Airline Looks to Reclaim “World’s Longest Flight” With 19-Hour Service Between U.S. & Singapore

Singapore Airlines is working with manufacturers in hopes of renewing direct flights between Singapore and the U.S. — the world’s longest.

After ending direct flights between Singapore and the U.S. two years ago, Singapore Airlines is looking to resume the 19-hour nonstop service. Bloomberg reports the island country’s flag carrier is working with Airbus and Boeing to develop an aircraft capable of flying direct routes between U.S. cities and Singapore.

According to airline executives, Singapore Airlines is looking to restore direct flights for a number of reasons. In addition to business advantages, the carrier is currently struggling to find nations that will allow them to fly between Singapore and the U.S.

“There is lack of viable intermediate points,” said Goh Choon Phong, chief executive of Singapore Airlines. “That’s largely because the countries concerned are not really giving us the rights to operate what we call the fifth freedom from those points to the U.S.”

Singapore Airlines now hopes to identify an aircraft that could fly the 19-hour journey between the two countries nonstop. At shortest, the route between Los Angeles and Singapore is over 7,500 nautical miles; at longest, the route between Newark and Singapore is over 9,000 nautical miles.

Today, there is a limited number of aircraft capable of fly the nonstop route. The Airbus A380 has a reported range of 8,200 nautical miles, while the Boeing 747-8 has a reported range of around 7,790 nautical miles. Therefore, the carrier is working with both manufacturers to develop an aircraft with new technology that could fly the required distances.

“We, of course, want it as soon as possible,” Goh told Bloomberg. “There isn’t really a commercially viable aircraft that could fly nonstop.”

Previously, Singapore Airlines operated Airbus A340 aircraft on nonstop flights between the Asian city-state and the U.S. However, experts claim the route was unprofitable due to the high cost of operating the aircraft. Goh did not specify which U.S. cities the airline would offer service to first.

[Photo: Bloomberg]