Qatar Airways completes world’s longest flight

Qatar Airways has kissed the cloud almanacs by completing the world’s longest flight from Doha, the capital of Qatar, to Auckland, New Zealand, RT reports. Qatar Airways Flight 920 covered a distance of 14,535 km, taking around 16 hours, spanning 10 times zones in the process.

The return trip is actually expected to take even longer, 17 hours 30 minutes, due to prevailing jet streams.Tickets on the record setting flight cost $1,265 one-way for an economy seat while business class seats cost $4,500.

Qatar may not hold the record for too long, however, as Singapore Airlines is planning on opening a route from Singapore to New York route in 2018, which will come in some 800 km longer.

The Boeing 777-200LR is described as being “one of the world’s most technologically advanced aircraft” and is built for such long-haul flights with a maximum range of 10,840 miles.

“On the flight to Auckland there were four pilots on board and 15 cabin crew, who served 1,100 cups of tea and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and more than 1,030 meals,” the New Zealand Herald reported.

Akbar Al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways, was also on board of the passenger jet for the world’s first longest non-stop commercial flight, according to the New Zealand Herald.