Qatar Airway’s Doha-to-Auckland Route Is the Longest Flight in the World

If you feel incredibly restless on planes, perhaps this route is not for you. Qatar Airways just completed its first nonstop Doha, Qatar, to Auckland, New Zealand, flight, which lasted nearly 17 hours, covering 9,032 miles and crossing 10 time zones. The daily voyage—which is the longest in the world when comparing the the distance between the two cities it serves—is taken aboard a Boeing 777, which offers 42 lie-flat business seats and 217 economy seats served by four pilots and 15 cabin crew. For reference, here’s how the journey compares to the other top long-haul journeys.

1. Doha to Auckland, Qatar Airways: 9,032 miles
2. Dubai to Auckland, Emirates: 8,824 miles
3. Sydney to Dallas, Qantas: 8,578 miles
4. San Francisco to Singapore, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines: 8,446 miles
5. Atlanta to Johannesburg, Delta: 8,824 miles
   
   
   The record will likely only last a year, as Singapore Airlines plans to reinstate its Singapore to Newark route—a 19-hour flight that will cross some 9,500 miles—in 2018. But the Doha–Auckland flight is a welcome flight nonetheless, as it will not only carry thousands of passengers (who are given the option of a 96-hour, visa-free layover in Doha), but also up to 130 tons of cargo each week.
   
   
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