Going the Distance
October 8, 2025
Quaint seem the days when Pan Am executives sat in their Park Avenue skyscraper, scratching their heads over ways to make a 747 reach Tokyo without refueling. Only a few decades later, the advent of ultra long-haul aircraft has made almost any two cities on the map connectable without a stop. Variants of planes like the A350 and 787 can stay aloft for twenty hours. Once upon a time, “long haul” meant New York to London. Today it’s London to Perth.
I say almost. Qantas, for example, still hasn’t closed the gap on the so-called “grail route” between Sydney and London. “Project Sunrise,” as they’ve named it, is the airline’s plan to run flights from Sydney to London, Paris, and New York. The project kicked off in 2017, but certification and technical issues keep pushing things off, and the launch is now delayed until 2027.
Looking at the route maps, however, we see another unconquered frontier that seldom gets a mention: Asia to South America. No airline has ever flown a nonstop route between these two continents. (The closest we have is All Nippon Airways’ flight between Tokyo and Mexico City, which, because of the altitude of MEX, operates nonstop only on the eastbound leg.)
The reasons for this are both economic and technical: There isn’t enough passenger demand to warrant the expenses of operating such a flight, and the distances would challenge the capabilities of even the longest-range jet. The mileage between Tokyo and Lima — the most likely city-pair — is just about equal to the mileage between New York and Singapore, currently the longest flight in the world.
Tokyo-Bogota is a little shorter, but as with Mexico, Bogota’s 8000-foot elevation would pose restrictions. Anything else (Hong Kong to Rio, Tokyo to Santiago, etc.) is probably beyond the range of any existing aircraft.
China Eastern has announced a Shanghai-Buenos Aires flight, but the plane will make a two-hour stopover in Auckland for fuel.
I know what you’re thinking: who the heck wants to be in a plane for that long anyway? That’s a fair question, and the real challenges of long-haul flying are perhaps no longer technological so much as human. That is, how do you keep passengers comfortable, or even sane, on a journey stretching ten-thousand miles? We’re basically at the limits of what people can endure.
In first and business class, things have never been swankier or more luxurious, and there’s virtually no limit to how long passengers in these cabins can tolerate being aloft. But economy class is another story. No matter how many video channels or complimentary cocktails you give people, A nine-abreast row with 32-inch pitch simply isn’t bearable for nineteen hours.
Because of this, some carriers equip their longest flights with enhanced economy cabins. Singapore’s New York flights have no standard economy seats at all, going with a comfier Premium Economy instead. Air New Zealand sells a “Skycouch,” where a row of economy seats convert into a bed.
My personal distance record is a comparatively modest 6,830 miles, covered in sixteen hours and six minutes, on a Delta Air Lines 777-200LR from Detroit to Hong Kong several years ago (Delta no longer flies this route). That, enjoyably, was in business class.
On the other hand, there’s also the 6,925 miles, covered in fourteen hours and forty-six minutes, that I spent in economy aboard South African Airways flight SA202 from JFK to Johannesburg. (Notice how the second flight was a longer distance, but flown in less time.) I know it was exactly fourteen hours and forty-six minutes because there was a digital timer bolted to the bulkhead in front of me, feeding us a minute-by-minute update. Watching the hours tick by seemed a torturous proposition, until a certain passenger was bold enough to tape a piece of paper over the clock.
As to the longest flight I’ve ever piloted, that would be New York to Cairo — a proverbial puddle-jump by today’s metrics.
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
Dubai boarding bridges
Dubai departure board
ANA arriving at Mexico City
On the apron in Doha
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15 Responses to “Going the Distance”
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My longest flights were when I was stationed in Korea when I was in the Army. The Korean Air 747s flights between Seoul and Dulles were long, but I don’t remember anything special about them. I think we refueled in LAX? It was 40 years ago..
But the first flight to Korea, on a Northwest Orient MAC charter… A 747 full of soldiers who were used to running 5 miles or more every morning trapped in coach for the hop across the Pacific, and not allowed to get off to stretch at the stop in Japan. The only things preventing a riot were military discipline and free booze.
At the other end of the spectrum I used to do EMB 120 flights IAH/EFD – 27 miles. Why? At the time it was free for connecting Continental passengers as was parking at Ellington. We did the before landing checklist prior to takeoff and had all the radio frequencies preset. Not a good way to build flight time.
I’ve been reading your stuff for years, but unless I’ve missed it, you have never told us how you and other airline crew deal with jet lag. I’ve used No Jet Lag homeopathic pills with some good results, but I don’t fly overseas all that often. What are your recommendations? Maybe you’d like to do an article on this important topic.
I love long-distance flying and just came off a marathon journey from Melbourne, Australia to New York (MEL-SIN @ 7h30m / SIN-MUC @ 12h15m / MUC-JFK @ 7h45m)…loved every minute of it, but thankfully we were not seated in the “back of the bus,” except for MEL-SIN. Of course, we went the long way around…could have saved a ton of time going on a single connection via the Pacific, but that would not be as much fun. My longest flight by mileage was SYD-LAX back in the 90s – I believe it was the longest flight in the world (by mileage) at that time. My longest flight by time was LAX-HKG at 15h to the minute – seated in economy class mind you, starboard side. It was worth every hour as the landing was at Kai Tak Airport. We flew the checkerboard approach to runway 13 – now, that was a thrill like none other!
Great story Patrick. And timely
Last flew SQ21 / SQ22 between EWR-SIN in May 2023. If you must fly Premium Economy, there is a preferred spot. Due to the tapered structure of the A350, the last three rows have single seats on the left and right sides. In the space where the window seat would be located, there is a VERY LARGE storage box with a latched lid. This can be used as a side desk. The seat does not recline flat, but is nevertheless very comfortable. Note that there is a slight price increase for this seat over the standard Premium Economy (approx USD 165), but it is well worth the upgrade.
A poor man’s business class seat for about 25 percent of the business class price!
I also flew the Detroit to HK 16+ hour flight a few times, but in economy—-it was very close to torture. I now always fly such long distances with connections to keep sane.
The longest flight I’ve taken was last October, Delta 268 JFK to HNL and back Delta 190 HNL to JFK.
About 4900 miles and 10 hours each way, which wasn’t bad in Delta One, but I wouldn’t want to spend much longer in a plane, regardless of the class. I definitely couldn’t stand 18 hours in a plane.
“…Bogota’s 8000-foot elevation would pose restrictions.”
“…because of the altitude of MEX, operates nonstop only on the eastbound leg.”
What exactly are the technical restrictions on a long-haul flight originating or terminating at a high-altitude airport?
Seems to me the plane is already up there or headed that way. 🙂
Just curious.
The air is thinner at elevations like those of MEX and BOG. Thinner air means the engines don’t put out as much thrust, and the wings produce less lift.
To achieve the necessary airspeed targets for takeoff and landing, planes will be at significantly higher GROUND speeds, thus needing more runway.
It’s more of a factor on takeoff than landing: at a given weight, a plane taking off from a high-altitude airports requires a lot more distance to become airborne than it would at sea level. To meet the required runway and climb performance criteria, flights are often subject to weight penalties. In other words, they can’t always carry enough fuel. Shorter flight are generally no trouble, but trying to reach Asia from South America? That’s a problem.
High temperatures have a similar effect. So the worst combination is an airport that’s both hot and high-up.
Just for grins — My longest commercial flight was KSEA to Hong Kong (HKIA) many years ago. MS Copilot says that today by commercial airliner the average flight time would be 13 to 14 hours. A Gulfstream G650 or G700 estimated flight time would be 10 to 11 hours.
Copilot reminded me that “The time savings in a Gulfstream aren’t just about speed — it’s also about operational efficiency:”
o No long boarding process
o No waiting for gate clearance
o Direct climb to optimal cruise altitude
o Custom routing that avoids congested airways.
I’ve been totally besotted by airplanes — and none more than the magic of long haul flights. Boarding for a 20 hour flight absolutely enchants me. I’ve experienced only a few. Once as the only passengers in the upper deck of a 747 JFK to Ben Gurion in a Tower Air flight. Also experienced, this time in business, round trip from JFK to BOM, as it was then called, which as I remember was about 17-1/2 hours. Both times were exciting! II was that annoying passenger wanting to know everything about the airplane. And now, at 75 years old, I’d jump at the chance.
Nowadays our air spaces are filled with incredibly muscular planes. Watching out the window as one of these birds barrels down the runway and then, leaps into the air, hundreds of tons stowed, is like magic.
It IS magic.
This post is so timely. I fly DOH-AKL on Sunday.
Since its such a marathon flight, it had me ponder the outer limits of the aircraft. Was peppering Grok this morning with tons of Qs about A350-1000 MTOW + all sorts performance characteristics flying under various engine out scenarios. Climb gradients // braking distances // Cargo weight miscalculation and being over MTOW // Temp // What the runway & flight profile would look filling that plane just short of ultimate load. Super super fascinating stuff. The kind of information you’d only get talking to a pilot at a bar.
One Q it couldn’t really answer: On shorter transatlantic routes like LHR–JFK, are aircraft generally near MTOW, considering the lower fuel requirements & higher potential cargo loads? I was trying to decide I should feel special I’m on so heavily loaded flight.
The Sydney-London route is QF 1. In the 70s at least it was a 36 hour flight, stopping in Singapore, Bombay, Bahrain, and Frankfurt on a 747. The music loop (with the “stethoscope” headset) would loop and the seats, while bigger than today’s, were cramped. Even in the non-smoking it was smoky. You could deplane at the refueling spots but our parents would never allow it. Today it’s a 24 trip with a single stop in Bangkok.
I actually feel kind of opposite on the length thing – once a flight goes beyond 5 or 6 hours, the extra length doesn’t really increase the misery any. I flew something like 15 hours between Tokyo and London after the Russia/Ukraine war started and don’t remember feeling any different after compared to the usual 12 hours.