Flight length

Time-based definitions

Distance-based definitions

David W. Wragg classifies air services as medium-haul being between 1,600–4,000 km; 900–2,200 nmi; short-haul as being shorter and long-haul as being longer.^[11] David Crocker defines short-haul flights as shorter than 1,000 km (540 nmi),^[12]: 208 and long-haul as the opposite.^[12]: 140

Aircraft-based definitions

Flight Haul Type terms are sometimes used when referring to commercial aircraft. Some commercial carriers choose to refer to their aircraft using flight haul type terms, for example:

• Delta Air Lines referred to its Boeing 717, MD-88 and MD-90 as short-haul domestic aircraft; Boeing 757, Boeing 737, Airbus A319 and A321 as long-haul domestic; and its transoceanic Boeing 757, 767, 777 and Airbus A330 as long-haul.^[25]
• Lufthansa classifies its fleet as: long-haul for wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A330/Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380, Boeing 747, and Boeing 787 Dreamliner; medium-haul for narrow-body aircraft like the Airbus A320 and 737 families; and short-haul for regional jets like the Embraer E-Jets and the Bombardier CRJ-900.^[26]
• TUI Airways refers to their Boeing 737 as a short and mid-haul airliner and the Boeing 767 and 787 as long haul.^[27]

While they are capable of flying further, long-haul capable wide-bodies are often used on shorter trips. In 2017 - 40% of A350 routes were shorter than 2,000 nmi (2,300 mi; 3,700 km), 50% of A380 flights fell within 2,000–4,000 nmi (2,300–4,600 mi; 3,700–7,400 km), 70% of 777-200ER routes were shorter than 4,000 nmi (4,600 mi; 7,400 km), 80% of 787-9s routes were shorter than 5,000 nmi (5,800 mi; 9,300 km), 70% of 777-200LRs flights were shorter than 6,000 nmi (6,900 mi; 11,000 km).^[28]

Shortest commercial flight

The Westray to Papa Westray flight in Orkney, operated by Loganair, is the shortest commercial flight in the world, covering 2.8 km (1.7 mi) in two minutes scheduled flight time including taxiing.

Longest commercial flight

The world's longest ever commercial flight was Air Tahiti Nui Flight TN64^[29][30] in early 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impossibility of transit in the United States through Los Angeles International Airport, Air Tahiti Nui scheduled and operated in March and April 2020 Flight TN64 as a non-stop flight between Papeete and Paris-Charles de Gaulle, using a Boeing 787-9 and covering 15,715 km (9,765 mi; 8,485 nmi).^[31][32][33] in a scheduled time of 16 hours and 20 minutes.^[34][35] As of 2023,^[update] it continues to hold the record for the longest ever scheduled commercial nonstop flight (by great circle distance) as well as the world's longest domestic flight.^{[36][37][38][39]}

As of November 9, 2020,^[update] Singapore Airlines Flights 23 and 24 is the world's longest active commercial flight between Singapore and New York–JFK, covering 15,349 km (9,537 mi; 8,288 nmi) in around 18 hours and 40 minutes, operated by an Airbus A350-900ULR.^[40]

Great-circle distance versus flight length

The shortest distance between two geographical points is the great-circle distance. In the example (right), the aircraft travelling westward from North America to Japan is following a great-circle route extending northward towards the Arctic region. The apparent curve of the route is a result of distortion when plotted onto a conventional map projection and makes the route appear to be longer than it really is. Stretching a string between North America and Japan on a globe will demonstrate why this really is the shortest route despite appearances.

The actual flight length is the length of the track flown across the ground in practice, which is usually longer than the ideal great-circle and is influenced by a number of factors such as the need to avoid bad weather, wind direction and speed, fuel economy, navigational restrictions and other requirements. In the example, easterly flights from Japan to North America are shown taking a longer, more southerly, route than the shorter great-circle; this is to take advantage of the favourable jet stream, a fast high-altitude tail-wind that assists the aircraft along its ground track saving more time or fuel than the geographically shortest route.

Flight distance versus flight duration

Even for flights with the same origin and destination, a flight's duration can be affected by routing, wind, traffic, taxiing time, or aircraft used.

For example, on the Luxembourg to Bucharest route operated by Luxair, the scheduled flight length remains constant while the flight duration varies depending on aircraft used. On Thursday mornings, Luxair operates a DHC-8 turboprop with a scheduled duration of approximately 3 hours,^[41][42] while on Saturday mornings, Luxair's use of an Embraer 190 jet reduces the scheduled duration of the flight down to approximately 2 hours 20 minutes.^[41][43]