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Singapore Air Takes Delivery of Jet for World's Longest Flight
- telesilla 8y agoMy ancestors, not so many generations ago, got on a boat to the other side of the world not even sure how long it would take (75 to 120 days) or if they would get there: it's extraordinary to me that I can do the same journey 2 or 3 times a year, in 26 hours: 17 hours from Auckland to Dubai, 2 hour wait, 7 hours to London. I fly a lot between hemispheres and I have to say, I LOVE the long range flights rather than being interrupted after 12 hours in Singapore then having to mentally prepare for another 12 hours. I prefer to just sink into myself on the 17 hour flight and then be excited for "only" another 7 hours. The day I can fly direct from Auckland to London I'll be delighted.
- mandeepj 8y agoSpaceX will fulfill your dream soon. And, only they can do it - fly to anywhere in the world in less than 30 mins
- userbinator 8y agoProbably not even as comfortable(!) as a plane, however.
- coder543 8y agoI'm not sure about you, but I think I can pretty easily deal with non-luxury accommodations for 30 minutes.
- anticensor 8y agoYou will need to wear your high-G suits for that flight.
- anoncoward111 8y agoAgree with this, assuming price and risk of death are within reason. For 30 minutes, I can just take some sleeping pills and be done with it, really.
- YetAnotherNick 8y agoWhy? Source?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- slovette 8y agoRocket out of atmosphere, circle globe at ungodly speeds, fall back down to the ground. Sure. It’s fast. But your body is gonna be pissed about it for awhile.
- dzhiurgis 8y agoAuckland to London won’t happen - new Airbuses don’t yet cut it. But they can do Berlin, Istanbul or Copenhagen.
- chrisseaton 8y ago> Auckland to London won’t happen Well I’m sure they said that about transatlantic flight at one point. I’m sure it’ll happen one day.
- ksec 8y agoAre there any technical reason why this can't be done? Surely it is a business issue? ( Not enough Long Route with passengers that justify developing a special plane for this purpose )
- dzhiurgis 8y agoCurrent A350-900 range is 9700nm[0] which is ~1000km short of London. I doubt that there's going to be enough interest for that route alone. 0: https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/news/en/2018/09/ultra-long-range-a350-xwb-goes-the-distance.html#media-list-image-image-all_ml_0-2 https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/news/en/2018/09/ultra-long-r...
- eecc 8y agoI’m just wondering if this will increase efficiency therefore reducing environmental impact, or whether it will drive demand therefore cancelling any reduction in resource consumption. Air travel is one of the worst offenders in terms of environmental impact (next to shipping... what the hell is wrong with people wanting unripe kiwis or wine shipped from the antipodes when we could - or rather should - regain touch with our surroundings and consume whatever local products the season has to offer!?)
- tim333 8y agoIt's less efficient than stopping half way as you have to lug more fuel and less passenger. So not a win environmentally.
- chrisseaton 8y agoSurely cruising is more efficient than landing and taking off again? I would have thought a significant volume is fuel is spent on the takeoff, and it’s burnt over an inhabited area.
- jessriedel 8y agoFor long enough flights, the one-time costs of descending, re-fueling, and climbing back to cruising altitude are worth it to reduce the continuing cost of the additional weight during cruise.
- tecleandor 8y agoOTOH, they are moving way less passengers. We need to do some math
- nabla9 8y agoToilets in the flight will be absolutely filthy during the last few hours of the flight.
- gok 8y agoThere will only be ~160 passengers sharing 6 toilets, should be better than average for long hauls.
- nabla9 8y agoToilet use is definitely linear in respect to time in my experience. 9 hour flight is very different from 12 hours. Many people want to 'hold it' but longer the flight less of them will.
- khuey 8y agoThe cabin crew can clean them in flight.
- nabla9 8y agoThe flight attendants don't clean the toilets during the flight. They may do some tidying up but it depend on the carrier. Probably something to do with the hygiene during the flight because they are also serving the food. Maybe they could switch clothes and scrub themselves well, but it seems that it's not just done.
- murukesh_s 8y agoI think they can have one crew dedicated for cleaning. Long flights might save extra amount on transit fees and other charges for shifting luggages etc. They can use that for additional crew!
- leesec 8y agoUhh. Plastic Gloves?
- ddeck 8y ago
- codeisawesome 8y agoI live in Singapore, I love New York, I wanted to visit LA sometime next year too - I couldn’t be more excited for this!
- rdiddly 8y agoInteresting side note (for me anyway, or for any aviation or geography nerds or budding "Action" Jack Barkers out there): If they adhere to the shortest Great Circle distance, they'll be going north almost directly over the pole. (Because the two cities are almost 180º of longitude apart.) The flight will likely track north across SE Asia, China, Mongolia, Siberia, the Arctic Ocean, then south through Greenland, Canada, Upstate New York and finally New Jersey.
- gaadd33 8y agoOne article said that they choose the route based on the prevailing winds. If you look at the route that SQ21 takes compared to SQ22 you can see that EWR-SIN is the route you said but the reverse is over the north Pacific/Canada.
- rdiddly 8y agoInteresting. Makes sense - the jetstream has enough of an effect that it's worth it to go a little out of the way, just to have an eastward component to your vector, Victor. Found this kinda cool site... what came next will shock you! Just kidding, not affiliated with them: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA21 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA21 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA22 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA22
- userbinator 8y agohttps://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iDdGphMz2nPM/v5/640x-1.jpg https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iDdGphMz2nP... Does anyone else think something looks off about this picture? The left engine seems unusually large.
- LeoPanthera 8y agoIt was taken with a long zoom lens, which makes objects along the axis of the lens look closer together.
- tim333 8y agoModern high efficiency airliner jets have very large fan blades on the front of the jet. Here's an info sheet on the engine https://www.rolls-royce.com/~/media/Files/R/Rolls-Royce/documents/civil-aerospace-downloads/trent-xwb-infographic.pdf https://www.rolls-royce.com/~/media/Files/R/Rolls-Royce/docu... Also mentioned the efficiency comes partly from being able to run the combustion at 2000K which would melt metal parts but they handle it with a ceramic coating. That's been a bit of a limit on jets - if you crank them too high the middle bits melt.
- kmlx 8y agoWow, finally. Can't wait for London to Sydney, which apparently is coming in the next few years. https://www.ft.com/content/fcd01444-bc01-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5 https://www.ft.com/content/fcd01444-bc01-11e8-94b2-17176fbf9...
- bsaul 8y agoI was surprised to see this flight was using an airbus plane. I remember the time when airbus choose the strategy of big huge planes going from hubs to hubs with the A380, and boeing decided to go for long distance direct flights. The second strategy seemed much better to me, and indeed i think the A380 isn't seeling that well. It seems that it took them only a few years to catch up, and here we are, with airbus offering the best long distance flight plane. That's definitely a great company.