Here's Why The World's Longest Flight Does Not Travel In A Straight Line

Long flights can be exhausting even for frequent flyers. Whether it be crossing international borders or equatorial borders, long flights are some of the most dreaded forms of travel. Being stuck in a metal container for over 10 hours can quickly suck the joy out of your life. So, have you ever wondered which flight route is the world's longest?

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Which is the world’s longest flight route?

When it comes to the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight, the title has been awarded to the flight that travels from the US to Singapore. The weirdest part of the puzzle is that the plane travelling on this route does not follow a straight path.

The flight travels a distance of over 9,527 miles (15,300 kilometres). It starts at the John F Kennedy airport in Queens, New York, and lands at Singapore’s Changi Airport. The flight stays in the air for a stretch of 18 hours and 50 minutes, perfect for a long movie marathon. Rather than travelling east in a straight line, the flight route takes its passengers over the northern curve as they fly above Alaska and Siberia.

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Why does the flight not travel in a straight line?

The image showing the route for the flight went?viral recently as people online tried to understand the science behind it all. The simple explanation is that flights travelling to Asia prefer a curved route as it is safer and much faster in comparison to a straight line on the map.?

According to Monroe Aerospace, “Flat maps are somewhat confusing because the Earth itself isn’t flat. Rather, it’s spherical. As a result, straight routes don’t offer the shortest distance between two locations. Whether a commercial airline is flying from the United States to Asia or elsewhere, it will have the fastest and most fuel-efficient flight by performing a curved route.”?

Given the lack of safety and fewer possibilities of conducting an emergency landing, flights travelling to Asia prefer to take a northern curve and also avoid the Pacific Ocean.

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