Singapore Airlines cancels world's longest flight

The world’s longest commercial flight is to be no more. Singapore Airlines’ nonstop flight between Singapore and Newark is being cancelled. A slightly shorter route between Singapore and Los Angeles is also being cancelled.

The Singapore-Newark route covers a distance of about 9,500 miles, the longest route in the world. Meanwhile, the Singapore-Los Angeles route covers 8,000 miles and takes 18 hours and 30 minutes and holds the record for duration. These two routes have been flown on Airbus A340-500s, which are known to be gas guzzlers. Singapore Air discovered the only way to make these flights profitable was to reconfigure the planes to seat 98 business class seats for $8,000 roundtrip. With that being said, it was clear that the best option for the airline was to discontinue these 2 flights.

The new title for longest route will now be held by Qantas for their route between Sydney and Dallas, which is an 8,500 mile flight. The flight with the longest duration will now be held by Delta’s flight between Johannesburg and Atlanta, which is about a 17 hour flight.

Singapore Air will continue to serve flights to New York on its existing Airbus A380 routes, although these connect in Frankfurt. The same goes for flights between LA and Singapore, with a connection in Tokyo.

 

Airbus Ceasing Airbus A340 Production

Airbus will no longer be producing the Airbus A340 craft. Since 1991, Airbus has built a total of about 375 of the four-engine A340s. The craft does not hold more than 440 passengers and has most likely seen a decrease in popularity as a result of the popular Boeing 777. Airbus will continue to make the A330 through 2015.