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The 10 longest flights in the world (2026)
New York to Singapore, 15,349 km, is the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world. The full ranking of the ten longest routes, with verified distances.
7 min read Read the articleFlights and air distances
The longest commercial flight covers more than 15,000 kilometres. The shortest covers less than three.
A flight is the most honest way to measure a distance: no road that detours, no terrain that adds mileage. Between two airports there is only air, and the number you get is the real distance between two points on the planet.
It is also where intuition fails most often. A Paris to Tokyo flight passes over Siberia rather than India; London to Los Angeles brushes past Greenland. On a flat map those paths look absurd. On a globe they are the shortest possible.
Air distances in numbers
- About 15,300 km for the longest scheduled commercial flight, Singapore to New York, flown non-stop.
- Almost 19 hours in the air on that route, longer than a working day and a night put together.
- 2.7 km between Westray and Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands: the shortest scheduled flight in the world.
- 90 seconds of flight on that route, less than the taxiing time.
- 20,000 km is the greatest possible distance between two points on Earth, half a turn around the globe.
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Frequently asked questions about flights
What is the longest commercial flight in the world?
Singapore to New York, flown non-stop by Singapore Airlines, covers roughly 15,300 kilometres in just under 19 hours. The ranking shifts from one airline season to the next, but this route has held first place since it reopened in 2018.
What is the shortest flight in the world?
The hop between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray, in the Orkneys off Scotland, covers 2.7 kilometres. The flight itself takes about 90 seconds, and is sometimes done in under a minute with a favourable wind.
Why do planes not fly in a straight line on a map?
They do fly straight, but on a sphere. The shortest path between two points on a globe is a great-circle arc, which looks curved once the sphere is flattened onto a map. The map distorts, not the route.
How is the distance between two airports calculated?
It is the great-circle distance: the length of the arc joining the two points across the globe. It is always equal to or shorter than the distance actually flown, which accounts for air corridors, winds and restricted airspace.
Does a long-haul flight follow the as-the-crow-flies distance exactly?
Almost never. Aircraft follow published corridors, avoid closed airspace and chase favourable jet streams. On a transatlantic route the gap between theoretical and flown distance regularly exceeds 200 kilometres.