An Airbus jetliner arrived in Newark on Friday after a nearly 18-hour trip from Singapore, completing the world’s longest commercial flight.
It marked the revival of a route that had been eliminated in 2013.
Singapore Airlines Flight SQ22 arrived at 5:29 am (local time), the Newark Liberty International Airport website said, that made for a flight of 17 hours and 52 minutes.
The flight had been scheduled to take 18 hours and 25 minutes.
The plane carried 150 passengers, 17 crew members and travelled 16,500 kilometers, with only premium economy and business class seats.
“Although you’re in premium economy, you feel like you’re in first class,” said Alladin, adding that he had taken the same flight in 2008.
A one-way ticket from Singapore to New York priced around USD 2,150 in premium economy and USD 3,500 for a roundtrip itinerary, according to the Singapore Airlines website.
Singapore Airlines originally flew the route for nine years using the gas-guzzling, four-engine A340-500 plane before abandoning it in 2013 because high oil prices made the service unprofitable.
This trip was made with new and more fuel efficient Airbus A350-900ULR.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.