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22 October, 2018

Here’s what the reemergence of ultra-long haul flights means for aviation

In case you missed it, Singapore airlines relaunched the world’s longest flight about a week and a half ago, clocking in at 17 hours and 52 minutes.

That’s more than 15,000 km and, if we’re honest, a bloody long time to be in the sky.

The flight has the potential to change the face of flying as we know it, and have some massive impacts on the aviation industry.

Sara Grady, Head of Tourism at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has offered us her view on what this means for the sector.

‘‘The past year has seen a wave of ultra-long haul flights open up, transporting passengers across the globe in record time and comfort,” Grady said.

“This is driven by greater technological efficiencies, which have made it possible to travel such long distances without fuel stops, and advances that have helped lessen the physiological impacts on the human body.

‘‘But of course, this would be nothing without market demand.

“That Singapore Airlines does not offer an economy seat is telling and hints at the underlying truth that such journeys will, in the short to mid-term at least, be reserved for the wealthiest of travellers.

‘‘It is currently around a third cheaper to travel from London to Perth with a stopover than it is to fly direct.

“With a time saving of only a couple of hours in some cases, the benefits of a direct connection will only be justifiable to the business traveller or the elite holidaymaker.

“It isn’t therefore expected that the impact on the industry will be hugely significant.

“Already we are in a period of great change, with low cost carriers (LCCs) offering more and more and full service carriers (FSCs) either disaggregating their tickets to compete with LCCs, or conversely enhancing their premium offering – as with Qatar’s Qsuite business class bedroom launched this time last year.

“So, the re-emergence of ultra-long haul flights seems to be a natural progression of this market shift.

‘‘As technology advances and familiarity with the concept of ultra-long haul travel reaches the mainstream we will see more and more routes open up, however, we are a long way off ultra-long haul becoming the norm.’’

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singapore airlines ultra-longhaul