What’s The Longest Nonstop Flight In The World? | The Expeditioner Online Travel Magazine

What’s The Longest Nonstop Flight In The World?

sleepingplane

One of the first questions people have been asking me about my upcoming trip to Africa is: How long is the flight? To which I answer: I don’t know, a few hours. Well, it’s actually roughly 15 1/4 hours, by far the longest flight I’ve ever taken. And it got me thinking: What is the longest nonstop flight in the world?

Well, the answer’s not exactly exact, given that you’re looking at different times due to jet streams, weather conditions, and the whim of the airlines (flying slower saves expensive jet fuel).

The overall consensus is that the 8,285-mile flight from Newark to Singapore, clocking in at a whopping 18 hours and 50 minutes takes the crown. Wikipedia’s listed out the top 30 longest flights, with L.A. to Singapore, Mumbai to Atlanta, Johannesburg to Atlanta, and Dubai to L.A. rounding out the top five (each running from about 16 1/2 to 17 1/2 hours long).

But this list only includes current flights. The record for the longest commercial flight ever is actually a Boeing 777 13,422-mile trek from London to Hong Kong, which lasted 22 hours and 43 minutes and saw two sunrises, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

And just so you can sound really smart at your next cocktail party, the shortest commercial passenger flight is Aerovías’ 12-minute flight from Punta Arenas to Porvenir, Chile.

The lesson here? I’m going to bring a good book, sleeping pills, and the reminder that I should at least be glad I’ll be deboarding 3 hours earlier than those unfortunate few en route to Singapore. Not that I mind.

posted by Matt Stabile on August 20, 2009 @ 1:13 pm
3143Comments (9)2009-08-20+17%3A13%3A40Matt+Stabile | Permalink

bring a few books and some good music to sleep too :) have an amazing trip! can’t wait to hear all about it.

Lindsey — Thursday, August 27, 2009 @ 6:06 pm

Wow; I’m going to Uganda in January and my trip there will consist of 3 flights; 3 hours, 12 hours, and 13 hours, plus 5 hours total in layovers between the last two. I hope your trip went well!

LK — Saturday, October 31, 2009 @ 5:34 pm

the shortest is actually LoganAir 'island hopper' service between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland. Air New Zealand fly DIRECT from LHR (London Heathrow) to AKL (Auckland) but I think it refuels in LAX (Los Angeles) so that might not count :)

tomcon — Thursday, December 24, 2009 @ 10:01 am

the shortest is actually LoganAir 'island hopper' service between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland. Air New Zealand fly DIRECT from LHR (London Heathrow) to AKL (Auckland) but I think it refuels in LAX (Los Angeles) so that might not count :)

tomcon — Thursday, December 24, 2009 @ 10:01 am

Well, I can say a pretty short trip is NHT's from Rio Grande to Pelotas, that are two neighboor cities, in southern Brazil, and lasts 10 min.

Advogado Porto — Wednesday, January 27, 2010 @ 1:51 am

And I thought my 8 1/2 hour flight from Paris to Chicago was bad… lol

Vince — Saturday, February 20, 2010 @ 1:30 am

actually the shortest commercial flight is from Basco-Itbayat Island in the northernmost part of Philippines, scheduled flt takes 7minutes, plane leaves once its full. Mabuhay

Rolando — Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 1:28 pm

I'm not sure if I'd rather have one super long flight (like the 18 hour one) or three different flights where I have to deal with stopovers. Being on one plane for a long time makes me very restless, but then again running through airport terminals in an attempt to not miss my connecting flight induces a LOT more anxiety.

Heather — Wednesday, June 16, 2010 @ 4:08 pm