Qatar Airways to launch world's longest flight

The flight between Doha, Qatar, and Auckland, New Zealand will take 18½-hours to complete

Qatar Airways plans to launch the world’s longest direct flight between Doha, Qatar, and Auckland, New Zealand.

Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker revealed plans for the ultra-long direct journey between the two cities which will take 18½-hours to complete.



Speaking to Bloomberg Business at last week's Bahrain Air Show, Baker said that Boeing 777-LR aircraft would be used to make the trip. The aircraft can carry 259 passengers. However, it is not clear when the airline will start the service.

Currently, the world's longest flight is operated by Qantas between Dallas-Fort Worth and Sydney, according to statistics portal Statista.com.

Qatar Airways' proposed Doha-Auckland route (14,539 km) would be longer by more than an hour-and-a-half than Qantas’ current 16 hours and 55 minutes (13,804 km) flight duration.

Emirates Airline is set to eclipse current frontrunner Qantas in the spring, when it launches a route from Dubai to Panama City, Panama, that would last 17 hours and 35 minutes.



Further, Singapore Airlines, which held the record for the longest nonstop flight until 2013, has considered taking the title back with possible resumption of its nearly 19-hour flights between New York and Singapore.

This article originally appeared on CNN.