Shortest 777 Flight

• Shortest 777 Flight Path
• Shortest 777 Flight

Nov 29, 2015 Saudia uses 777 between Jiddah, Riyadh and Damman. Even Riyadh-Cairo flights (2,5 hours) may be considered short in a plane that can fly for more than 10 hours. The shortest regular connection where 777 flew was Abu Dhabi – Dubai (Emirates again). It’s less than 100 miles.

• The shortest flight I took on a widebody was MEX-MTY (about an hour), on a Mexicana DC-10. The upcoming 777-9X will be longer than the 747-8I that is the longest.
• The first time was with a 20 year old 777 and the pitch was a little bigger than the other seats but not much. The 2nd time I flew a 4 year old 777 (same config) and the pitch difference was more noticeable, about 3 inches! The seat cushion was very hard on the 2nd flight making it less comfortable even though I had more leg room.
• “Oh, that flight was long!” The 777 was the first twin-engine airplane that could fly it nonstop, breaking into the exclusive long-haul domain of the four- and three-engined jets. Yan Chan, a defense contractor, loved the Triple Seven so much that he showed up at the gate with a model Delta 777 he asked his fellow avgeeks to sign.

A British Airways Boeing 777-236/ER (G-YMMM (cn 30314/342)), flight BA038 from Beijing (PEK) to London Heathrow (LHR), landed short of runway 27L at LHR. The landing gear completely collapsed and passengers had to leave the Boeing 777 by emergency chutes. Six people are being reported for minor injuries. London Heathrow Airport was closed for 30 minutes.

An airport worker told the BBC the pilot on the Boeing 777 had said he had lost all power, and had been forced to glide the plane into land. The worker also said the pilot had told him all the electronics had also failed. “He said he had no warning – it just went,” the worker added.

Story & Pictures:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7194086.stm

Video:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,30400-1301161,00.html

Update – Further Pictures:

http://www.flightglobal.com/AirSpace/photos/baboeing777accident/
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/17/heathrow.incident/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto

It’s been several years since I wrote several stories featuring the world’s longest flights. There have been obviously many changes among these routes, such as the cancellation of Singapore Airlines’ nonstop, all-business class flights from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles, both which were canceled in the fall of 2013.

The list has now changed as Qantas has launched its first nonstop flight from Australia to Europe.

Thanks to the advents of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as well as the Airbus A350, several new ultra-long haul routes have commenced in recent years. However, there are debating views on what qualifies as, “longest-flight,” whether it be based on distance or duration. The matter becomes even more complex when debating whether or not the distance between the two flights should be based on the great-circle distance, which is the shortest distance between two points of a sphere, or actual distance, which varies day-to-day largely based on wind patterns or other factors.

For example, Air India flight 173, which operates from Delhi to San Francisco, flies over 9,000 miles on the westbound sector as it is able to take advantage of favorable wind conditions over the Pacific while still keeping average flight time under 16 hours. However, the great circle distance between DEL and SFO is only 7,707 miles, which doesn’t even place it among the top 25 world’s longest flights based solely on distance. So, though “unofficially” Air India may fly the longest flight on actual distance flown for a particular day, the official rankings adhere to great-circle distances because they are based on fixed data points.

Ranking flights based on duration is also a variable method, as block times/published flight times and actual flight times are also subject to change each day, based on unforeseen circumstances. However, since airlines are required to publish block times whenever they load schedules into the Global Distribution System (GDS), the general public can infer how long a flight is usually in the air. Though flight times are published based on aircraft movement from gate-to-gate, apps like FlightRadar24 are instrumental in providing average flight times, delays, routings, speed, and other factors.

Still, people seem to be more fascinated by the concept of duration, rather than distance, as the idea of claiming that you spent more time with your, “butt-in-seat,” on a particular flight versus, “butt carried over miles,” seems to come with greater credibility points.

With the impending launch of Qantas’ nonstop flight from Perth to London Heathrow this week, here is an updated list of the world’s top 25 longest flights, by distance and duration, as of March 24, 2018:

By Distance

Based solely on distance, Qatar Airways’ nonstop flight from Auckland to Doha is the world’s longest flight at over 9,000 nautical miles (9,011), and operates on a daily basis. The carrier utilizes a 777-200LR for this route.

Worth noting is one omission from this list, which is Air Canada’s seasonal service from Vancouver to Melbourne. However, as this route does not operate on a year-round basis, it has been excluded from this list.

By Duration

Based on duration, United’s nonstop service from Los Angeles to Singapore is the world’s longest, with 17 hours and 21 minutes of average duration, per Flight Radar 24.

Shortest 777 Flight Path

Notably, some flights that are not considered within the top-25 by distance are included in this table based on duration, such as EVA Air’s Houston to Taipei flight or Qatar Airways’ Doha to Dallas/Ft. Worth flight.

Future Routes

Shortest 777 Flight

There will be some new additions to this list, including the impending launch of Cathay Pacific to Washington Dulles, Emirates’ possible reconsideration to launch Panama City, and maybe even down the road, nonstop flights from Sydney to London Heathrow and New York JFK.

There have also been numerous ULH flights that have been discontinued, such as Air Tahiti Nui’s nonstop flight from New York JFK to Papeete, or Thai’s nonstop flight from JFK to Bangkok.

Have you flown on a recent ULH flight or plan to in the future? Tell us more about it in the comments section below!

All maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz