Thanks to low ceilings and cramped conditions, single-class 50-seat regional jets – especially the CRJ-100/200 – are among the world's most disliked aircraft. While their natural domain is relatively short sectors, there are many exceptions to this general rule. Spare a thought for those traveling on the world's longest routes this year.

1,000-mile-plus routes

This year, the average leg for single-class, 50-seat RJs is 370 miles (595km), according to Cirium data. They have a typical block time – including flight time, taxi time at both ends, and time for short delays – of about 94 minutes, a little over one and a half hours.

Then comes the exceptions, with the longest non-stop routes shown below. They're led by Kazan and Barnaul, a small Russian city in Siberia due south of Novosibirsk, about 200 miles (321km) from the Kazak border.

  1. Kazan (KZN) to Barnaul (BAX): 1,374 miles (2,211km); UVT aero; CRJ-200
  2. Arkhangelsk (ARH) to Krasnodar (KRR): 1,335 miles (2,180km); Rusline; CRJ-100/200
  3. St Petersburg (LED) to Khanty-Mansiysk (HMA): 1,312 miles (2,112km), Rusline; CRJ-100/200
  4. Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) to Vorkuta (VKT): 1,190 miles (1,914km); Rusline; CRJ-100/200
  5. KZN to Novy Urengo (NUX): 1,155 miles (1,859km); UVT aero; CRJ-200
  6. NUX to Bugulma (UUA): 1,122 (1,805km); UVT aero; CRJ-200
  7. NUX to Ufa (UFA): 1,057 miles (1,701km); RusLine; CRJ-100/200
  8. KZN to Nizhnevartovsk (NJC): 1,049 miles (1,688km); UVT aero; CRJ-100/200
  9. Nairobi (NBO) to Garowe (GGR): 1,047 miles (1,684km); Freedom Airline Express; CRJ-200
  10. Eureka (ACV) to Denver (DEN): 1,026 miles (1,651km); United Express (SkyWest); CRJ-200
World's longest single-class, 50-seat RJ routes
For more readability, only the Russian services are shown. Image: GCMap.

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A look at the world's longest

You'll see many domestic Russian services in the above list, with the first non-Russian service appearing in ninth position. Russia's enormous geographic area and spread-out population lend themselves to long, thin routes and irregular service. Also for breaking records, not just for 50-seaters, but for the longest A320neo and A319 routes. It also features highly for turboprops.

The world's longest route, Kazan (KZN) to Barnaul, covers 1,374 miles (2,211km) miles. It has a block time to Barnaul of three hours and 20 minutes, and five minutes longer on the way back. It's operated by UVT aero, whose seven-strong fleet consists solely of CRJ-200s. (An even longer airport-pair, Kazan to Gorno-Altaysk, ran until December 30th.)

That might be bad enough but consider the schedule. Benefiting from four time zone changes (!), UVT aero leaves Kazan at 20:40 and arrives in Barnaul at 04:00 the next day. Returning, it departs at 09:30 and comes back at 08:55, another 'time-travel' flight.

But that isn't the end of the story. If one-stops are considered, the entire routing is Kazan-Barnaul-Krasnoyarsk (and back). To reach Krasnoyarsk, one of Russia's larger cities, it has a block time of nearly six hours to cover the 1,781 miles (2,866km).

RusLine Bombardier CRJ Getty
RusLine and UVT aero both have four non-stop routes over 1,000 miles. This specific aircraft was delivered to France's Brit Air in 1998 as F-GRJM. It has been used by RusLine since 2016. Photo: Getty Images.

What about United?

While United (and the US generally) have plenty of long single-class, 50-seat RJ routes, only one exceeds 1,000 miles (1,609km). And even that's a bit of an anomaly. While it is available from Eureka to Denver, it isn't in the other direction.

According to Cirium and reflected in United's booking engine, the CRJ-200 will operate UA5226 from February 12th until May 5th, before and after which SkyWest's Embraer 175s are used. With a block time of two hours and 48 minutes, it's a long way for the CRJ.

The author loves different experiences and – despite being six feet – would happily fly any route mentioned here. What's your longest route by a CRJ-100/200 or Embraer 145?