Singapore Airlines will reclaim the title of world’s longest flight when it reinstates non-stop service from Singapore to New York later this year. The Airbus A350-900ULR operating the 18-hour, 15,344-kilometre trek will be configured only with Business class and Premium Economy seating.
The first non-stop Singapore-Newark service will take off on 11 October 2018. Initially a 3x weekly service, flights will increase to daily from 18 October.
The flight schedules are as follows:
- SQ22: Singapore 23:35 – Newark 06:00 (next day)
- SQ21: Newark 10:45 – Singapore 17:30 (next day)
Tickets for the new service are already on sale. A round-trip ticket from Singapore to Newark in Business class is selling for around $6,900 while a Premium Economy seat costs around $2,200.
There doesn’t appear to be any Business Saver award availability on the new flight, although there is some Business Advantage availability for a higher price. If you’re interested in Premium Economy, though, Saver award availability is wide open! You can book a seat from Singapore to Newark for 70,000 KrisFlyer miles and around $80 in taxes. Or, if you’re connecting from Melbourne or Sydney, the price is 95,000 KrisFlyer miles plus around $140 in taxes.
Singapore Airlines already serves four US cities with six different routes. All but one of these flights – Singapore to San Francisco – has an intermediate stop. Singapore Airlines’ Newark service becomes the airline’s second non-stop route to the United States. A third non-stop flight, to Los Angeles, is also on the cards.
Singapore Airlines previously had a non-stop service from Singapore to Newark from 2004 to 2013. This service used fuel-guzzling Airbus A340-500s which, despite the Business-only configuration, were unprofitable. But the much lower flight operating costs – particularly in terms of fuel consumption – of the newer Airbus A350-900ULRs should allow Singapore Airlines to re-enter the market profitably.
SQ21/22 will be the world’s longest flight when it re-launches in October. It will be 500 miles longer than the current longest flight, Qatar Airways’ Doha-Auckland route. The world’s second longest flight is currently Qantas’ Perth-London service. Qantas also has the sixth-longest flight with Dallas-Sydney.
Qantas has already announced plans for a similar ultra-long-haul flight from Sydney to New York within 5 years. The Sydney-New York route is only 400 miles longer than Singapore-New York. Brisbane-New York would be just 100 miles further.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: SQ SIN-EWR to be relaunched on Oct 11
