As reported by Bloomberg, Cathay Pacific plans to reroute its New York-Hong Kong service to avoid Russian airspace. The 10,000+ miles non-stop flight would become the world's longest flight by distance.
The re-routed Cathay Pacific flight would be even longer (in terms of flown mileage) than the current world's longest flight which is Singapore Airlines's Singapore-New York JFK route.
Cathay Pacific’s flight from New York JFK to Hong Kong would take advantage of favourable tailwinds. Its flight distance would be 16,618 km or 10,326 miles. The route would be over the Atlantic, the UK, Southern Europe and Central Asia.
A Cathay Pacific spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that its A350-1000 aircraft was capable of operating this route.
“The transatlantic option relies on the facilitation of strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of year. The flight time could be between 16 and 17 hours “thereby making it more favourable than the transpacific option.”
Cathay Pacific spokesperson told Bloomberg News
Cathay’s most recent New York-Hong Kong flight (CX845) stopped in Los Angeles before continuing over the Pacific to Hong Kong without entering Russian airspace which took 21 hours in flying time.
Cover Image: Twitter/Bloomberg