Singapore Airlines breaks world record with the longest flight

The Singapore Airlines flight SQ22 departed on Thursday, breaking the world record for the longest flight. The record-breaking flight will fly directly to New York without stopping. The new Airbus A350-900 departed from Changi Airport. Exactly 18 hours and 25 minutes later, the airplane will be arriving at Newark Liberty International in New York.

‘New’ Singapore Airlines route

The SQ22 flight is not exactly a new route, but an exhumed one. Singapore Airlines is re-launching the service after five years. The airline first launched this service in 2004, but axed it in 2013 due to  increasing oil prices. The route covers a distance of approximately 9,521 miles, nearly 500 miles longer than the next-longest airline route (Qatar’s service between Auckland and Doha). At the start, though, the flight will operate just three times weekly, eventually going into a daily service on October 18. Singapore Airlines will also begin flying between Singapore and Los Angeles in November. The new SQ36 flight will cover a distance of 8,770 miles in 15 hours and 10 minutes in the direction from Singapore to Los Angeles.

A luxurious experience on board

The new Airbus A350-900 has the capacity to carry only 161 passengers. From these seats, 67 are made for business class and 94 for premium-economy. This means that the airline does not offer any economy seats. Passengers have access to 1,200 hours of audio-visual entertainment to choose from. Singapore Airlines said that they want to promote well-being in the sky. Their menu is filled with organic dishes, and passengers will even have the option to eat lobster for dinner. The cabin has ceilings that are a lot higher than normal. Also the windows are larger and lighting was designed to reduce jet lag. The plane chosen for this route uses a modified system that burns 25 percent less fuel compared to other aircraft of a similar size. This allows the airline to have a more sustainable business.

Singapore Airlines performance

EUclaim has analyzed the past performance of Singapore Airlines from and to the EU. From January of this year and until today, the airline has had only 26 delays of more than 3 hours. These 26 flights are the Singapore Airlines flights arriving or departing from the EU to Singapore.