Will Leave Qantas And Delta As The Carriers Flying The Longest Non-Stop Routes

Following the announcement earlier this week of a major order for new aircraft, Singapore Airlines said it will be dropping its long-range non-stop routes from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles, flights that covered 8,722 and 8,770 nautical miles, respectively. The are the longest non-stop routes offered by any of the world's airlines.

When Singapore Airlines agreed to the purchase of five new A380s and 20 A350 aircraft, part of the deal was for the planemaker to take back five A340-500 airliners ... the ones assigned to the ultra-long-haul flights. USA Today reports that the new long-range champions will be Qantas, with a non-stop from Sydney to DFW (7,452 nm) and Delta, which flies a non-stop from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa (7,329 nm).

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a release that “the (new) aircraft will enable us to further enhance our network, providing more travel options to our customers. They will also feature the next generation of in-flight cabin products to keep us at the forefront of airline product innovation.” Goh went on to say that while the cessation of the LA and Newark routes was "disappointing ... we remain very committed to the U.S. market. Over the past two years we have increased capacity to both Los Angeles and New York by deploying A380 superjumbos on flights via Tokyo and Frankfurt. We will also continue to explore additional options to enhance our US services.”

In all, Singapore airlines has firm purchase or lease orders in place with Airbus and Boeing for 68 new widebody aircraft, including 15 additional A330-300s and eight additional B777-300ERs ordered last year. This excludes 20 B787s on firm order that will be transferred to low-cost subsidiary Scoot to support its growth plans, as well as regional arm SilkAir’s recent order commitments for at least 54 B737 aircraft.

(Image provided by Airbus)

FMI: www.singaporeair.com.sg