Airlines (UA)17:30IAHSYD7898,596M/13,834KM
8Qantas (QF)16:55DFWSYD3808,590M/13,824KM
9Philippines Airlines (PR)16:50JFKMNL3598,519M/13,710KM
10Singapore Airlines (SQ)16:20SFOSIN3598,446M/13,594KM
11United Airlines (SQ)16:20SFOSIN7898,446M/13,594KM
12Delta Air Lines (DL)16:57ATLJNB77L8,439M/13,581KM
13Etihad (EY)16:40LAXAUH77L8,387M/13,498KM
14Emirates (EK)16:20LAXDXB3808,336M/13,415KM
15Saudi Arabia (SV)16:40LAXJED77W8,329M/13,405KM
16Qatar (QR)16:25LAXDOH77L8,303M/13,362KM
17Philippines Airline (PR)16:40YYZMNL3598,219M/13,227KM
18Emirates (EK)16:40IAHDXB380/77W8,165M/13,140KM
19Cathay Pacific (CX)16:50HKGIAD3518,154M/13,123KM
20American Airlines (AA)17:05DFWHKG77W8,120M/13,068KM
A look at the 20 longest flights in the world.

KEY

AKL – Auckland, New Zealand | AUH – Abu Dhabi, UAE | DFW – Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX USA | DOH – Doha, Qatar | DXB – Dubai, UAE | HKG – Hong Kong | IAD – Washington-Dulles, VA USA | IAH – Houston-Intercontinental, TX USA | JED – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | JNB- Johannesburg, South Africa | LAX – Los Angeles, CA USA | LHR – London-Heathrow, United Kingdom | MNL – Manilla, Philippines | PER – Perth, Australia | SFO – San Francisco, CA USA | SIN – Singapore | SYD – Sydney, Australia | YYZ – Toronto, ON Canada

380 – Airbus A380 | 359 – Airbus A350-900 ULR/Airbus A350-900 | 351 – Airbus A350-1000 | 77L – Boeing 777-200LR | 77W – Boeing 777-300ER | 789 – Boeing 787-9

As a comparison, this is what the chart looked like when I first wrote this blogpost in October 14, 2009 :-).

Rank Miles Routing Information
1 9,539 Singapore Changi International(SIN) to Newark-Liberty International, Newark, NJ (EWR)
on Singapore Airlines (SQ)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
SQ22 SIN EWR 10:40a 5:50p same day 19:10 Airbus A340-500 (345)
SQ21 EWR SIN 11:00p 5:50a +2 days 18:50 Airbus A340-500 (345)
2 8,771 Singapore Changi International (SIN) to Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
on Singapore Airlines (SQ)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
SQ38 SIN LAX 4:15p 5:45p same day 16:30 Airbus A340-500 (345)
SQ37 LAX SIN 9:15p 5:35a +2 days 17:20 Airbus A340-500 (345)
3 8,589 Sydney, Australia (SYD) to Dallas/Ft. Worth International, Dallas, TX (DFW) on Qantas (QF)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
QF7 SYD DFW 1:25p 1:45p same day 15:20 Boeing 747-400ER (744)
4 8,448 Atlanta Hartsfield International, Atlanta, GA (ATL) to Johannesburg International,
Johannesburg South Africa (JNB) on Delta Air Lines (DL)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
DL200 ATL JNB 8:10p 5:15p +1 day 15:05 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
DL201 JNB ATL 8:45p 7:00a +1 day 16:15 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
5 8,335 Dubai International, Dubai UAE (DXB) to Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
on Emirates Airlines (EK)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
EK215 DXB LAX 8:20a 1:55p same day 16:35 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
EK216 LAX DXB 4:45p 7:40p +1 day 15:55 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
6 8,313 Dallas/Ft. Worth International, Dallas, TX (DFW) to Brisbane International,
Brisbane Australia (BNE) on Qantas (QF)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
QF8 DFW BNE 9:55p 5:00a +2 days 16:05 Boeing 747-400ER (744)
7 8,260 Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi International, Bangkok Thailand (BKK) to Los Angeles
International, Los Angeles, CA (LAX) on Thai Airways (TG)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
TG794 BKK LAX 7:20p 9:25p same day 16:05 Airbus A340-500 (345)
TG795 LAX BKK 11:10p 6:40A +2 days 17:30 Airbus A340-500 (345)
8 8,164 Dubai International, Dubai UAE (DXB) to Houston-Intercontinental, Houston, TX (IAH)
on Emirates Airlines (EK)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
EK211 DXB IAH 9:50a 4:25p same day 16:20 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
EK212 IAH DXB 6:50p 6:45p +1 day 14:55 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
9 8,099 Dubai International, Dubai UAE (DXB) to San Francisco International,
San Francisco, CA (SFO) on Emirates Airlines (EK)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
EK225 DXB SFO 8:45a 1:45p same day 16:00 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
EK226 SFO DXB 4:45p 7:20p +1 day 15:35 Boeing 777-200LR (77L)
10 8,068 Hong Kong-Chep Lap Kok International Hong Kong (HKG) to John F. Kennedy
International, Queens, NY (JFK) on Cathay Pacific Airways (CX)
Flight From To Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Type
CX830 HKG JFK 9:30a 1:10p same day 15:40 Boeing 777-300ER (77W)
CX831 JFK HKG 2:55p 6:55p +1 day 16:00 Boeing 777-300ER (77W)
CX840 HKG JFK 5:00p 8:55p same day 15:55 Boeing 777-300ER (77W)
CX841 JFK HKG 10:10a 2:05p +1 day 15:50 Boeing 777-300ER (77W)

My Notes: #8 continues to elude me in either direction.  I’ve flown the #3 route, but made a stop in Sal Island using a South African Airways (SA) Boeing 747-400.  Flown #2, but made a stop in Tokyo-Narita using a Singapore Airlines (SQ) Boeing 747-400.

26 thoughts on “World’s Longest Flights. The 20 Longest Flights in the World by Distance Flown

  1. Hi Kerwin,
    I would love to experience one of these flights one day. How did you stay occupied? Was Wi-Fi on the entire flight?

    1. Hi Steve,
      Good deal. So how was that 100 Business class seats? Was it a full flight?
      Please tell us more about the experience.

      1. Flew EWR-SIN… too bad they are discontinuing the service. Plane was nice, SQ biz is always nice and service was wonderful as always on SQ. 5 meals…

    1. Dan,
      At long last I’ve updated the list to add the DFW to SYD and the BNE to DFW flights from QF. So now #10 and 11 has fallen off and the list is re-numbered to insert those two in the appropriate positions.

      Thanks for the update.

  2. I’ve flown #5 (LAX-BKK). LAX to BKK gate-to-gate is scheduled at 18 hrs (15 min taxi on each end tacked onto planned flight time). Thankfully, I was able to upgrade to business class becasue of a 2-cabin configuration with lots of business-class seats.

  3. Flown #6: iah -> dxb.
    How come iah -> dxb is 8164 miles and
    sfo -> dxb is only 8099 miles. (plz update the airport code as well to sfo)
    Something is not right.
    Please verify!

    1. Hi Ali,

      San Francisco to Dubai is indeed 8,099 miles and Houston to Dubai is 8,164.

      I’ve updated the airport code. Sorry about that.

    1. JK,
      Chicago to Delhi is 7,478 miles and is scheduled at 14:40 on American Airlines. Still not in the top 10.

    1. Awesome; on an MD-11 huh? It is showing 13:25 and is current flown by American Airlines with a Boeing 777-200ER. The total distance is 6,421 miles, still way shy of the top ten.

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