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The 3 Longest Flights In The World Are Not For The Faint Of Heart

Bring a book or five.
Jet airplane flying above clouds, low angle view
Lisa Valder via Getty Images
Jet airplane flying above clouds, low angle view

If you really hate layovers, these are the flights for you.

This week, Qantas announced plans to operate what will become one of the longest flights in the world. The airline’s forthcoming nonstop Perth to London route will cover about 9,008 miles in approximately 17 hours, positioning it to become the third-longest flight by distance when it launches in March 2018, according to a Qantas spokesperson. Whoa.

Airlines are constantly outdoing each other for the longest commercial passenger flight in the world, and the lineup changes frequently as carriers announce new routes or change existing ones. In terms of distance, these are the three longest routes currently in operation, according to a Qantas spokesperson:

1. Air India from Delhi to San Francisco

This fall, Air India changed the route for this flight from Atlantic to Pacific to make it the longest in the world by distance (it was previously second). Though the new Pacific route is 870 miles longer, it saves time and fuel because of tailwinds. Currently, the flight covers about 9,400 miles in approximately 14.5 hours.

WIN-Initiative via Getty Images

2. Emirates from Auckland to Dubai

This Emirates flight covers about 8,820 miles in just over 17 hours in a Boeing 777 purposefully built for ultra long-haul flights.

Joseph Plotz via Getty Images

3. Qantas from Dallas to Sydney

Travelers on this Qantas one-way endure an approximately 8,577-mile trip that lasts 16 hours. Now THAT is what we call a redeye.

Michael Dunning via Getty Images

How long will these rankings last? It isn’t just Qantas that’s set to shake things up again by 2018. Singapore Air, for example, plans to reinstate a nonstop route from Singapore to New York that will travel 10,252 miles in 19 hours. If so, we’ll have a new record longest all over again, and a reshuffled top three.

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