If 18 hours in the air is your dream, then United’s new 787-9 Dreamliner is the place for you to live, or sleep, it.
The airline has just announced a non-stop route from Los Angeles to Singapore that’s scheduled for 17 hours and 55 minutes flying time, beating out Qatar Airways’ flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Doha, Qatar.
But the United flight isn’t the world’s longest by distance; that record still belongs to the Qatar flight at 9,032 miles compared to 8,700 for United and 8,819 for Emirates’ Dubai-Auckland route.
The United flight, which is the longest ever by distance for any U.S. carrier, is relatively slow for the distance because of western headwinds. In the other direction, it’s scheduled for 15 hours, 15 minutes. It’s one of a number of super-distance flights United has been adding recently, using 787s.
