At 4.35pm today (11.35pm in Singapore), Flight SQ22 will leave the tarmac at Changi Airport. Precisely 18 hours and 25 minutes later the same service is scheduled to touch down at Newark Liberty International in New Jersey where it will be crowned the world’s longest flight. The red-eye service is noteworthy in another respect, too, because it contains no economy seats: the Airbus A350-900 used on the route has been configured to carry just 161 passengers, a mixture of business and premium economy travellers. No room for the hoi polloi here. Running thrice a week to begin with, Flight SQ22 is set to become a daily service from October 18 when Singapore Airlines deploys another Airbus A350-900 ULR (ultra long-range) on the 9,537-mile route. The new service will be exclusively for business and premium economy passengers The service sees bragging rights for world’s longest flight pass from Qatar Airways, which has held the distinction since February 2017 with its 9,032-mile schlep between Doha and Auckland. Singapore Airlines has held the coveted title before with... wait for it, a non-stop service between Singapore and Newark. That’s right: Flight SQ22 isn’t a new route but an exhumed old one, which the carrier launched in 2004 only to axe it in 2013 when it its fleet of Airbus A340-500s were retired. As with the rebooted service, the old SQ22 was originally configured for just business and premium economy passengers. But in 2008 the airline did away with premium economy and decided to kit the whole plane out for business class instead. Will history repeat itself? Time will tell. Speaking of time, those aboard the plane will have a lot of it on their hands. Enough to watch approximately ten films, learn basic Spanish (according to the guys at Babbel) and read a couple of classics: aptly-titled tomes include Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities and Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd. If Qantas has its way, Flight SQ22 won’t be the longest flight for long: the Australian carrier recently announced plans to launch a non-stop service between London to Sydney in 2022, a feat supposedly made possible by improvements in aircraft fuel efficiency. A new epoch in ultra long-haul beckons. Probably.<doc-sep>T he world’s longest non-stop flight is currently making history as it travels from Singapore to New York. Flight SQ22 took off from Singapore after being delayed for a few minutes on Thursday afternoon and is expected to land in New York 19 hours later. Singapore Airlines (SIA) is re-launching the service for the first time in five years as the flight was originally too expensive. The record-breaking flight will fly directly to New York without stopping, and its route can be followed here. The flight took off at 11.35pm Singapore time (4.35pm UK time), with lucky passengers tweeting images of the cushy interior. Luxury seats with cushions and leg room were on offer for those able to get a ticket. After running a few minutes late, the historic flight took off with few seats to spare.<doc-sep>Singapore Airlines’ SQ22, the ultra long-haul flight touting itself as the world’s longest, landed at Newark just a few hours ago (Oct. 12). Its passengers have likely recovered their baggage and left the airport: They now face the staggering jet lag that comes from traversing 12 time zones in less than a day. How was this very long sit-down in the sky? Pretty good, if the reviews are to be believed—though that may simply be attributable to flying business or premium economy class (the only options offered on this flight) in an airline said to be the best in the world. A gaggle of transport journalists and aviation fans were on board to chronicle the journey, experience the thrill (or otherwise) of a whole day in the air, and even take home a special certificate. Travelers dined on beef hor fun and lobster dumplings, guzzled bottle after bottle of champagne, and were catered to by 13 cabin crew, who each took a four-hour nap in bunk beds up in the roof space. A selection of 1,000 movies helped to while the hours away. Less successful was in-flight internet access, available for an additional fee. The flight made good time, arriving a little over half an hour ahead of schedule, for a total of 17 hours and 25 minutes in the air, according to CNN’s Richard Quest. The tailwinds behind that speedy journey come at a cost, however: “Of course, that means the return flight to Singapore will face strong headwinds and that flight could take up to 19 hours,” he noted. But 17 hours and 25 minutes is still a very long time to be in a tube in the sky—even if breakfast mimosas and customized teddy bears are on hand to soften the blow.<doc-sep>
T he world's longest direct flight has touched down in New York after almost 18 hours in the sky. Flight SQ22 from Singapore to New York took off at around 4.35pm (BST) yesterday. Its take off on Thursday afternoon was delayed by a few minutes. The luxury Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR airbus jetted off towards Newark International Airport, near New York City, and landed shortly before 5.30am local time (10.30am BST). Singapore Airlines (SIA) has re-launched the service for the first time in five years after it was abandoned due to rising fuel prices. The trip was scheduled to take almost 19 hours. Singapore airlines carries out the final preparations on the plane set to make the longest ever non-stop flight / Singapore Airlines/Facebook The flight landed at 5.29am at Newark, according to Singapore Airlines. After arriving around half an hour ahead of schedule, the flight was in the air for 17 hours and 52 minutes. Bloomberg's Sarah Wells tweeted upon landing: "We made it #SQ22. Feeling a little fuzzy, excited about being somewhere that isn't a plane." The airbus' maiden voyage was well documented as passengers marked the occasion by recording their trip on social media. People on-board tweeted pictures of the cushy interior and the lobster thermidore they were served for dinner. Breakfast was served early on the flight as pilots expected choppy weather due to Hurricane Michael, and didn't want customers to end up "wearing their meals". Passengers on Flight SQ22 were invited Thursday to celebrations at the gate, where flight attendants performed songs including the hit "New York, New York." New York cheesecake and hotdogs were served. Campbell Wilson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Singapore Airlines, said the Airbus A350-900ULR, which was delivered two weeks ago, consumes 25 per cent less fuel than an older generation aircraft of the same size. "It allows us to offer a service that eliminates a transfer in the middle, it saves people six hours, it gets people there in comfort ... we think it's going to be a good success," Mr Wilson said. The flight does not offer economy seats. Instead, it has 94 more-spacious premium economy and 67 business class seats, which can fold out into a bed. Business seats come with a mattress topper and firm and soft pillows. Bathrooms in the premium economy section are fitted with a spray for hydration.