The longest flight in the world for Air Tahiti Nui thanks to the Coronavirus

A little ray of sunshine in a rather sad context. “Thanks to the Coronavirus, Air Tahiti Nui has just broken two records.

The airline usually operates a flight between Papeete and Paris with a stopover in Los Angeles. But because of the Coronavirus, the stopover in Los Angeles was forbidden. The airline should have logically cancelled its flight but took advantage of the situation.

The longest flight in the world in distance

On Sunday March 15, Air Tahiti Nui decided to fly its B787 from Papeete to Paris non-stop. How was this possible? Two things helped.

First of all, a low demand which led to an aircraft that was not very full, and therefore lighter, and therefore with an increased autonomy. Then favorable tailwinds up to 350 km/h.

The flight lasted 15 hours and 45 minutes, which does not make it the longest flight in the world in terms of time but in terms of distance (9,775 miles), beating the Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Newark (9,534 miles). When fully loaded, the B787-9 has a range of only about 9,000 miles (Singapore Airlines uses an A350-900ULR to fly to Newark).

A unique opportunity for a unique flight: it is exceptional circumstances that made this flight possible because it was originally supposed to make a stop in Vancouver. But with the announced closure of Canada to foreign flights, Air Tahiti Night will have to find a solution in the future which could be :

Suspend the route
Going through Guadeloupe like French bee which stops in Point-à-Pitre
Going linon-stop again by lowering the load carried and hoping that the winds are still there, which seems to be a risky bet.

This record flight will certainly be a one-day record, the record for a regular flight remaining with Singapore Airlines while waiting for Qantas to complete its “Project Sunrise”.

The longest domestic flight in the world

However, Air Tahiti Nui has set a more unexpected record for the longest domestic flight in the world: it is the first time that someone has flown 15 hours and 45 minutes and covered 9,775 miles while staying in the same country.

But if this is only a one-day record, the record for a regular domestic flight is also French! It is 5,809 miles long and is jointly held by Air France, Corsair, Air Austral and Fly bee between Paris and St Denis de la Réunion. Almost half the length!