Enduring 17 hours in the sky? The world’s longest airline journeys

If long-haul flights are already testing your limits, hold on tight – some of the planet’s longest routes are about to get even longer.

With more fuel-efficient aircraft designs and increasingly impatient passengers, airlines are racing to introduce commercial flights that cover even greater distances.

Qantas has announced plans to launch a direct London-to-Perth route once it takes delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This 14,498 km (9,008 miles) service, set to begin in March 2018, will be the first nonstop flight connecting Australia to Europe.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce remarked, “In 1947, the journey from Australia to London took four days and nine stops. Now, it will be a mere 17-hour nonstop flight from Perth.”

Meanwhile, other airlines are vying for dominance in offering the longest flights that cover vast distances in the shortest time possible. Even at their peak, these record-breaking routes are pushing 17 hours, making the world’s toughest ‘red-eye’ flights even more draining.

Building on our coverage of the world’s shortest flight routes, Dinogo is preparing for the ultimate journey—grabbing the melatonin, pulling down the shades, and slipping into compression socks as we take you through the world’s longest air routes.

READ: Flying from New York to London in 11 minutes

The world’s longest air route

The competition for this title is fierce.

The Gulf giants Emirates and Qatar Airways are locked in fierce competition over their ultralong-haul flights from Dubai and Doha to Auckland.

In March, Emirates secured the title of the world’s longest commercial flight, completing the 14,200 km (8,824 miles) journey to New Zealand’s largest city.

Qatar Airways revealed plans to begin flights from Doha to Auckland later this year or early in 2017. This route will surpass Emirates by a small margin, measuring 14,539 km (9,034 miles).

READ: Emirates completes world’s longest nonstop flight

Longest nonstop route by duration

Dubai (UAE) to Auckland (New Zealand)

Airline: Emirates. Route: DXB-AKL. Distance: 8,824 miles (14,200 kilometers)

When it comes to flight time, Emirates leads the pack with its Auckland services.

Operated daily by a Boeing 777-200LR with a capacity for 266 passengers, the flight takes 16 hours outbound (its inaugural journey lasted 16 hours and 24 minutes) and 17 hours and 15 minutes on the return. As of October 31, the airline has begun flying the route with the Airbus A380, marking the longest journey yet for this iconic aircraft.

Longest route by distance

Delhi (India) to San Francisco (USA)

Airline: Air India. Route: DEL-SFO. Distance: 9,408 miles (15,140 kilometers)

Air India now flies to San Francisco over the Pacific, a shift from the traditional polar route, resulting in significant fuel savings.

This new Boeing 777-200LR route allows Air India to harness the high-altitude jet stream, benefitting from tailwinds that help speed up the journey to San Francisco.

On the return trip, the polar route is used, which adds 1,000 extra miles but cuts the journey by two hours, bringing the total time to just over 15 hours.

World's longest international flight on the horizon

Doha (Qatar) to Auckland (New Zealand)

Airline: Qatar Airways. Route: DOH-AKL. Distance: 9,032 miles (14,535 kilometers). Launches on February 5, 2017.

Since Doha lies slightly to the west of Dubai, Qatar Airways will take the lead in this race as soon as it launches its nonstop flight to Auckland, claiming the top spot both in distance and flight time.

This new route, slated to begin in February 2017, will be operated by the dependable Boeing 777-200LR.

Longest nonstop domestic flight

Paris to La Réunion (France)

Airlines: Air Austral, XL Airways. Route: CDG-RUN. Distance: 5,809 miles (9,348 kilometers)

Airlines: Air France, Corsair, French Blue (planned). Route: ORY-RUN. Distance: 5,802 miles (9,337 kilometers)

Believe it or not, it's not Russia, Canada, or the United States, but France that boasts the longest nonstop domestic flight.

Thanks to geography and history, French overseas territories (or départements d’outre-mer) enjoy the same status as those in mainland France, making the long-haul flight from Paris to La Réunion in the Southern Indian Ocean the world’s longest domestic route.

A variety of airlines operate flights between Roland Garros Airport (named after the famed WWI aviator and French Open tennis legend) and Paris’s two major international airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly.

Longest domestic flight over continuous land

Moscow Vnukovo to Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky (Russia)

Airline: Rossiya Airlines. Route: VKO-PKC. Distance: 4,227 miles (6,803 kilometers)

Moscow Sheremetyevo to Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky (Russia)

Airline: Aeroflot. Route: SVO-PKC. Distance: 4,203 miles (6,764 kilometers)

Russia's vast size means its domestic flights can easily outstrip the distance of a transatlantic flight, like New York to London.

Aeroflot and its subsidiary, Rossiya, operate regular flights from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a key access point to the mountainous Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia’s Pacific coast. Once a strategic submarine base, Kamchatka is now renowned for its active volcanoes.

Longest domestic flight with a layover

Paris CDG to Papeete (France), with a stop in Los Angeles (United States)

Airline: Air France. Route: CDG-LAX-PPT. Distance: 5,669 + 4,095 = 9,765 miles (15,715 kilometers)

Once again, it’s France’s overseas territories that make this possible.

Although French Polynesia is beyond the reach of any Paris-based aircraft, a convenient stop at Los Angeles International Airport enables Air France’s Boeing 777s to fly from Europe to Tahiti in under 24 hours.

Trans-Pacific island-hopping

Honolulu (USA) to Majuro (Marshall Islands) to Kwajalein (Marshall Islands) to Pohnpei (Micronesia) to Chuuk (Micronesia) to Guam (USA)

Airline: United Airlines. Duration: Over 14 hours.

While not technically a nonstop flight, United Airlines Flight 154 and its return flight, UA 155, are worth mentioning here.

This flight connects Honolulu to Guam, but what makes it unique is that instead of going directly, it hops from atoll to atoll across the vast Pacific Ocean, stopping at Majuro, Kwajalein (both in the Marshall Islands), and Pohnpei and Chuuk (in the Federated States of Micronesia).

What are the world’s shortest airline routes?

The journey takes over 14 hours, and the aircraft, a narrow-bodied Boeing 737-800, carries an additional crew member on board.

In a sense, UA154 carries on the legacy of one of the great pre-war air routes, echoing the path once flown by Pan Am’s flying boats, including the iconic China Clipper, which traveled from Alameda (California) to Manila, stopping at Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam along the way.