Delta Air Lines now has the distinction of having one of the world’s longest nonstop flights, from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Singapore Airlines held the sole distinction for nine years with its nearly 19-hour service from New York to the country’s Changi Airport before ending the flight this week. SIA said the route was no longer worth the operational cost, even if passengers on the 100-seat business-class flight paid more than $11,000 for a ticket on the last flight, according to Relaxnews.com
Now Delta’s Johannesburg-to-Atlanta flight and two other nonstop, 16 hour-plus routes served by other carriers – Dubai to Houston and Dubai to Los Angeles - share the top distinction, according to the Sydney-based Centre for Aviation.
According to Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant, the carrier has one daily nonstop flight between Atlanta and Johannesburg both ways. “It’s the longest in our system in both terms of mileage and time,” Durrant said. The flight is 16 hours and 55 minutes from Johannesburg to Atlanta and covers 8,400 nautical miles, or about 9,667 miles.
Delta is also the only carrier flying nonstop from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to the South Africa.
To see what the flight is like, check out this review from a Boardingarea.com blogger who flew Delta's BusinessElite on a Boeing 777-200LR. It could not be immediately determined, however, when the flight occurred, but it still gives you an idea of what a traveler might expect.
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