News
Qatar Airways launches world’s second longest flight
February 10th 2017
Qatar Airways touched down in Auckland for the first time on Monday. At 7,498nms, Doha-Auckland is the world’s second longest route. Read More » Air India continues operating the longest passenger flight, the 8,280nms journey from Delhi to San Francisco via the Pacific.
The Qatar Airways flight to Auckland crosses ten time zones. The outbound flight is blocked at 16:20 hours “only”, while the inbound could take more than 18 hours because of prevailing jet streams.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) will eclipse both carriers when it reinstates its Singapore-New York service next year covering a distance of 8,300nms and a 19-hour flight time.
Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, was aboard the first flight. Upon arrival in New Zealand, he reiterated the airline’s commitment to the route, in good times and in bad and irrespective of fuel price fluctuations. "We never close a route when we launch. We are not an airline that is only here for good times. We are here for good times and bad times because we service the people that we operate to.''
Qatar Airways deploys a 259-seater B777-200LR on the daily service, comprising 42 business and 217 economy class seats. It expects the route to be popular with European visitors to New Zealand and Kiwi visitors to Europe, the UK and the Indian Ocean.
The Doha-Auckland rotation will offer 116 tons of belly-hold capacity a week to support the growing imports of raw, industrial and consumer materials into New Zealand, while delivering fresh produce to the Gulf and beyond.
The airline’s arrival in New Zealand raises questions of overcapacity and commercial viability. Emirates Airline deploys an A380 daily nonstop between Dubai and Auckland, in addition to daily triangular services with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Emirates’ flights alone account for approximately 1,600 daily seats between the Gulf and Auckland. Qatar Airways’ new flight adds another 260 seats a day.
Analysts and travel agencies alike have pointed at record low air fares between Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the U.S. in the past six months.
Auckland is the first new route launch of the year for Qatar Airways. It added 14 new destinations in 2016 and plans to launch more in 2017/18, including: Yanbu and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, Dublin, Nice, Skopje, Chiang Mai, Sarajevo, Libreville, Douala, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, Canberra, Medan and Las Vegas.
