This flight was business class only from 2008 to 2013, with 100 seats. ^Note 2 Service began on February 3, 2004, at which point it was the longest non-stop commercial flight. ^Note 3 This was the longest flight ever operated by Delta Air Lines. Saudia uses 777 between Jiddah, Riyadh and Damman. Even Riyadh-Cairo flights (2,5 hours) may be considered short in a plane that can fly for more than 10 hours. The shortest regular connection where 777 flew was Abu Dhabi – Dubai (Emirates again). It’s less than 100 miles. Aug 14, 2005 Short flight: Boeing 777-300ER I've been spending most of my time on Runescape, summer reading, tennis, vacation, and flying (real life). Let's see what my flying abilities are now.

1. Boeing 777 Flights
2. Shortest 777 Flight Jet
3. Shortest 777 Flight Pilot

It’s been several years since I wrote several stories featuring the world’s longest flights. There have been obviously many changes among these routes, such as the cancellation of Singapore Airlines’ nonstop, all-business class flights from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles, both which were canceled in the fall of 2013.

The list has now changed as Qantas has launched its first nonstop flight from Australia to Europe.

Thanks to the advents of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as well as the Airbus A350, several new ultra-long haul routes have commenced in recent years. However, there are debating views on what qualifies as, “longest-flight,” whether it be based on distance or duration. The matter becomes even more complex when debating whether or not the distance between the two flights should be based on the great-circle distance, which is the shortest distance between two points of a sphere, or actual distance, which varies day-to-day largely based on wind patterns or other factors.

For example, Air India flight 173, which operates from Delhi to San Francisco, flies over 9,000 miles on the westbound sector as it is able to take advantage of favorable wind conditions over the Pacific while still keeping average flight time under 16 hours. However, the great circle distance between DEL and SFO is only 7,707 miles, which doesn’t even place it among the top 25 world’s longest flights based solely on distance. So, though “unofficially” Air India may fly the longest flight on actual distance flown for a particular day, the official rankings adhere to great-circle distances because they are based on fixed data points.

Ranking flights based on duration is also a variable method, as block times/published flight times and actual flight times are also subject to change each day, based on unforeseen circumstances. However, since airlines are required to publish block times whenever they load schedules into the Global Distribution System (GDS), the general public can infer how long a flight is usually in the air. Though flight times are published based on aircraft movement from gate-to-gate, apps like FlightRadar24 are instrumental in providing average flight times, delays, routings, speed, and other factors.

Still, people seem to be more fascinated by the concept of duration, rather than distance, as the idea of claiming that you spent more time with your, “butt-in-seat,” on a particular flight versus, “butt carried over miles,” seems to come with greater credibility points.

With the impending launch of Qantas’ nonstop flight from Perth to London Heathrow this week, here is an updated list of the world’s top 25 longest flights, by distance and duration, as of March 24, 2018:

By Distance

Based solely on distance, Qatar Airways’ nonstop flight from Auckland to Doha is the world’s longest flight at over 9,000 nautical miles (9,011), and operates on a daily basis. The carrier utilizes a 777-200LR for this route.

Worth noting is one omission from this list, which is Air Canada’s seasonal service from Vancouver to Melbourne. However, as this route does not operate on a year-round basis, it has been excluded from this list.

By Duration

Based on duration, United’s nonstop service from Los Angeles to Singapore is the world’s longest, with 17 hours and 21 minutes of average duration, per Flight Radar 24.

Boeing 777 Flights

Notably, some flights that are not considered within the top-25 by distance are included in this table based on duration, such as EVA Air’s Houston to Taipei flight or Qatar Airways’ Doha to Dallas/Ft. Worth flight.

Future Routes

There will be some new additions to this list, including the impending launch of Cathay Pacific to Washington Dulles, Emirates’ possible reconsideration to launch Panama City, and maybe even down the road, nonstop flights from Sydney to London Heathrow and New York JFK.

There have also been numerous ULH flights that have been discontinued, such as Air Tahiti Nui’s nonstop flight from New York JFK to Papeete, or Thai’s nonstop flight from JFK to Bangkok.

Shortest 777 Flight Jet

Have you flown on a recent ULH flight or plan to in the future? Tell us more about it in the comments section below!

Shortest 777 Flight Pilot

All maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz