Aviation
Emirates airline to launch world’s longest non-stop flight
Emirates Airline is set to operate the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight starting 2016 between Dubai and Panama City.
The Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Ahmed-bin-Saeed al-Maktoum, said on Friday in Dubai that the flight is set to be 17 hours and 35 minutes long and would commence from February 1.
He said Emirates would be using a Boeing 777-200LR with a capacity to carry 266 passengers over the 13,821-kilometre stretch.
Al-Maktoum said the new stretch is 17 kilometres further than the world’s currently longest non-stop flight, the Qantas route between Sydney and Dallas.
He noted that Singapore Airlines for financial reasons in 2013 cancelled the 15,344-kilometre-long flight between Singapore and Newark, New Jersey. (dpa)