Far Off
The longest non-stop commercial flight in the world is Singapore Airlines SQ23, New York JFK to Singapore Changi: 15,349 km great-circle, roughly 18 hours 55 minutes, flown by an Airbus A350-900ULR. Here are the top ten, ranked by great-circle distance rather than by the distance actually flown.
| # | Route | Airline | Distance | Scheduled time | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York JFK – Singapore | Singapore Airlines | 15,349 km | 18h 55m | A350-900ULR |
| 2 | Newark – Singapore | Singapore Airlines | 15,344 km | 19h 10m | A350-900ULR |
| 3 | Auckland – Doha | Qatar Airways | 14,535 km | 17h 10m | Boeing 777-200LR |
| 4 | Perth – London Heathrow | Qantas | 14,499 km | 17h 30m | Boeing 787-9 |
| 5 | Dallas/Fort Worth – Melbourne | Qantas | 14,472 km | 17h 40m | Boeing 787-9 |
| 6 | Perth – Paris CDG | Qantas | 14,264 km | 17h 10m | Boeing 787-9 |
| 7 | New York JFK – Auckland | Air New Zealand, Qantas | 14,207 km | 17h 50m | Boeing 787-9 |
| 8 | Auckland – Dubai | Emirates | 14,200 km | 17h 25m | Airbus A380-800 |
| 9 | Shenzhen – Mexico City | China Southern | 14,147 km | 14h 55m | Airbus A350-900 |
| 10 | Los Angeles – Singapore | Singapore Airlines | 14,114 km | 17h 50m | A350-900ULR |
One caveat before the list. This ranking is rebuilt every airline season. A seasonal route drops out in April, a carrier swaps in a shorter-legged aircraft, a new city pair opens, and the order shifts. Everything below reflects the 2026 schedules.
1. New York JFK to Singapore, 15,349 km
Singapore Airlines flies SQ23 between JFK and Changi. Great-circle distance is 15,349 km and the block time is around 18 hours 55 minutes. The aircraft is the Airbus A350-900ULR, the extended-range version of the A350.
Detail. There is no economy cabin. The jet is fitted with fewer than 170 seats, business and premium economy only, which keeps takeoff weight low enough to carry the fuel. The routing runs north over Greenland and Siberia, nowhere near the Asia the map might suggest.
2. Newark to Singapore, 15,344 km
SQ21 links the other New York-area airport to Singapore. It is five kilometres shorter than SQ23 yet scheduled longer, at 19 hours 10 minutes. Same aircraft, same two-class cabin.
Detail. This is the older of the two routes. Singapore Airlines opened it in 2004 with the four-engined A340-500, killed it in 2013 when fuel economics stopped working, and brought it back in 2018 on the far more efficient A350-900ULR. The longer block time comes from prevailing headwinds on part of the track.
3. Auckland to Doha, 14,535 km
Qatar Airways has flown Auckland to Doha since February 2017, using a Boeing 777-200LR. It held the world’s longest-route title on the day it launched. Scheduled time is about 17 hours 10 minutes.
Detail. The two directions are not symmetrical. Doha to Auckland is the faster leg, pushed along by the southern hemisphere westerlies; the return can run past 18 hours. The track dips well south of Australia, into latitudes commercial aviation rarely uses.
4. Perth to London Heathrow, 14,499 km
Qantas QF9 launched in March 2018 as the first non-stop link between Australia and Europe. It covers 14,499 km in about 17 hours 30 minutes on a Boeing 787-9.
Detail. Perth was picked out of necessity: no east coast Australian airport was within reach of a loaded 787. Passengers from Sydney or Melbourne still connect through, which makes Perth a de facto stopover, but the Perth to London leg itself is genuinely continuous.
5. Dallas/Fort Worth to Melbourne, 14,472 km
QF22 connects American Airlines’ home hub to Melbourne, 14,472 km in roughly 17 hours 40 minutes. Qantas moved the route to Melbourne in December 2018, having previously flown the same departure to Sydney.
Detail. It is the longest scheduled route from the continental United States to Australia. Dallas sits deep inland, which adds more than 1,500 km compared with an equivalent departure from Los Angeles, and that inland penalty is the only reason this route outranks the Sydney and Brisbane services.
6. Perth to Paris CDG, 14,264 km
Qantas opened Perth to Paris in July 2024, copying the QF9 template. The distance is 14,264 km, scheduled at about 17 hours 10 minutes on a Boeing 787-9.
Detail. The route is seasonal, and whether it appears in a given year’s schedule varies. It also demonstrated how brittle these operations are: a QF33 bound for Paris once turned back to Perth after some fifteen hours airborne when Middle East airspace closures removed its routing. At this range there is very little slack.
7. New York JFK to Auckland, 14,207 km
Air New Zealand has flown JFK to Auckland since September 2022; Qantas opened the same airport pair in June 2023. The distance is 14,207 km, about 17 hours 50 minutes, on a Boeing 787-9.
