I like lists and world records – it’s just the type of person that I am. I mean, you’re talking to someone who holds several world records, including the fastest time to drive through all 88 counties in Ohio, and the fastest time to jump in all 5 Great Lakes!
I’ve written before about the longest flights in the world, and even wondered what would be the longest flight you could fly for the smallest amount of miles (SPOILER: the winner is Los Angeles to Lima, which is 4180 flown miles for 15,000 points offpeak, or 3.59 PPM (Points Per Mile)
Currently, the record for the longest flight in the world is held by Qantas, with their flight from Sydney (SYD) to Dallas (DFW), clocking in at 8578 miles. Emirates airlines has announced that soon they will inaugurate service from Dubai (DXB) to Panama City (PTY), which will be 10 miles longer, at 8588 miles.
Time for another new record?
It looks like Qantas doesn’t want to lose the #1 spot, as it is reported that have announced that they intend to open up service from Perth (PER) to London Heathrow (LHR) by 2017. The route would be serviced by a new Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
That would clock in a cool 9009 miles and cross 9 time zones! The flight would take 2 sets of pilots and extra cabin crew
The plans would be to leave Perth in the early evening, arriving in London around noon the next day, then returning from London around 3pm, which would arrive back in Perth in the late afternoon (the NEXT DAY)
Of course there’s quite a bit that stands in the way of this intention and actual reality. There are concerns about whether it would be economically viable, as well as the availability of alternate airports should PER be closed for whatever reason (the next closest full service airport is in Adelaide, another 1300 miles further!
Another issue is that the optimal path (shown above) crosses through the Crimea and Caucasus region, which has been closed to Western airlines since the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17 several months ago
More details are found in this article by the Sunshine Coast Daily. We’ll see if this service ever gets off the ground!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Wont the SFO – DEL route be the longest when it starts in Dec 2015 ?
No – that’s only 7700 miles. They were talking about San Francisco to Bangalore which would be shorter (but longer time-wise), but decided to go to Delhi instead
That’s a whole lot of ‘Are we there yets’ 😉
LOL – please shoot me now 🙂