Qatar Airways could be next in line to launch the longest flight between Doha, Qatar and Auckland, New Zealand, clocking in a whopping 18½-hour journey between the two places, reports CNN.
Advertisement
Akbar Al Baker, chief executive, Qatar Airways Group, commented that passengers on the new direct service to and from Yerevan will benefit from easier access to the rest of the world via Qatar Airways global network.
The Gulf carrier was scheduled to take delivery of the first Airbus A320neo by the end of past year but has faced delays due to shortcomings of the engines, Al Baker said, citing issues with performance in the region?s high temperatures.
The Qatar Airways Boeing 787 has 254 seats in total: 22 business class seats with a 1-2-1 configuration, and 232 economy class seats with a 3-3-3 configuration. Qatar Airways’ exceptional airfares are available from London Heathrow, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Birmingham, the airline’s fourth destination in the United Kingdom commencing service on March 30.
Currently, the world’s longest flight is operated by Qantas between Dallas-Fort Worth and Sydney, according to statistics portal Statista.com. The flight will take 18 and a half hours to cover the distance of 14,500 km from Doha to Auckland.
The New Zealand government said then the opportunity now existed for the airline to serve New Zealand and “this would be a welcome development”. “The duration of the flight was 28-32 hours, and seated three passengers on a tiny Catalina aircraft travelling at 200km/h”.
Qatar was differentiating itself from competing Middle Eastern airline Emirates, which flies to Auckland via Australia. The carrier recently expressed a desire to restore its direct New York-Singapore service, and the manufacturer Airbus is reportedly working on a variety of its A350-900 aircraft which would allow it do so more economically than before.
“It’s a quality, quality airline”, Thomas said.
Advertisement
“New Zealand is on the radar for a lot of those services”.