Detail. It is the longest scheduled route between the United States and Oceania, and one of the few ultra-long-haul flights that runs roughly north to south rather than around the globe. The southbound leg is usually the quicker of the two.
8. Auckland to Dubai, 14,200 km
Emirates has operated EK449 with the Airbus A380-800 since March 2016. Distance is 14,200 km, scheduled at about 17 hours 25 minutes.
Detail. This is the longest route flown by an A380, so the longest double-deck flight in the world. Dubai to Auckland takes noticeably longer than the return, because the southern westerlies that slow the outbound leg push the aircraft home.
9. Shenzhen to Mexico City, 14,147 km
China Southern launched Shenzhen to Mexico City in 2024. It is the longest non-stop service out of China: 14,147 km on an Airbus A350-900, scheduled at around 14 hours 55 minutes.
Detail. Only the westbound leg is non-stop. The return, Mexico City to Shenzhen, makes a technical stop at Tijuana, because Mexico City’s airport sits above 2,200 m and the thin air degrades takeoff performance enough to prevent a full fuel load. It is the clearest case on this list where terrain, not aircraft range, dictates the route.
10. Los Angeles to Singapore, 14,114 km
Singapore Airlines has flown LAX to Singapore non-stop since November 2018 on the A350-900ULR. Distance is 14,114 km, roughly 17 hours 50 minutes.
Detail. It is the carrier’s third ultra-long-haul US route alongside JFK and Newark. No other airline runs as many services beyond 14,000 km, and all of Singapore Airlines’ are flown by the same aircraft type.
These are not the distances the aircraft actually fly
Every figure above is a great-circle distance, the shortest path between two points on a sphere. Aircraft almost never fly it. They bend the track to ride a jet stream, to avoid conflict zones and closed airspace, and to stay inside ETOPS limits that cap how far a twin-engine jet may be from a diversion airport.
The practical result: SQ23 routinely covers 16,000 km or more through the air against a 15,349 km great circle. It also explains why block times in the table do not scale with distance. Shenzhen to Mexico City is shorter in kilometres than Perth to London and much shorter in hours, because it rides a transpacific jet stream all the way across.
The all-time record, never repeated
The longest commercial passenger flight ever operated appears on no scheduled-route ranking. On 15 March 2020, Air Tahiti Nui flew Papeete to Paris non-stop, 15,715 km in 16 hours 26 minutes, on a Boeing 787-9. The airline normally stops in Los Angeles; the US border closure left it no choice.
Technically it was a domestic flight, since French Polynesia is part of France. It was a one-off and never became a scheduled service.
What changes in 2027
Qantas plans to open Sydney to London non-stop in October 2027 under Project Sunrise. The great-circle distance is about 17,015 km, with a published block time of roughly 20 to 22 hours. The aircraft is an Airbus A350-1000ULR carrying an extra 20,000-litre fuel tank, with the first delivery expected in April 2027.
On its first day, that route becomes the world’s longest scheduled flight by more than 1,600 km over New York to Singapore. The launch date has slipped several times since the programme was announced, so treat October 2027 as a target rather than a fact.
Mirror piece: the 10 shortest flights in the world. Go further: the most isolated cities in the world, the longest train journeys in the world and the longest straight line on Earth.
Reference sources: the list of longest flights on Wikipedia and the Qantas page for the Project Sunrise A350.
Frequently asked questions
What is the longest flight in the world in 2026?
Singapore Airlines SQ23, New York JFK to Singapore, at 15,349 km great-circle and a scheduled 18 hours 55 minutes. It is flown by an Airbus A350-900ULR configured with fewer than 170 seats in business and premium economy only, a cabin layout chosen specifically to keep the aircraft light enough to carry the fuel.
What is the longest flight from the United States?
New York JFK to Singapore at 15,349 km, followed by Newark to Singapore at 15,344 km, both operated by Singapore Airlines. From the interior of the country, the longest is Dallas/Fort Worth to Melbourne at 14,472 km, which outranks the Sydney and Brisbane services purely because Dallas sits so far inland.
How long does the longest flight take?
About 18 hours 55 minutes for SQ23 out of JFK, and 19 hours 10 minutes for SQ21 out of Newark, even though Newark is five kilometres closer as the crow flies. Actual flight times swing by more than an hour with the winds: a favourable jet stream can bring the aircraft in under 17 hours 30 minutes, while a headwind day pushes past 19 hours 30 minutes.
Why does the longest-flights ranking keep changing?
Because it depends on published schedules, which airlines rewrite twice a year. Seasonal routes vanish in winter, carriers swap in aircraft with less range, and new city pairs open or close on demand. Two rankings published six months apart rarely agree past the top three positions.
What will be the longest flight after 2027?
Qantas Sydney to London Heathrow, planned for October 2027 under Project Sunrise, at about 17,015 km and a stated 20 to 22 hours on an Airbus A350-1000ULR. It would beat the current New York to Singapore record by more than 1,600 km. The date has already moved several times and depends on aircraft deliveries.