
Singapore Air Takes Delivery of Jet for World's Longest Flight - tzury
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-22/singapore-air-takes-delivery-of-jet-for-world-s-longest-flight
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telesilla
My 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.

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mandeepj
SpaceX will fulfill your dream soon. And, only they can do it - fly to
anywhere in the world in less than 30 mins

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userbinator
Probably not even as comfortable(!) as a plane, however.

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coder543
I'm not sure about you, but I think I can pretty easily deal with non-luxury
accommodations for 30 minutes.

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anoncoward111
Agree 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.

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rdiddly
Interesting 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.

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gaadd33
One 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.

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rdiddly
Interesting. 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)

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eecc
I’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!?)

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tim333
It's less efficient than stopping half way as you have to lug more fuel and
less passenger. So not a win environmentally.

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chrisseaton
Surely 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.

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jessriedel
For 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.

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codeisawesome
I live in Singapore, I love New York, I wanted to visit LA sometime next year
too - I couldn’t be more excited for this!

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bsaul
I 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.

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userbinator
[https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iDdGphMz2nP...](https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iDdGphMz2nPM/v5/640x-1.jpg)

Does anyone else think something looks off about this picture? The left engine
seems unusually large.

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LeoPanthera
It was taken with a long zoom lens, which makes objects along the axis of the
lens look closer together.

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kmlx
Wow, finally. Can't wait for London to Sydney, which apparently is coming in
the next few years.
[https://www.ft.com/content/fcd01444-bc01-11e8-94b2-17176fbf9...](https://www.ft.com/content/fcd01444-bc01-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5)

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nabla9
Toilets in the flight will be absolutely filthy during the last few hours of
the flight.

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gok
There will only be ~160 passengers sharing 6 toilets, should be better than
average for long hauls.

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nabla9
Toilet 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.

