A non-stop air trip that lasts almost 18 hours

Imagine flying non-stop for almost 18 hours in the same seat. It could get a little tiresome.

Cathay Pacific’s new non-stop New York-Hong Kong route has become the world’s longest - because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It is the longest flight by distance at 16,668km due to the route it has to take to avoid Russian airspace, Travel Mole reports.

The flight will travel over over the Atlantic Ocean, the UK, southern Europe and central Asia en route to Hong Kong from New York, whereas it would normally overfly Russia and the Arctic.

Cathay has just listed on its website a New York-to-Hong Kong flight for April 3 - a flight it said would stay in the air for 17 hours and 50 minutes.

It will surpass a Singapore Airlines flight travelling from the south-east Asian city-state to New York, which flies a shorter distance in a longer time: about 15,343km in 18 hours.

Many airlines have cancelled routes to Russian cities or are avoiding its airspace over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last month.

“We are always running contingency routings for potential events or scenarios within the world of aviation,” Hong Kong’s flagship carrier said in a statement.

Pre-pandemic, Cathay operated three round trips between the Hong Kong and New York every day.

Flights to Hong Kong now face frequent cancellations due to the financial hub’s strict anti-Covid measures, as well as a lack of passengers.