World’s longest commercial flight route emerges as Cathay Pacific launches 10,326-mile New York-Hong Kong service, bypassing Russian airspace
- Hong Kong airline bypasses Russia and extends flight by almost two hours
- The JFK-HKG flight will exceed 10,000 miles, flying over the Atlantic and China instead
- The route from New York to Hong Kong used to be 8,072 miles long and passed through central Russia
- Journey overtakes Singapore Airlines alternative for top spot on the same route
Cathay Pacific will set a new world record for longest commercial flight route after optimizing its New York to Hong Kong journey to avoid Russian airspace.
Hong Kong’s national carrier will now send jets traveling between JFK in New York and Hong Kong International (HKG) around Russia instead of through Russia.
It will also cross the United Kingdom, much of mainland Europe and Central Asia, also avoiding Ukraine.
That means a journey of 10,326 miles instead of the previous 8,072. It will be the first regular passenger flight to exceed 10,000 miles.
And for passengers, it means a flight of almost 17 hours instead of 15.
The new route will fly through the UK, mainland Europe and Central Asia to avoid Russia
Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific is headquartered at Hong Kong International Airport
Dozens of Asian airlines have been forced to change their flight routes to avoid Russia and Ukraine
Patient passengers must now spend an additional two hours onboard to travel 2,254 miles further
Cathay revealed his plan in a company memo sent to flight crews today, Bloomberg reported.
The new route overtakes Singapore Airlines’ 9,537-mile flight from New York to Hong Kong, which takes slightly longer at 17.5 hours, according to FlightRadar 24.
Airlines have made efforts to avoid Russian and Belarusian airspace since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
It is now a criminal offense for Russian planes to enter British airspace – with impounded vessels flouting the rules.
Cathay said its fleet of Airbus A350-1000s can safely complete the longer New York-Hong Kong route without having to refuel en route.
However, the route may change again in the summer when the tailwinds ease over the Atlantic – making the Pacific a better option.
A spokeswoman said: “We always carry out contingency routes for potential events or scenarios.
“The transatlantic option relies on the facilitation of strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of year to keep the flight time between 16 and 17 hours, making it cheaper than the transpacific route.”
Other airlines that have optimized routes to avoid Russia include Japan Airlines, which transits Alaska and Canada on its route between Tokyo and London Heathrow.
The route used to cover much of Siberia, saving nearly five hours of time.
Meanwhile, British Airways has warned it will have to cancel hundreds of flights it plans to do over the next few weeks.
Passengers had to wait in hour-long queues for baggage claim due to ongoing IT issues.
In an internal message to staff, BA Chief Executive Sean Doyle admitted passengers and staff were “tired” of the recent problems, but said there were “no quick fixes”.
This comes after the airline, which announced it would do away with masks on flights, reversed the plan and warned people they must wear them when traveling to 50 destinations.
Affected locations include Greece, Italy, the United States and Germany.
advertisement