The world’s longest commercial flight landed in New York from Singapore on Friday, surpassing the previous record by 12 minutes.
Singapore Airlines premiered the non-stop flight from Singapore to New York that covers 16,700 kilometres and lasted a whopping 17 hours 52 minutes.
The flight unseated Qatar Airways from the current record for the world’s longest flight, a 17-hour 40-minute marathon journey from Doha to Auckland.
The plane took off on Thursday at 11.37 p.m. (1537 GMT) on an Airbus A350-900ULR and landed at Newark airport the following day at 5.29 a.m. (0929 GMT).
The plane was designed with a two-class layout that features 67 business class and 94 premium economy class seats, so no passengers would be stuck in cramped economy seats during the ultra-long-haul flight.
According to the airline’s website, one-way tickets from Singapore to Newark will set customers back around 3,500 Singapore dollars (around $2,500) for premium economy, or 7,500 Singapore dollars for business class.
The route will initially be served three times a week, with daily operations expected to begin from October 18 onwards.