Singapore Airlines announces take-off of world’s longest commercial flight

Singapore Airlines is about to make it much easier to grab a real New York bagel for breakfast and then, 18 hours and 45 minutes later, eat Hokkien mee for lunch in Singapore.

The airline is set to launch the world’s longest commercial flights on October 11, 2018, traveling non-stop between Singapore and New York using the new Airbus A350-900ULR (pretty sure that ULR stands for Ultra Long Range).

While Singapore Airlines is the first customer, Qantas Airways is most likely waiting in the wings. Last year, the Australian airline threw down the gauntlet to both Boeing and Airbus to create a plane capable of making the 20-hour flight from London to Sydney nonstop by 2022. If Airbus’s long-haul plane can make the 18-hour and 45-minute flight, seems like that extra hour should be possible very soon. Don’t discount Boeing’s 777X, though. Not only will the plane have sweet folding wingtips, but a range of around 8,745 miles, which is pretty close to Qantas’s dream route. The airline already runs nonstop flights from Perth to Heathrow on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners.