There is a new longest non-stop flight
If you're looking to rack up thousands and thousands of air miles in one fell swoop, you might consider Air India's nonstop flight from Delhi to San Francisco — now 870 miles longer, since the route has changed to fly across the Pacific, rather than across the Atlantic. By changing the route, the flight is now the longest in the world at 9,506 miles, surpassing Emirates' Dubai-Auckland route, which had been the former record holder.
But Air India didn't change their route just to get the title — by flying over the Pacific, the Boeing-777 200ER planes knock two hours off the flight time by taking advantage of the Jet Stream. Unfortunately, you're still on a plane for a total of 14-and-a-half hours.
"The aircraft took off from Delhi at 4 a.m. on Sunday [Oct. 16] morning. We were in that date until Japan. After that, we crossed the International Date Line and were in Oct. 15. By the time we landed in San Francisco, it was 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 16," one of the pilots told The Telegraph.
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Air India won't hold the record long, though — an even lengthier flight has been proposed by Singapore Airlines, a Singapore-New York route that would run 10,252 miles and last 19 hours. Pack a good book.
