World's longest flight planned to avoid Russian airspace – passengers to fly 17 hours

The flight operating this route would usually fly over the Pacific ocean.

The new Cathay Pacific flight could be the world’s longest commercial passenger flight to date by distance

The Hong Kong to New York service would fly 9,000 nautical miles, which is around 10,357 standard miles.

The carrier explained its plans to fly from JFK Airport, in New York, over the Atlantic Ocean, the UK, southern Europe and central Asia.

The Cathay flight will take about 17 hours.

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The current world’s longest flight by distance is the Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to New York, which was 9,534 standard miles.

A Cathay Pacific representative explained: “We are always running contingency routings for potential events or scenarios within the world of aviation.

“We compare flight routes daily, and will plan and fly what is the most efficient routing on the day.

“The transatlantic option relies on the facilitation of strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year in order for the flight time to be between 16 and 17 hours, thereby making it more favourable than the transpacific route.

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source: express.co.uk