Cathay Pacific will fly world’s longest flight

There’s nothing better to bring back the glory days of commercial aviation than an around-the-world flight, and if we’re talking about tradition, nothing more traditional than a flight from Hong Kong to New York. Just the mention of it brings back memories of Pan Am, their Boeing 747 SPs and Kai Tak, the long gone former main airport of Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific has been running the route for quite some time now, fast forward to modern days, and their Airbus A350 has made crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean in a single trip an absolute joy. But with the conflict in Europe and their airspace in chaos, Cathay Pacific will have a unique opportunity to claim the title of flying the world’s longest commercial passenger flight.

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Right now the title holder is Singapore Airlines and its service from Singapore to New York at 9,500 miles with an average flight time of 17:30 hours. But the new path that Cathay Pacific will take is longer. On its new route, modified because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the airline will cross both oceans traveling around 10,300 miles and taking between 16-17 hours.

The traditional route between Hong Kong and New York follows a track that crosses the Pacific Ocean, reaching the United States around Seattle and continuing over the northern part of the country onto New York; the flight takes around 15:30 hours.

This time of year normally has a higher tail wind component from the Atlantic, tha means that the return flight from New York to Hong Kong can head to the east to take advantage of the tailwinds across the Atlantic Ocean and use the jet stream in its favor.

The route has a normal flight time of 15:30 hours, flying 8,000 miles with their Airbus A350. But now avoiding both Russia and Ukraine is imperative to operate the route. That means that Cathay’s A350 will need to fly to the South of Ukraine and over Romania, Uzbekistan and China to reach Hong Kong. 

It will be interesting to see for how long Cathay Pacific will hold on to that crown. The route is not fuel efficient and most likely will see its tickets suffer price wise because of it. It’s almost certain that the moment the conflict clears, the route will go back to its traditional route, but for now, the airline can enjoy a title that was acquired by mere chance.