World: Long-haul flights get longer

Airlines are looking again at a distinction that had almost become dubious in recent years: the world’s longest flights. Emirates Airline started flying nonstop to Auckland, New Zealand from its Dubai hub last month. The flight, which lasts more than 17 hours, is now the world’s longest, ahead of Qantas Airways’ Dallas-Sydney route. Ultralong flights are back in favor as airlines look to make the most of fuel prices hovering near multiyear lows and newer generation planes that are more fuel efficient, enabling them to tap passenger preferences for nonstop routes, despite the hours in the sky and fuel they consume. United has announced a nonstop flight between Singapore and San Francisco starting June. Qatar Airways has announced services that include an Auckland-Doha route, which will be longer than the Emirates flight when it starts later this year. Such routes remain expensive because aircraft need to burn fuel just to carry the weight of the extra fuel carried for a long flight. Extra crew, food, and drinks for the longer journey add to the weight. SIA operated the world’s longest flights for several years until it stopped nonstop services to Los Angeles and Newark in 2013, citing high fuel prices. However, it last year announced it would be the launch customer of a new variant of the Airbus Group A350 jet that will allow it to resume nonstop flights to the US that will last more than 18 hours. The new Emirates Auckland-Dubai route uses Boeing Co.’s 777-200LR jet, currently the most popular aircraft for ultralong flights where LR stands for long range.<br/>