Air Tahiti Nui Flight 64 (TN64/THT64) was the world's longest domestic flight ever. It was created due to restrictions imposed by the United States over international flights in a context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The flight, operated by Air Tahiti Nui, was between Papeete in French Polynesia and Paris in metropolitan France, traversing a distance of 15715km (9,765miles) and taking 16 hours, 26 minutes.[1] It was a domestic flight as French Polynesia forms an integral part of the French Republic.
The world's longest commercial domestic flight was flight TN64 operated by Air Tahiti Nui, a French airline based in French Polynesia. The flight operated between Tahiti's Faa'a International Airport near Papeete to Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris, France. It covered a great-circle distance of 15715km (9,765miles) taking approximately 16 hours and 20 minutes. With its great-circle distance, it set the record both for world's longest domestic flight as well as the world's longest commercial flight.
Air Tahiti Nui began the route on 15 March 2020, departing Faa'a International Airport at 3:14am local time as flight TN64, flying nonstop to Charles de Gaulle Airport and landing at 6:00am local time on 16 March, taking 15 hours and 46 minutes.[2] The Boeing 787-9 operating the flight (registered F-OTOA)[3] carrying between 130-150 passengers (and no cargo[4] on the eastbound route).[5] [6] TN64 continued to operate the flight through March and April 2020, with its final flight on 19 April 2020.[7] [8] [9] [10]
Prior to this record, the record, at the time, for the longest commercial flight by great-circle distance was held by Singapore Airlines, with their Singapore to Newark route at a distance of 15343km (9,534miles).[11]
French Bee operated the longest nonstop domestic cargo flight, from Tahiti to Paris on 14 May 2020, departing Faa'a International Airport at 10:51am local time and landing at Orly Airport at 3:40pm local time on 15 May 2020, taking 16 hours and 49 minutes.[12] This flight did not carry passengers in part as Orly Airport was closed to all commercial passenger traffic from March to June 2020.[13] The airline further claimed its Airbus A350-900 operating the flight (registered F-HREY) flew a ground distance of 16129km (10,022miles), thus surpassing the distance of Air Tahiti Nui's flight, but was not operated as a commercial passenger flight and no tickets were sold, instead carrying approximately 5 tons of cargo.[14] [15] [16]
The non-stop routes flown by certain airlines were developed as consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions imposed by the United States over international flights which came into effect on 11 March 2020.[17] Before the pandemic, the flight between Papeete and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris was operated by Air Tahiti Nui as well as Air France with an intermediate stop at Los Angeles International Airport, while the flight between Papeete and Orly Airport in Paris was operated by French Bee with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport.[18] [19] The airlines serving these routes also held traffic rights to transport passengers between either Paris or Papeete and the intermediate stop. Both the Boeing 787-9 used by Air Tahiti Nui and the Airbus A350-900 used by French Bee were claimed by their respective airlines to have greater fuel and energy efficiency compared to other similar or older long-haul widebody aircraft, while flying with a smaller payload to be able to achieve the long distance without stopping for additional fuel.[20]
Air Tahiti Nui, French Bee and Air France have all pursued other stopping points to cover the long distance between French Polynesia and metropolitan France, including stopping at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe,[21] as well as stopping at Vancouver International Airport in the Canadian province of British Columbia.[22] However, unlike the intermediate stops in the United States prior to the pandemic, the stop in Vancouver was solely for transit, as none of the airlines could discharge or take on additional passengers at the intermediate stop.[23] [24]
Originally launched in 1994, the longest currently active domestic flight is between Saint-Denis, Réunion, France and Paris, France (via Charles de Gaulle Airport) and covers 9349km (5,809miles) in 11 hours 40 minutes. It is operated today by two carriers, Air France and Air Austral.[25] Previously operated by Air France as a direct flight with refueling stops, it changed to a non-stop flight following the completion of the new longer runway at Saint-Denis that could accommodate Air France's fully loaded 747s in November 1994.[26] Today it is operated using Boeing 777 and 787s, capable of covering the 11 hour domestic flight with ease. While much shorter than the longest domestic flight ever, it remains the longest operating today, beating the second longest domestic flight from Paris' Orly Airport to Saint-Denis, Réunion by just .[27]
