Ultra long-haul

Ultra long-haul refer to the flight length of a flight being "ultra long". While there is no universally accepted definition for what is considered ultra long, the term generally refers to flights that are 12 hours or longer.^[1] These flights usually follow a great circle route, often passing over a polar region. In some cases, non-stop ultra long-haul routes could be less preferable to stopover flights as passengers on ultra long-haul non-stop flights must sit in the aircraft for many consecutive hours.^[2] A low oil price environment would favor the establishment of ultra long-haul flights.^[3]

History

From 1943 to 1945, Qantas operated "The Double Sunrise", a weekly 5,650-kilometre (3,050 nmi) flight between Perth, Australia and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), with average flight times of 28 (maximum of 33) hours using a Consolidated PBY Catalina.^[4][4][5]

On 1–2 October 1957, a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, the ultimate piston-engine airliner in terms of range and endurance, flew the inaugural 8,640-kilometre (4,670 nmi) London–San Francisco polar route in 23 hours, 19 minutes.^[6]

In June 1961, El Al began a 9,270 kilometres (5,010 nmi) route from New York City to Tel Aviv. Previously tested in December 1957 on trial runs with a Bristol Britannia, the scheduled flight used a Boeing 707 and averaged 9 hours, 33 minutes.^[7]

In February 1963, Aeroflot started Moscow to Havana flight via Murmansk with its Tu-114D. It is around 16 hours from Havana to Murmansk, the longest for turboprop scheduled flight.

In August 1967, Aerolineas Argentinas established their non-stop Boeing 707 service on a 10,062-kilometre (5,433 nmi) route between Madrid and Buenos Aires with a flight time of 12 hours.^[8]

The Aerolineas Argentinas route was the longest scheduled flight by distance until 1976, when the Boeing 747SP entered service. In April 1976, Pan American World Airways set the new record with its 10,854-kilometre (5,861 nmi) New York City (John F. Kennedy International Airport)–Tokyo route. In December, the airline set another record with Sydney–San Francisco, covering 11,937 kilometres (6,445 nmi).

In May 1988, El Al introduced its long-haul passenger flight from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, completing its 12,189-kilometre (6,582 nmi) journey in 13 hours, 41 minutes.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union eventually opened the airspace over Russia, allowing new circumpolar routes to come into use for commercial airlines.^[9] On 1 March 2001, Continental Airlines launched a 13,578-kilometre (7,332 nmi) non-stop service from Newark to Hong Kong—the first non-stop long-haul route for any airline with the flying duration exceeding 16 hours.^[9] A few days later, United Airlines started their own New York City (John F. Kennedy International Airport) to Hong Kong service, adding 3 kilometers to the distance.^[9]

On 3 February 2004, Singapore Airlines introduced a 14,113-kilometre (7,620 nmi) flight from Singapore to Los Angeles, scheduled for 16 hours, 30 minutes in the summer, 15 hours, 35 minutes in the winter. It took 17 hours, 20 minutes in summer and 18 hours, 5 minutes in winter on the return trip.

In June 2004, Singapore Airlines introduced Flight SQ 21, using the Airbus A340-500 on a 15,344-kilometre (8,285 nmi) great circle route from Newark to Singapore, passing within 130 kilometres (70 nmi) of the North Pole, taking a little over 18 hours.^[10] This was immediately surpassed by return Flight SQ 22, which flew the current record of 16,600-kilometre (9,000 nmi) back to Newark.^[11] Despite the greater distance, Flight SQ 22 averaged a slightly shorter 17 hours, 45 minutes because of prevailing high-altitude winds.^[12]

In late 2000s/early 2010s, rapidly rising fuel prices, coupled with an economic crisis, resulted in cancellation of many ultra-long haul non-stop flights.^[2] This included the services provided by Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles,^[13][14] as well as similar lengthy flights from New York to both Mumbai and Bangkok.^[15]

However, in recent years the fuel prices have fallen back and more economical aircraft have been introduced to the market. The economics of ultra long-haul flights improved with more and more distant markets being served by new services. On 2 December 2015, Air India launched a nonstop flight from Delhi to San Francisco, which is currently the world's longest flight by distance at 15128 kilometres (8,168 nmi).^[16] Similar lengthy flights have been launched from Auckland to both Doha and Dubai in the past 2 years,^[17] as well as new double-daily service by United and Singapore Airlines from San Francisco to Singapore.^[18] United Airlines and Singapore Airlines are restarting its Los Angeles nonstop flight in 2018 and is considering starting a nonstop flight to New York, which would be the longest flight ever operated at 15,357 kilometres (8,292 nmi).^[19][20]

Airliners

The longest range Airbus jetliner in service is the A340-500, capable of flying up to 16,670 kilometres (9,000 nmi) with 293 passengers. The A380 is capable of flying 15,200 kilometres (8,200 nmi) with 544 passengers. The A350-900 can fly 15,000 kilometres (8,100 nmi) with 325 passengers. The announced A350-900ULR will be capable of flying over 16,100 kilometres (8,700 nmi).^[21]

The longest range Boeing airliner in service is the 777-200LR Worldliner, which can cover 15,840 kilometres (8,550 nmi) with 317 passengers. The announced B777-8X will be capable of flying 16,110 kilometres (8,700 nmi) with 350 to 375 passengers.^[22] A longer range variant of the B777-8X could enable economical non-stop flights on the 17,016-kilometre (9,188 nmi) Kangaroo route in about 19 hours.^[23]

New airliners like the A330neo, A350 and B787 enable economically sustainable non-stop ultra long haul operations on thinner routes with fewer demands, because all the previous planes capable of providing non-stop ultra long haul services are larger and thus more expensive to operate compared to these planes, which in turn require more tickets to be sold and more demands between both destinations to maintain the profitability of those service.^[24]

Planned long flights

Iran Air had planned a non-stop 12,222-kilometre (6,599 nmi) Tehran–Los Angeles flight, which never materialized due to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It suspended in November 1979 its 9,850-kilometre (5,320 nmi) scheduled non-stop service between New York and Tehran, flown eastward in 11h 15min, begun after its 747SP delivery on 12 March 1976.

Emirates is studying to start a direct Dubai-San Juan flight.^[25] It would be the longest non-stop flight from the Caribbean with 12,044 km (6,503 nmi).^[26]

Philippine Airlines is replacing its A340-300 with an A350-900HGW high gross weight version available from 2017 enabling non-stop Manila-New York without payload limitations in both directions,^[27] a 13,700 km (7,400 nmi) flight.^[28]

See also

• Flight length
• ETOPS/LROPS
• International flight

Notes

References

External links

• Understanding Travelspeak