Due to its isolated geographical position, Australia is home to some of the world's longest scheduled commercial flights. Qantas boasts many of these routes as part of its network, flying as far as Europe and North America with its able fleet of Airbus and Boeing widebody jets. 

Australia's Longest Flights Explored

Australia has seven routes with a block time of 21 hours or above, all of which are one-stop itineraries. Home carrier Qantas operates the four longest routes, all of which involve its Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport hub. The longest connection—Flight QF33—has a scheduled block time of 25 hours and 20 minutes and is operated by Qantas' Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fleet.

The second-longest is the Australian carrier's flagship QF1 route—better known as the "Kangaroo Route"—which is blocked at 25 hours, traversing a whopping 9,275 nautical miles (17,176 km). QF1 is also Qantas' only Airbus A380 route to make this list, with its third and fourth entries also served by the ultra-long-range 787-9. These are its flights from Sydney to Rome via Perth and the return leg of its Sydney-New York service via a stop in Auckland.

The longest route operated by a non-Australian airline is AC33, Air Canada's connection from Toronto to Sydney via Vancouver, which is blocked at 22 hours and 55 minutes. This is a daily flight operated by the carrier's Boeing 777-200LR fleet. Turkish Airlines makes up the remainder of the list with its flights between Istanbul—the Turkish carrier uses its Airbus A350-900s to fly to both Melbourne and Sydney via stops in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, respectively.

Longest Direct Routes In The World 

A direct route refers to a flight that travels from one airport to another on the same aircraft and flight code but involves a stopover airport. This is in contrast to a nonstop flight, which is direct from airport A to B. The longest nonstop flights nowadays are around 19 hours of flying, but the longest direct services can reach almost 26 hours.

Although QF1 has, for decades, gone down as one of the longest direct commercial air services in the world, Qantas' connection between Sydney and Paris pips it to the top, with the Australian carrier returning to Paris in 2024 after a two-decade absence. The Perth-Paris leg also ranks as one of the longest nonstop segments in commercial aviation, measuring in at 7,700 nautical miles (14,265 km).

With Singapore Airlines discontinuing its Singapore-Houston via Manchester route (which was blocked at over 26 hours), only Aircalin's unusual one-stop service from Nouméa to Paris CDG via Bangkok is longer.

Exciting Future For Qantas 

Qantas will soon be realizing its much-anticipated Project Sunrise project, which will see the carrier launch new ultra-long-haul pairings previously unfeasible with its current fleet of aircraft. This is because Qantas will soon begin flying its specially designed Airbus A350-1000ULR (Ultra Long Haul) widebodies, with deliveries slated to begin in late 2026.

With 12 of these aircraft on order, the added range will allow Qantas to open up nonstop flights from Sydney to London and New York, routes that it presently operates via a stopover airport. These services are expected to be around 22 hours in length, exceeding Singapore Airlines' world-record nonstop connection between Singapore and New York.

Source: Simple Flying