Cathay Pacific plans world’s longest passenger flight, avoiding Russia

The world's longest passenger flight will be re-routed from New York to Hong Kong over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, according to the airline.

The flight path will cover 16,668 km in 16 to 17 hours.

The New York-to-Hong Kong flight was listed on the website as being non-stop for 17 hours and 50 minutes.

The Singapore Airlines flight from the south-east Asian city-state to New York takes about 18 hours to complete.

The longest commercial flight ever was by Qantas.

The reasons for the flight path giving a wide berth to Russia's airspace was not brought up by Cathay.

Many airlines have canceled flights to Russian cities because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia closed its skies to several European countries and all UK-linked flights in response to a ban placed on them.

The journey will fly across the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia.

Russians are avoiding the EU flights ban.

Hong Kong's flagship carrier said on Tuesday that they are always running contingency routes for potential events or scenarios within the world of aviation.

The Pacific route is more favorable because of the strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year.

Pre-pandemic, Cathay operated three round trips between the two cities.

Due to the financial hub's strict anti-covid measures and lack of passengers, flights to Hong Kong now face frequent cancellation.

The government will relax some of the world's toughest Covid-19 restrictions from 1 April, allowing flights from the US and eight other countries to land in Hong Kong again.