Non-stop flights

Below are the main factors that determine the travel time on a non-stop flight of commercial aircraft:

• high-altitude jet flow ;
• tailwind , headwind , crosswind ;
• air traffic control system routes.

It is believed that the first significant non-stop flight in the era of jet commercial aviation was the regular El Al flight between Tel Aviv and New York . The flight has been operated since June 1961 on Boeing 707 aircraft, the distance between airports is 9137 kilometers, the travel time is 9 hours 33 minutes.

In May 1975, Iran Air launched a regular non-stop flight between Tehran and New York on the recently acquired Boeing 747SP long-haul aircraft. The distance on the route was 9867 kilometers, the travel time was 11 hours and 15 minutes, which was an absolute record for regular flights in civil aviation. The airline had plans to open another long-haul flight from Tehran to Los Angeles , the length of which would be 12,222 kilometers, however, due to the events of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, all plans of the airline were curtailed, and in November 1979, Tehran-New was also canceled York.

In April 1976, Pan Am set a new record for nonstop routes by opening a regular flight from New York to Tokyo (10,854 kilometers), and in December of that year broke its record by opening the 11,937 kilometers Sydney - San Francisco flight. Both routes served Boeing 747SP aircraft .

In 1980, Cathay Pacific announced a long-haul non-stop flight Hong Kong - Vancouver on Boeing 747-200 . This route was not at that time a record for the length and duration of the flight, but became the first direct route connecting the Asian region west of Japan with North America (with the exception of Alaska ).

In May 1988, the first ultra-long direct flight was opened between Tel Aviv and Los Angeles, the length of the route was 12,189 kilometers, travel time 13 hours 41 minutes.

In 1990, Garuda Indonesia opened a regular flight with McDonnell Douglas MD-11 from Jakarta International Airport to Honolulu International Airport (10,822 kilometers) with a further flight to Los Angeles. The return trip included an extra stop for refueling at Bali Airport. The flight lasted until 1997 and was canceled due to the gradual decommissioning of the MD-11 fleet, as well as in connection with the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

On February 3, 2004, Singapore Airlines introduced a flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Los Angeles, and on June 28, 2004, from Singapore to Newark Liberty International Airport . These flights to this day are the longest and longest among all other flights in the world, but flights have been discontinued since the fall of 2013. The New York-Hong Kong long-distance route is the longest non-stop route in the world, with flights operated more than once a day and by more than one airline. The maximum number of airlines operates on long-distance direct flights New York- Mumbai and New York-Hong Kong. Emirates Airline is the leader in terms of the largest number of long-distance flights in the world, with eight flights from Dubai International Airport to Los Angeles, Sao Paulo , Houston , San Francisco, Sydney (EK412), Auckland, Melbourne (EK406) and Brisbane (EK434).

On December 10, 2005, the longest non-stop flight from Hong Kong to London was completed on a Boeing 777-200LR , the route was 21 602 kilometers long, and the journey time was 22 hours 40 minutes. The route was laid from west to east, in contrast to the generally accepted in this direction from east to west, whose length is 9647 kilometers. Onboard there were eight pilots, including the female pilot Susanne Darcy-Henneman. Despite the capacity of the aircraft in 301 passenger seats, there were 27 passengers on board, including two top managers of Boeing Corporation, several engineers for this type of aircraft, representatives of General Electric and about a dozen journalists from around the world.

The following table shows the 30 longest non-stop routes, regular flights on which are currently operated by commercial airlines in the world. The length and duration of the flight are indicated in the forward direction between the airports, the return flight can take a different route, therefore its length and the time of the flight in the way there and back can differ. Weather conditions and, in particular, the direction of air flows at the echelon of the aircraft also have a significant impact on the flight time. For example, flight 22 of Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Newark flies 15 345 kilometers along a large circle arc , while return flight 21 from Newark to Singapore takes place along a transpolar route and has a length of 16,600 kilometers. The flight of the same airline from Singapore to Los Angeles on July 15, 2009 took 16 hours 30 minutes, and in the winter (January 15, 2010) it will take almost an hour less - 15 hours 35 minutes. The return flight from Los Angeles to Singapore will take 17 hours 20 minutes and 18 hours 5 minutes, respectively, in the summer of 2009 and winter of 2010.

The 30 Longest Regular Flights

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  V Australia Airlines Boeing 777-300ER at Brisbane International Airport

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  Qantas Boeing 747-438 at Heathrow International Airport

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  Qantas Airbus A380 at Sydney International Airport

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  Boeing 777-200LR Air India

Discontinued Flights

Listed below are long-distance non-stop flights.

The following table lists the longest routes for each of the major airlines in the world.

The currently operating ultra-long routes are not the longest theoretically possible. If the so-called kangaroo flights ( Qantas flights in the Eastern Hemisphere between the airports of Australia and the UK ) will be operated without intermediate landings, the length of direct routes will exceed 17,000 kilometers. The longest non-stop routes are possible between cities that are geographic antipodes , that is, located at opposite ends of the globe relative to its center, while the distance between antipodes at the equator will be 20,038 kilometers. The possible routes of Buenos Aires - Shanghai and Auckland - Madrid are 19,628 and 19,628 kilometers respectively, and the distance between Taipei and Asuncion along a large circle arc is 19,918 km.

The Boeing 777-200LR long-haul airliner is able to cover the distance between geographical antipodes only if there is no payload (passengers and cargo), which is not acceptable for its operation by commercial airlines. As of the end of 2009, no airline is going to introduce new flights longer than the Singapore-Newark flight. In the future, and with the development of the new Airbus A350-900ULR passenger airliner, it is possible to introduce a non-stop ultra-long and very profitable London-Sydney route by British Airways and Qantas .

Below is a list of the shortest non-stop flights.

The following list shows the cities between which the largest number of regular non-stop flights per day (including weekends).

• Non-stop flight Moscow - Udd
• Non-stop flight Moscow - Far East
• Nonstop flight Moscow - North America
• Non-stop flight Moscow - North Pole - Vancouver
• Non-stop flight Khabarovsk - Lviv

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