Airline plans world’s longest flight to avoid Russian airspace – passengers to fly 17h
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
The flight operating this route would usually fly over the Pacific ocean.
The new Cathay Pacific flight could be the world’s longest commercial passenger flight to date by distance
The Hong Kong to New York service would fly 9,000 nautical miles, which is around 10,357 standard miles.
The carrier explained its plans to fly from JFK Airport, in New York, over the Atlantic Ocean, the UK, southern Europe and central Asia.
The Cathay flight will take about 17 hours.
The current world’s longest flight by distance is the Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to New York, which was 9,534 standard miles.
A Cathay Pacific representative explained: “We are always running contingency routings for potential events or scenarios within the world of aviation.
“We compare flight routes daily, and will plan and fly what is the most efficient routing on the day.
“The transatlantic option relies on the facilitation of strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year in order for the flight time to be between 16 and 17 hours, thereby making it more favourable than the transpacific route.
“We are monitoring the tailwinds situation on a daily basis as it is already tapering off.
“Our Airbus A350-1000 aircraft can comfortably accomplish this in 16 to 17 hours with similar fuel consumption to the transpacific flights.”
The airline explained they monitor tailwinds every day.
However, the current situation is not favourable as jet streams are usually stronger in the winter months.
Cathay is currently waiting for overflight permits to operate the service.
This is a normal procedure for a new route, the airline explained.
Cathay’s current service between New York and Hong Kong stops in Los Angeles, where passengers need to take a connecting flight.
The flight continues towards the Pacific and into Asia without entering Russian airspace.
The new route, however, would remove the need for a stopover.
From April 1, flights departing from the US and eight other countries will be allowed to land in Hong Kong again.
This is as the Government has finally relaxed some of the strict COVID-19 restrictions it had in place.
Source: Read Full Article
