An Emirates Airbus A380 has made what is believed to be the longest non-stop commercial scheduled flight by distance.
After taking off from Dubai, the airliner spent nearly 17 hours in the air, traveling a whopping 14,200km (8,824 miles) before touching down in Auckland, New Zealand.
The flight was also expected to break the record for the longest flight by time, but arrived unexpectedly early, taking just 16 hours and 24 minutes.
The Airbus jet beat the previous distance record held by Quantas’ Dallas to Sydney route by around 400km (250 miles).
However, at a staggering 16 hours and 55, the Quantas route remains the world’s longest in duration.
While impressive, the new record isn’t expected to last for long as Qatar Airways is expected to launch new routes to Santiago and Chile in the near future.
What’s more, Singapore Airlines is expected to bring back its Singapore to New Jersey route in 2018, which is set to cover 115,300km (9,500 miles) during a 19-hour flight.
