Currently, These Are the Longest Flights in the World!

Got all those miles racking up but want to make sure that they are put to best use when upgrading? Well, what better way than choosing one of the longest flights worldwide to experience business or even first class!

But Longest Can Mean Many Things…

That is correct. “Longest” can refer to the distance between origin and destination airport, the actual distance travelled or the time needed to cover the distance.

To avoid any misunderstandings, this article will list the longest flights for all of those three definitions.

By Orthodromic Distance

What does Orthodromic mean, you ask? Orthodromic as a term may also be referred to as the great circle distance and describes the shortest distance between two points, i.e. the first definition of “longest” listed above.
By orthodromic distance, the longest flight currently operating is Quatar Airlines Flight 921 (QR 921). It travels from Auckland, New Zealand to Doha, Quatar and back again. One way covers a distance of 14,534 kilometres. The aeroplane of choice is a Boeing 777-200LR.

By Time

Coincidentally, Quatar Airlines Flight 921 (QR 921) is also the longest flight by time. One way approximately takes 18 hours and 20 minutes to complete.

By Distance Travelled

To take advantage of tail winds and thereby save petrol, certain flights may take a route which is a lot longer than the orthodromic distance. Two of these are the Air India flights from Delhi to Los Angeles and Delhi to San Francisco. These often cover over 14.500 kilometres one way. Which can be a little longer than the afore mentioned Quatar Airlines flight.