Singapore Airlines cancels Changi-Manchester-Houston. What is now the longest '1 stop' flight (purchasable with points)
For seventeen years it was the world's longest '1-stop' flight, that is, direct but with one stop, with the [...]
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For seventeen years it has been the '1-stop' flight, that is, direct but with a stop sign, longest in the world with its more than 26-hour duration in the east-west direction (i.e., headwinds). And for several years it was also one of two fifth-freedom flights operated by Singapore Airlines between Europe and the United States.
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An 'alternative' way (i.e., neither with a European nor an American company) to travel between the two continents. And, most importantly, a bookable flight with points, either by using Lufthansa Miles & More or by converting American Express reward points into Krisflyer miles, Singapore Airlines' Loyalty Program.
Since last March 30, however, the Singapore-Manchester-Houston, operated by the Asian airline daily by Airbus A350-900, no longer exists (but the Singapore-Manchester remains). The reason lies, probably, in the load factor not exactly exciting made over these 17 years: just the average 64%, i.e., less than two-thirds of the seats occupied on the Manchester-Houston route (but can you imagine what a high it must have been for those on board to get ten and a half hours on a plane of a company of SQ's level even almost half empty?).
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The link had been inaugurated in 2008, initially via Moscow. But since 2016, the not-exactly-positive evolution of geopolitical balances had suggested that Singapore Airlines bypass Russia, 'leaning' on Manchester for the intermediate stopover between its hub and Texas.
About 1.3 million passengers flew on Manchester-Houston before it closed its doors, 'handing over' to the Frankfurt-New York Kennedy (operated with Boeing 777-300ER) the 'palm' as the only fifth-freedom flight operated by Singapore Airlines between Europe and the United States.
And further reducing the connections in fifth freedom existing between Europe and the Americas, of which is undisputed star Emirates, thanks to its connections between Milan and New York (JFK), Athens and New York (EWR) and Barcelona-Mexico City, all operated with Airbus A380s. Not forgetting, however, the two flights operated by Air China from Beijing via Madrid to Havana and São Paulo (both with Boeing 787-9s).
Getting its Singapore-Manchester-Houston out of the way, Singapore Airlines has handed over the lead in '1-stop' flights to Aircalin, the New Caledonia-based airline that twice a week connects its Noumeà hub to Paris with a stop in Bangkok using the Airbus A330-900 and to Air China's Beijing-Madrid-Sao Paulo.
East-west direction, the duration of both flights is given as 25 hours and 5 minutes (including the two-hour stopover in Bangkok). Again, all sectors of the flight are operated in fifth freedom and can be purchased using Flying Blue miles, the loyalty program of Air France/KLM.
The podium is completed by Qantas' Sydney-Singapore-London (LHR) A380 (24 hours 45 minutes).
Turkish Airlines' two 'new' A350-900 routes to Australia are, by comparison, quite short: the Sydney-Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul which is given at 19 hours 35 minutes and the Melbourne-Singapore-Istanbul at 19 hours 15 minutes, including stopovers of course.
