Are airlines allowed to schedule flights over Antarctica these days? If not – if you’re not supposed to fly south of 75 degrees, say – then Auckland might be a logical choice.
The airliner is supposed to stay within how many nautical miles of a suitable airport?
My point was that since these two points are nearly halfway around the world from each other, it actually doesn’t affect the distance all that much where the refueling stop is. For example if you wanted to fly from the North Pole to the South Pole, you could add a stop anywhere in the world without affecting the distance traveled. For Shanghai & Buenos Aires, the great circle distance is 12,176 miles; and the distances via various major hubs are:
Auckland does come out slightly ahead, though, since the great-circle route goes pretty close to the South Pole. I would guess that it’s a combination of that, an underserved market, availability of flight slots (Sydney would also make sense distance-wise but it’s pretty congested), and probably umpteen other factors that entire divisions of airlines are well-paid to think very carefully about.
Auckland happens to be fairly close to halfway, which helps.
Turns out if the 777 is allowed to be 2600 nm from an airport, then the straight line EZE-PVG is almost legal for it, assuming there’s no rule against going to 82 degrees south.
I have twice flown Korean Air, Inchon to Toronto, 19 hrs non stop. (Right before Covid hit, cost was $1000) Both times onward to Singapore.
Article about the flight from a flight attendant’s persepective:
That article links to one from the New York Post, which in turn links to one from Travel & Leisure that appears to be the original source of the quotes.
And it’s in the air now
https://simpleflying.com/29-hours-china-eastern-begins-the-worlds-new-longest-1-stop-route/
Latest update on the proposed Sydney-London direct flight.
I found that article slightly confusing because it seems to be using “direct” and “non-stop” interchangeably. They don’t actually means the same thing – direct flights can have stops. So I found myself asking “Is this flight actually going to be non-stop, or merely direct?” I assume non-stop, since is says it will claim the title of longest non-stop flight. (And I doubt a direct flight with stops would be newsworthy, since I’m pretty sure those already exist, or have in the past).
I’ve had flights listed as “direct” (same flight number but with a stop) which involved a plane change at the stop. So “direct” is pretty meaningless.
In the old days, until 1970 or so, “direct” did mean no plane change. Change of plane made the flight a “connecting flight” in the OAG, where all the direct flights were listed above the connecting flights. The airlines somehow got them to change that rule. Think I’ve seen “direct” flights with two plane changes.