Singapore Airlines: One of world's longest flights from New York to Singapore set to return - and will be even longer

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Singapore Airlines: One of world's longest flights from New York to Singapore set to return - and will be even longer

By Chris Woodyard
Updated
Singapore Airlines will start a nonstop between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Singapore's Changi Airport, flying three times a week starting November 9.

Singapore Airlines will start a nonstop between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Singapore's Changi Airport, flying three times a week starting November 9. Credit: Perth Airport.

A flight will connect New York to Southeast Asia, one of the world's longest nonstop flights, starting next month, a hopeful sign for Americans anxious for global travel who aren't deterred by the coronavirus pandemic.

Singapore Airlines announced Tuesday it is starting a nonstop between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Singapore's Changi Airport, flying three times a week starting November 9.

At a scheduled 18 hours, 40 minutes, the flight is few minutes shy of the airline's longest from the US, also serving the New York area. That flight, from Newark, New Jersey, to Singapore route, remains suspended.

But airline officials say the time is right to add an East Coast ultralong counterpart to nonstops it has continued to operate between Los Angeles and Singapore, scheduled at a little less than 18 hours in the air. Only Singapore citizens or those with long-term passes, however, have been allowed into the country.

Though Singapore shut its borders months ago, the Southeast Asian trading centre has been gradually easing restrictions to allow foreigners to transit to other countries through its airport, Bloomberg News reported.

Aside from travel restrictions, there's also the issue of safety aboard on an ultralong flight when fears still abound about the chances of being infected by the virus. The airline hopes passengers will be reassured by its enhanced cleaning schedules, the air filtration systems it uses aboard the Airbus A350-900 jetliners it uses for the ultralong flights and face mask requirements.

"There are some early signs of optimism about a recovery in air travel," Lee Lik Hsin, an executive vice president for Singapore Airlines, said in a statement. "Our customers say that they are increasingly confident about air travel, given the robust health and safety measures that are in place, as well as testing regimes to protect them and our staff."

The return of the ultralong flight underscores that consumers are anxious to get back in the air, said Henry Harteveldt, industry analyst for the Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco.

"People want to travel and our research shows in Europe, the US and Asia, the desire to travel remains strong," Harteveldt said. He pointed to a survey that his firm conducted in July in which 84 per cent of those participating in the US agreed with the statement, "I can't wait to travel again." He said there were similar strong responses in eight other countries, ranging from 77 per cent in Germany to 90 per cent in China.

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The problem, of course, has been the inability for those who want to travel to find a means to do so. And if countries didn't bar them outright, some have imposed quarantine periods that potentially could ruin any vacation.

"A lot of that has not been accessible to US travellers who want to go abroad," he said. "The traditional popular destinations over the summer, throughout Europe, throughout Asia, have been closed."

USA TODAY

See also: Airline sets new record for longest flight due to US travel restrictions

See also: World's shortest flights: Qatar Airways flies 777 on nine minute, 38 km trip

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