Cathay Pacific airline plans to launch the world’s longest passenger flight in April, with a detour on its New York-Hong Kong route that, instead of flying over the Arctic, will cross the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia to avoid the Russia.
The new route will be “just below 9,000 nautical miles” (16,668 kilometers) covered in around 17 hours, the Hong Kong company said in a statement to AFP on Tuesday.
It will be the longest flight in distance, though not in time, as it is slightly below the Singapore Airlines route between the Asian city-state and New York, which covers 15,343 km in 18 hours.
Cathay did not indicate the reasons for avoiding Russian airspace, which it had already flown over in the past.
Several airlines have canceled their connections with Russia, or avoided its airspace since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has already closed its skies to several European countries and all flights linked to the United Kingdom.
The Hong Kong company is trying to obtain a flight permit for this route that will cross the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia. Due to the strong seasonal winds in the Pacific Ocean at this time of year, the airline prefers the transatlantic option over the transpacific option.
Today, flights from the United States and eight other countries to Hong Kong are banned due to the pandemic. They will be able to resume their connections from April 1, thanks to an easing of anti-Covid-19 rules.
