Longest Running Airline Flight
 

Any idea what airline flight on the current schedule has been running the same route (uninterupted) for the most years. I have an OAG from 1994, AA 1 was flying JFK-LAX as it is today. With so many airlines out of business and mergers and new airlines, that limit's the number of flights that fall into this category.

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My guess is that AA 1 would certainly be in the running. You can view some old airline timetables (including AA's) at http://www.departedflights.com

I'm confused? Don't they change the flight numbers per route every few years?

This takes some time to research. For example, one of the oldest US airlines is HA. In a 1950 timetable, the airline flew the same Honolulu to Lihue route as they do today multiple times a day with different flight numbers. If one goes further back, HA operated the Honolulu to Kauai route in 1932 as Inter-Island Airways, without a flight number and landing at a different airport on Kauai.

Perhaps the OP could be a bit more specific with the request?

Flights 1 and 2 are often reserved for airlines' first or most prized "flagship" routes.

KLM is the oldest airline still existing in name, so I'd wager it's one of their routes (likely AMS-LON). Of course some of the airports they flew into in the early 20th century either no longer exist or don't accept commercial traffic (London Croydon, Berlin Tempelhof...)

VERY interesting. I know that AC1 & AC2 serve YYZ-NRT, so the 'flagship route' hypothesis checks out.

Can anyone else chime in with carriers' xx1 and xx2 designations?

Not sure if it's "flagship" or not, but here are a couple:

UA 1/2 are ORD-HNL
SQ 1/2 are SFO-HKG-SIN
BA 1/2 are SNN-JFK

AS 1/2 DCA-SEA

This is a highly prized route for Alaska at a slot-controlled airport. Not very prestigious, but for a regional airline like AS, it's a big deal.

BA 1/2 were used to be LHR-JFK on one of the Concorde flights.

As for more #1s:

-JL 1 = SFO-TYO
-DL 1 = JFK-LHR (interesting that they use an odd number going east)
-KE 1 = ICN-NRT-LAX (another one that doesn't conform with the typical "east-west" thing)

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BA 1 & 2 are LCY-JFK, not SNN-JFK. The westbound flight makes a refueling/U.S. customs and immigration stop at SNN, but does not pick up or drop off passengers at SNN. The eastbound flight operates JFK-LCY without a stop.

CX has a couple of flights that can be deemed as their flagship. But all their commercial passenger flights are assigned three-digit flight numbers, hence no CX1 nor CX2.

CX888 - HKG-YVR-JFK

Related trivia: what airport(s) has/have the most flight 1s? SFO is the only one I can think of off the top of my head with more than 1 (SQ and JL).

Also, apart from KE001 (ICN-NRT-LAX), can anyone think of any flight 1s that fly east?

CO 1/2 are IAH-HNL-GUM & vv.
B6 1 is JFK-FLL.
TK 1/2 are IST-JFK & vv.

I'd bet that JFK has more number 1s than any other airport. B6, BA and TK make three so far.

Back to the OPs question, QF1 SYD-BKK-LHR predates AA1 though I am not sure if it is the oldest flight same route. Another complication is that airports for cities change (JFK didn't exist until 50 years ago, so do changed airport names count?). Also routes often change for intermediate stops (AA1 would not have been non-stop until the 50s, for example, if it goes back that far).