Qatar Airways Launches World’s Longest Flight

Qatar Airways’ first flight to New Zealand flies over the city of Auckland on its final approach to the airport.

Qatar Airways recently kicked off its 20th anniversary celebrations with a record-breaking flight. On Monday, the national carrier of the State of Qatar launched the world’s longest commercial flight with its new Auckland service, which takes 17 hours and 30 minutes and covers a distance of 14,535 kilometres. Auckland is the first city in New Zealand to be served by Qatar Airways.

Ambassador Nasser bin Hamad Mubarak Al-Khalifa, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker and Todd McClay, Minister of Trade and State Owned Enterprises.

Flight QR920, the first Qatar Airways flight, departed Doha’s Hamed International Airport at 0502 (local time) and arrived in Auckland at 0730 local time – marking a new chapter in the airline’s history.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker travelled on board the inaugural flight from Doha to Auckland.

“The launch of our new service to Auckland is an important milestone for Qatar Airways as we expand both in the region and globally across our network providing more options and better connections to exciting business and leisure destinations in Europe and the Middle East”, Baker said.

Auckland Airport welcomes the first Qatar Airways flight with a traditional water cannon salute.

The new daily flight to Auckland is served by a Boeing 777, which has a two-class configuration with 42 seats in Business Class and 217 seats in Economy Class.

Auckland is the first new destination launch of the year for the airline that added 14 new destinations in 2016 and plans to launch more in 2017/18 including: Yanbu and Tabuk, Saudi Arabia; Dublin, The Republic of Ireland; Nice, France; Skopje, Macedonia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina; Libreville, Gabon; Douala, Cameroon; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Canberra, Australia; Medan, Indonesia; and Las Vegas, U.S.