Singapore Airlines To Stop Longest Non-Stop Flight

Next year will see the demise of the almost 19 hour flight that connects Singapore to Newark, New York as flown by Singapore Airlines A340-500 series aircraft. It’s not that the route isn’t doing well, it’s because Singapore are trading in their ageing models to be used against the purchase of 5 new A380’s and 20 A350’s valued at just over $7 billion.

At the end of 2013, the non stop Singapore – New York and Los Angeles flights will be discontinued, although the city pairs will seemingly still be served by one stops via Frankfurt (New York) or Tokyo (Los Angeles). The 18+ hour, 98 seat, business-class-only service that Singapore offered on the Newark route was regularly travelled by businessmen and fans of the airline alike, enjoying an uninterrupted 19 hours of top class service, flat beds and amazing food and entertainment. The Los Angeles route (of an equal duration, but shorter route – due to headwinds) was also a firm favourite, the A340 being spotted by many eager eyes at the In-N-Out near the airport.

This now means that the Qantas Sydney-Dallas route takes the crown for longest flight, and the Delta Atlanta-Jo’burg route now earns the longest duration award. So if you want to experience the Singapore mega-flights before they go, book soon!

One thing is sad, to see the Singapore A340-500 aircraft leave the skies, as their livery was very elegant on these birds, and sadly we here at TheDesignair have never flown these routes, and sadly never will.