Singapore Airlines, which two weeks ago launched a 19- hour flight between Singapore and New York, currently holds the record of the world’s longest flight.
The KQ flight between Nairobi and New York is the 25th longest flight in the world.
In about 17 hours and 25 minutes, Richard Quest flew from Singapore halfway around the globe nonstop aboard Singapore Airlines Flight SQ22 — now the most ultra of ultra-long-haul routes.
It was a little bit of a travel endurance test for everyone on board — passengers and crew. The sheer achievement, mechanical and human, to make it happen — amazing!
The world’s longest nonstop scheduled passenger flight has taken off from Singapore bound for New York. CNN’s @RichardQuest is reporting live on board… and he’s already slipped into something more comfortable. https://t.co/t231HM8UYj pic.twitter.com/GJ4gXqEKfo
— CNN Travel (@CNNTravel) October 11, 2018
This may sound bizarre to the unfamiliar, but to reach the long-distance destination the shortest route is not a straight line. It’s a curved line because the Earth is round. So the passengers flew a curved line nearly over the top of the world and down through Canada to save fuel and precious time.
Quest is expected on board Kenya airways flight to New York but is an experience he brought to all travelers about he longest flight.
Now that its back on solid ground, here are five things to learn during the voyage:
This is the future
“There is something exciting about a new flight…” CNN’s @richardquest is now aboard the Singapore Airlines flight that will soon become the world’s longest. pic.twitter.com/IG47EOFebW
— CNN Travel (@CNNTravel) October 11, 2018
This is a revolution in aviation. These new sophisticated twin-engine airliners like Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350-900ULR Richard Quest flew on are designed to make ultralong routes more profitable.
Most surprising about this plane was the smoothness. And it was so much quieter than he expected. In fact, we were told the average decibel level was 80-85 decibels. But in business class it actually was lower: around 70 decibels. In the back, in the premium economy section, it was 80.
Bottom line: The overall performance of the aircraft was exceptional.
Service
Who said you have to have only one main course? Food time! #WorldsLongestFlight @SingaporeAir @CNNTravel pic.twitter.com/gDuvoMnRPY
— Quest Means Business (@questCNN) October 11, 2018
Meals and desserts are prepared with a focus on quality and freshness. We strive to create a sophisticated dining experience made from the finest available ingredient.
The food was excellent.In premium economy they serve three meals at fixed times. Hot drinks and cold snacks are available all through the flight.
Overall, more than 500 meals were served to the 161 passengers on board.
As for the crew: They were ready. They were prepared for the long haul. Even by the end of the flight, they looked fresh and continued to offer amenities to passengers. The aircraft was clean — including the bathrooms — which were kept clean constantly throughout.
Fighting jet lag
How to cope with jet lag https://t.co/HX4Dnmm8tH via @CNNTravel pic.twitter.com/OJWvMJKY7O
— CNN International (@cnni) October 11, 2018
Before you board, prep yourself mentally and physically for 18 hours on an airplane. Exercise. Eat lightly, limit your day-of diet to soup for example, or just snacks. I used a couple of gadgets designed to help with jet lag — special eyeglasses and a wrist band. I won’t know if they helped until later, because I’ve been awake since early this morning and I only got about five hours of sleep on the flight. (I would have gotten more, but I was gladly working hard, in your service!)
In-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi
The in-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi on the flight was good. In fact, we had been told there would be a significant Wi-Fi blackout on board at some point during the flight because of the track we were flying, but the blackout was never as long as we anticipated. We were able to live blog and post to social media most of the flight.
As for the on board video entertainment, airlines like Singapore and Emirates put huge resources into their on board video. Obviously it’s even more important on an ultra-long-range flight. This flight had personal screens with a wide variety of choices. US carriers are encouraging passengers to bring their own devices and connect to the on board server where they can watch the blockbuster of the week.
I’d love to go home and get some sleep, but I’m still on the clock. I’m on my way to do live TV reports about our journey. And what an unforgettable journey it was!
The route
There are no economy class seats on the world’s longest flight, currently in the air between Singapore and New York. Find out more from our live report: https://t.co/swCX45EySM pic.twitter.com/5ZqnWmEsNl
— CNN Travel (@CNNTravel) October 11, 2018
There were four possible tracks we could have taken across the Pacific to New York via the Great Circle Route, as it’s called, which takes you north over Alaska. Because of the prevailing tailwinds during our flight, the track we followed took us in a northerly direction staying east of China, east of Japan, east of Russia and making landfall into Alaska and northern Canada, before turning more south toward New York. It’s the preferred route because it’s slightly shorter — thereby saving us time and fuel.