Singapore Airlines launches the world's longest flight
OCTOBER 11TH marks a new milestone in international aviation. Or rather, the return of an old one. Singapore Airlines has relaunched the world’s longest commercial-airline route, a flight between Singapore and Newark International Airport, which is just outside New York. The 10,400-mile flight will take about 18 hours and 45 minutes, eclipsing by nearly an hour the current longest flight, between Auckland and Doha on Qatar Airways. Singapore ran flights to and from Newark until 2013, when it scrapped the route amid rising oil prices that cut into profitability. These days, oil prices are nearly as high as they were then, and yet ultra-long-haul flights seem to be making a comeback. The Auckland-Doha route kicked off last year. In March, Qantas launched a non-stop service between Britain and Australia, currently the world’s second-longest route at 17 hours. In November, Singapore Airlines plans to begin a non-stop flight from Singapore to Los Angeles, with the Singapore-bound flight...