Cathay Pacific is planning the world’s longest passenger flight by rerouting its JFK to HKG service over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific on a new flight path that will avoid Russia.
The new route will cover “just under 9,000 nautical miles” (10,357 miles)— or 16,668 kilometres in 16 to 17 hours.
Taking off from Hong Kong on April 3, the flight will be a non-stop journey to New York taking 17 hours and 50 minutes.
The flight will overtake Singapore Airlines’ (SQ) ultra-long sector to New York from Changi Airport as the world’s longest flight. The Singaporean national carrier’s journey flies a shorter distance in a longer time — about 15,343 kilometres (9,534 miles) in 18 hours.
Cathay is currently seeking an overflight permit for the journey which will fly across the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia.
Cathay declined to be drawn on the reasons for its flight path giving a wide berth to Russia’s airspace, which it has previously flown through, according to Bloomberg.
“We are always running contingency routings for potential events or scenarios within the world of aviation,” Hong Kong’s flagship carrier said Tuesday in a statement to AFP.
The trans-Atlantic option is more favourable than their usual trans-Pacific route because of “strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year”, it said.
Before the pandemic, which has severely diminished its schedule, Cathay operated up to three daily return trips between Hong Kong and JFK.
Starting April 1, flights from Australia and eight other countries will be allowed to land in Hong Kong again, as the government relaxes some of the world’s toughest Covid-19 restrictions.
To find out more, head to www.cathaypacific.com
