LAHORE MIRROR (Monitoring Desk)– The battle to offer the world’s longest non-stop flight steps up a gear on Thursday, when a new Singapore-to-New York service takes off.
Singapore Airlines is relaunching the service five years after they withdrew it because it had become too expensive.
It will cover more than 15,000km and is scheduled to take just under 19 hours.
Qantas launched a 17-hour non-stop service from Perth to London earlier this year, while Qatar runs a 17.5-hour service between Auckland and Doha.
Have passengers been snapping up the tickets?
The flight from Changi Airport to Newark’s international airport in New Jersey will be taking off amid much fanfare and with barely a seat to spare.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) said there was demand for customers for non-stop services which help cut travelling times compared with flights which have a stopover.
The airline told the BBC that business class seats for the flight were fully booked.
However, there were “a very limited number” of premium economy seats left.
The airline is not planning to offer any economy bookings on the route.
A business class ticket will entitle passengers to two meals, and the choice of when they are served, plus refreshments in between. They will also have a bed to sleep in.
Premium economy fares will get three meals at fixed times, with refreshments in between.
The brand new Airbus plane that SIA is using has been configured to seat 161 passengers in all – 67 business passengers and 94 premium economy passengers.
“The thinking behind that is that they are selling a premium product – it’s for the top end of town,” says aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, who will be on board Thursday’s flight.
“This is a route between two massive financial hubs, and so they will fill this plane up with business people, or well-heeled travellers who want the convenience of a non stop flight.
“It’s also been proven that when carriers introduce a new non-stop route, the traffic on that route increases threefold.”
Which route will the flight take?
Of two possible routes that SIA could take on Thursday to Newark, SIA has already told its passengers which one it will take – the NOPAC route, or the North Pacific route.
Mr Thomas says it will cover a distance of some 15,341km, but reminds non-aviation experts that while the distance between destinations remains constant, the distance flown and flight times can vary because of tailwinds, headwinds and any need for weather-related diversions.
At the moment, SIA is estimating the flight will take around 18 hours and 25 minutes.
SOURCE: BBC NEWS