| Rank | From | To | Flight | Distance | Scheduledduration | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Paris–CDG | Saint Denis, Reunion | Air France AF 647 Air Austral UU 971/975 | 9349km (5,809miles) | 11:40 | 777-300ER |
| 2 | Paris–Orly | Air France AF 645/671 Corsair SS 773 French Bee BF 701/703/705 | 9337km (5,802miles) | 12:05 | A330-900 A350-900 A350-1000 777-300ER | |
| 3 | Marseille | Corsair SS 633 | 8781km (5,456miles) | 11:20 | A330-900 | |
| 4 |  Boston | Honolulu | Hawaiian Airlines HA 89 | 8199km (5,095miles) | 11:35 | A330-200 |
| 5 | Paris–CDG | Mayotte | Air Austral UU 976 | 8030km (4,990miles) | 9:45 | 787-8 |
| 6 | New York–JFK | Honolulu | Delta Air Lines DL 312 Hawaiian Airlines HA 51 | 8020km (4,980miles) | 11:25 | A330-200 767-400ER |
| 7 |  Aruba | Amsterdam | Tuifly Netherlands OR 364 | 7883km (4,898miles) | 9:55 | 787-8 |
| 8 | Curaçao | KLM KL 734 Tuifly Netherlands OR 358 | 7838km (4,870miles) | 10:15 | A350-900 777-200 787-8 | |
| 9 | Bonaire | KLM KL 765 Tuifly Netherlands OR 366 | 7796km (4,844miles) | 10:10 | A330-200 A330-300 787-8 | |
| 10 | Washington D.C.–Dulles | Honolulu | United Airlines UA 345 | 7752km (4,817miles) | 10:46 | 767-400ER |
| 11 | Atlanta | Delta Air Lines DL 650 | 7246km (4,502miles) | 10:16 | A330-300 A350-900 | |
| 12 | Detroit | Delta Air Lines DL 797 | 7202km (4,475miles) | 10:29 | A330-300 | |
| 13 | Paris–CDG | Cayenne | Air France AF 952 | 7107km (4,416miles) | 9:15 | 777-200ER |
| 14 | Paris–Orly | Air Caraibes TX 570 | 7082km (4,401miles) | 9:10 | A350-900 | |
| 15 | Amsterdam | Saint Maarten | KLM KL 725 | 6939km (4,312miles) | 9:15 | A330-200 |
| 16 | Paris–CDG | Fort-de-France | Air France AF 810 | 6873km (4,271miles) | 8:50 | 777-300ER |
| 17 | Paris–Orly | Air Caraibes TX 510 | 6855km (4,259miles) | 8:55 | A330-300 A350-900 A350-1000 | |
| 18 | Chicago–O'Hare | Honolulu | United Airlines UA 219 | 6829km (4,243miles) | 9:35 | 787-10 |
| 19 | Kailua-Kona | United Airlines UA 66 | 6780km (4,210miles) | 9:23 | 787-8 787-10 | |
| 20 | Paris–CDG | Pointe-à-Pitre | Air France AF 762 | 6774km (4,209miles) | 9:00 | 777-300ER |
| 21 |  Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky | Moscow–Sheremetyevo | Aeroflot SU 1731 | 6764km (4,203miles) | 9:10 | 777-300ER |
| 22 | Chicago–O'Hare | Kahului | United Airlines UA 202 | 6734km (4,184miles) | 9:23 | 787-8 787-10 |
| 23 | Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk | Moscow–Sheremetyevo | Aeroflot SU 6274/6284 | 6662km (4,140miles) | 8:50 | 777-300ER |
| 24 | Vladivostok | Saint Petersburg | Aeroflot SU 2983 | 6554km (4,072miles) | 8:40 | 777-300ER |
| 25 | Nantes | Fort-de-France | Corsair SS 744[28] | 6528km (4,056miles) | 8:50 | A330-300 |
| 26 | Vladivostok | Moscow–Sheremetyevo | Aeroflot SU 1701 | 6423km (3,991miles) | 8:55 | A350-900 777-300ER |
| 27 | Minneapolis/Saint Paul | Honolulu | Delta Air Lines DL 312/435 | 6392km (3,972miles) | 9:15 | 767-300ER |
| 28 | Houston | United Airlines UA 253 | 6282km (3,903miles) | 8:50 | 777-200 | |
| 29 | Anadyr | Moscow–Sheremetyevo | Aeroflot SU 6220 | 6199km (3,852miles) | 8:10 | 777-300 |
| 30 | Khabarovsk | Aeroflot SU 1711/1713/1715/1719 | 6156km (3,825miles) | 8:20 | A350-900 777-300ER |
| Rank | From | To | Flight | Distance | Scheduledduration | Aircraft | Final Flight | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Papeete | Paris–CDG | Air Tahiti Nui TN 64 | 15715km (9,765miles) | 16:20 | 787-9 | 19 Apr 2020 | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | Guam | Braniff BN 505/926[29] | 9799km (6,089miles) | 11:20 | 747-200[30] 747SP[31] | 13 Oct 1980[32] | |
| 2 | Newark | Honolulu | United Airlines UA 363 | 7986km (4,962miles) | 11:25 | 767-400ER | 14 Apr 2024 | |
| 3 | Kahului | United Airlines UA 42 | 7891km (4,903miles) | 10:55 | 767-300ER | 6 Jan 2024[33] | ||
| 4 | Orlando | Honolulu | Hawaiian Airlines HA 85 | 7655km (4,757miles) | 10:50 | A330-200 | 8 Sep 2022[34] | |
| 5 | Charlotte | American Airlines AA 258/569 | 7528km (4,678miles) | 10:06 | 777-200 | 3 Jan 2022[35] | ||
| 6 | Atlanta | Kahului | Delta Air Lines DL 535 | 7131km (4,431miles) | 9:55 | A330-300 | 25 Mar 2023[36] [37] | |
| 7 | Lyon | Pointe-à-Pitre | Corsair SS 742 | 6921km (4,301miles) | 9:20 | A330-300 | 21 Apr 2023[38] | |
| 8 | Sochi | Khabarovsk | Transaero UN 2138[39] | 6900km (4,300miles) | 9:30 | 767-200 | 25 Oct 2015 | |
| 9 | Paris–Orly | Saint Maarten | Air Caraibes TX 520 | 6729km (4,181miles) | 8:25 | A330-200 | 13 Dec 2022[40] |
