Why Ultra-Long-Haul Flights Are Possible And Even Desirable

New aircraft designs and inflight products are making ultra-long-haul travel possible – and even desirable.

- Dan Booth

Oct. 12, 2018, Newark, NJ. As the 9:45 AM departure time approaches, 161 passengers begin queuing up to board Singapore Airlines’ latest entry into the record books, the 9,500 mile nonstop service from Newark Liberty Airport to Singapore Changi. The inauguration of this route has been making headlines for months, billed as the world’s longest regularly scheduled commercial flight at 18 hours 45 minutes.

This flight is the latest – and the longest – in a spate of new ultralong-haul services being launched by a number of carriers worldwide. Singapore Air’s nonstop Los Angeles International to Changi service which debuted in November is another marathon, tying the flying time of the previous record-holder, Qatar’s Auckland-Doha, at 17 hours 50 minutes. Other members of the club include United SFO to SIN (17:20), Qantas with its Dallas-Sydney and Perth-London services (17:05 and 17 hours respectively), Etihad Abu Dhabi-LAX (17 hours) and Delta Atlanta-Johannesburg (16:50).

Being on board the inaugural of a new international service always has a certain excitement about it; after all, it can be a big best-foot-forward moment, not only for the carrier but also for the airports and the cities that are being connected. But there was an extra bit of electricity in the air around the much anticipated launch of SQ21.

Of course technically this was not an inaugural, but a relaunch of this, the world’s longest flight. Many frequent fliers have lamented the demise of Singapore’s earlier entry on the nonstop EWR-SIN endurance run. The service, which was launched in 2004 aboard a gas-guzzling four-engine Airbus A340, was dropped in 2013 in the shadow of $100-a-barrel oil and the resulting squeeze on profitability.