There could be a few serious cases of jet lag for the passengers on board.
16 hours and 23 minutes after taking off from Doha, the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world landed in Auckland on Monday morning, five minutes ahead of schedule.
The Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LR crossed through ten time zones before arriving in New Zealand’s North Island and after covering a whopping 14,535 kilometres, it was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute given to all inaugural flights on its arrival in Auckland.
We’ve officially landed in New Zealand, the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud.’ Kia ora! #AucklandTogether pic.twitter.com/d0BNsWRU9f
— Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) February 5, 2017
The Boeing 777 that flies passengers on what will be a daily route from Doha to Auckland has 42 seats in Business Class and 217 seats in Economy Class and is serviced by four pilots and 15 cabin crew.
According to The Guardian, the flight from Doha to Auckland is not actually the longest non-stop commercial flight in terms of flying distance (that title is claimed by Air India’s Delhi-San Francisco route), but Doha and Auckland are further apart when measured on the surface of the earth.
The Doha to Auckland route (14,535 kilometres), meanwhile, surpasses the distance between Dubai and Auckland (approximately 14,200 kilometres), which was initially believed to be the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world when it was launched by Emirates last year.
Imagine being stuck with someone like this on a flight as long as that…
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