There's a new route joining the coveted world's ten longest list. It is Air New Zealand's brand-new ultra-long haul from Auckland to New York JFK, which returned from its first roundtrip on September 19th. It ranks fourth-longest, overtaking Singapore Airlines' long-standing Singapore to Los Angeles.

A summary

The following table summarizes key details of the ten longest routes in October. 'Block out' and 'block in' refers to block time, and the difference between the two is mainly driven by wind direction. Block time is what is shown in schedules and booking engines. It includes taxi time at both airports, flight time, and a reasonable amount of time for delays.

Note that:

• Unless two airlines from different countries operate a route, 'block out' is from the home nation. If there are two carriers, it's based on the airport listed first in 'route'
• If block time varies, the maximum is stated
• Singapore Airlines uses 161-seat A350-900 ultra-long range aircraft to JFK and Newark
• While Philippine Airlines is nonstop from Manila to New York JFK, it routes via Vancouver on the way back, so the 'not n/s'
• Having last operated in March 2020, United Airlines will resume its Houston-Sydney service on October 28th
• Qantas' flight begins and ends in Melbourne
• Some routes by the B787-9 are likely to be payload restricted, at least in one direction

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The world's ten longest routes

Here are the ten in October:

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Welcome, Air New Zealand

The Star Alliance carrier sees its New York service as its pedigree as it assigned its former London Heathrow flight numbers (NZ2/NZ1), an airport it no longer serves using its own metal.

On September 17th, NZ2 left Auckland at 16:23, bound for New York. Flightradar24 shows that it landed the same day at 16:09 after 15h 46m. It used 4.1-year-old ZK-NZN, a 275-seat, three-class B787-9 delivered to Air New Zealand in September 2018.

Returning, NZ1 left nearly two hours late at 23:51, arriving home two days later at 08:27 after some 16h 36m. It didn't hang about. As Air New Zealand times its US flights to connect to/from Australia, ZK-NZN departed Auckland at 10:31 for Brisbane.

What is the longest nonstop route you've flown? Let us know in the comments.