Qatar Airways may launch world's longest flight

Qatar Airways could be next in line to launch the longest flight between Doha, Qatar and Auckland, New Zealand, clocking in a whopping 18½-hour journey between the two places, reports CNN.

CEO Akbar Al Baker revealed plans for the ultra-long haul in an interview with Bloomberg Business at last week's Bahrain Air Show.

Boeing 777-LR aircraft that can carry 259 passengers would be used to make the trip, reported Bloomberg Business according to CNN.

However, there is no word yet on when the airline is poised to start the service.

Currently, the world's longest flight is operated by Qantas between Dallas-Fort Worth and Sydney, according to statistics portal Statista.com.

At 16 hours and 55 minutes (8,577 miles/13,804 km), the Qantas flight's duration falls short of Qatar's proposed Doha-Auckland route (9,034 miles/14,539 km) by more than an hour-and-a-half.

Setting records for flight distance or duration is a moving target. Emirates Airline is set to eclipse current frontrunner Qantas in the spring, when it launches a route from Dubai to Panama City, Panama, that would last 17 hours and 35 minutes.

And Singapore Airlines, which held the record for the longest nonstop flight until 2013, has considered taking the title back with possible resumption of its nearly 19-hour flights between New York and Singapore, reports CNN.