This list of flight distance records contains only those set without any mid-air refueling.
| Year | Date | Distance | Pilot | Aircraft | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | February 8–12, 2006 | data-sort-value="41467460" | 41,467.46 km | Single pilot (Steve Fossett) flight.[1] [2] | |||
| 1986 | December 14–23, 1986 | data-sort-value="40212140" | 40,212.14 km | Circumnavigation. Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record holder up to 2006 (current class holder).[3] | |||
| 1962 | January 10–11, 1962 | data-sort-value="20168780" | 20,168.78 km (12532.3 mi) | Major Clyde P. Evely and crew | From Kadena AB, Okinawa, to Torrejon AB, Spain, via Tokyo, Seattle, Fort Worth, Washington and the Azores[4] | ||
| 1946 | September 29 – October 2, 1946 | data-sort-value="18083600" | 18,083.6 km | CDR Tom Davies pilot, Cdr. Eugene Rankin (co-pilot) and two crew | From Perth, Australia to Columbus, Ohio, US | ||
| 1944 | July 2, 1944 | data-sort-value="16435000" | 16,435 km | Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (Omata, Tanaka, Shimazaki, Sakamoto, Motimatsu, Habiro) | From Xinjing to Baicheng, China (closed circuit) | ||
| 1939 | August 1, 1939 | data-sort-value="12936000" | 12,936 km (8,038 mi) | Regia Aeronautica Angelo Tondi, Riccardo Dogasso, Ferruccio Vignoni, Aldo Staiano | Closed-circuit world record | ||
| 1945 | November 20, 1945 | data-sort-value="12739600" | 12,739.6 km | U.S. Army Air Forces
| From Guam to Washington | ||
| 1938 | November 5–7, 1938 | data-sort-value="11520400" | 11,520.4 km (7,162 miles) | Royal Air Force Long Range Development Unit; R. Kellett, H.A.V. Hogan and A. N. Combe (first pilots) + crew of two (also qualified pilots) in each aircraft | From Ismailia, Egypt, to Darwin, Northern Territory, in Australia; three aircraft flew in formation, Hogan landed to refuel at Koepang (500 miles short of Darwin, Australia), the other two landed at Darwin, Northern Territory.[5] | ||
| 1938 | May 13–15, 1938 | data-sort-value="11651011" | 11,651.011 km | Yuzoh Fujita + crew (Japan) | Three-corner course over Japan. Closed-circuit record.[6] | ||
| 1937 | July 12–14, 1937 | data-sort-value="10148500" | 10,148.5 km | Mikhail Gromov + crew (Soviet Union) | , California, US | ||
| 1933 | August 5–7, 1933 | data-sort-value="9104700" | 9,104.7 km | Maurice Rossi and Paul Codos (France) | Blériot 110 F-ALCC | From Floyd Bennett Field, New York to Rayak, Syria | |
| 1933 | February 8, 1933 | data-sort-value="8544000" | 8,544 km | Fairey Long-range Monoplane K1991 | From Cranwell, UK, to Walvis Bay, South Africa | ||
| 1931 | August 18–29 | data-sort-value="8940000" | 8,940 km | From Berlin Tempelhof Airport to Haneda Airport | |||
| 1931 | October 5 | data-sort-value="8851000" | 8,851 km | Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon | Bellanca CH-400 or Bellanca J-300 Miss Veedol From | Wenatchee Washington to Misawa Japan | |
| 1931 | July 28–31 | data-sort-value="8066000" | 8,066 km | Bellanca J-300 Special Cape Cod NR761W | From Floyd Bennett Field to Istanbul[7] | ||
| 1929 | December 15–19, 1929 | data-sort-value="8029440" | 8,029.44 km | Dieudonné Costes and P. Codas | Breguet 19 Super Bidon Point d'Interrogation | Closed-circuit record.[8] [9] | |
| 1929 | September 27–29, 1929 | data-sort-value="7905140" | 7,905.140 km | Breguet 19 Super Bidon Point d'Interrogation | Paris to Qiqihar, China.[10] | ||
| 1928 | July 3–5, 1928 | data-sort-value="7188260" | 7,188.26 km | Arturo Ferrarin and Carlo del Prete | Savoia Marchetti S.64 | From Montecelio (Italy) to Touros (Brasil). Distance in a straight line. FAI Database ID#9108 | |
| 1927 | June 28–29 | data-sort-value="3862430" | 3,862.43 km | From California to Hawaii, the longest open sea flight up to that date, in the "Bird of Paradise". They received the Mackey Trophy and the Distinguished Flying Cross from President Calvin Coolidge for this achievement.[11] | |||
| 1927 | May 20–21, 1927 | data-sort-value="5809000" | 5,809 km | Single pilot flight, New York to Paris[12] [13] | |||
| 1926 | October 28–29, 1926 | data-sort-value="5396000" | 5,396 km | Dieudonné Costes and Jean Rignot | Breguet 19 GR | From Paris–Le Bourget Airport to Djask, Iran[14] | |
| 1926 | August 31 – September 1, 1926 | data-sort-value="5174000" | 5,174 km | Breguet 19 GR | From Paris–Le Bourget Airport to Bandar Abbas[15] | ||
| 1926 | July 14–15, 1926 | data-sort-value="4715900" | 4715.90 km | André Girier and François Dordilly | Breguet 19 GR | From Paris to Omsk[16] [17] | |
| 1926 | June 26–27, 1926 | data-sort-value="4313000" | 4313 km | Ludovic Arrachart and Paul Arrachart | From Paris to Basrah, Iraq[18] [19] | ||
| 1925 | August 30–31, 1925 | data-sort-value="3206000" | 3,206 km | CDR John Rodgers (USN) | From San Francisco and Honolulu by Seaplane over open water without visual navigational aides.[20] [21] | ||
| 1925 | August 7–9, 1925 | data-sort-value="4400000" | 4,400 km | Maurice Drouhin and Jules Landry | Closed circuit Chartres–Étampes–Toussus–Chartres.[22] [23] | ||
| 1925 | February 3–4, 1925 | data-sort-value="3166300" | 3,166.30 km | Ludovic Arrachart and Henry Lemaitre | Distance in a straight line record. Étampes–Villa Cisneros.[24] [25] | ||
| 1923 | April 16–17, 1923 | data-sort-value="4050000" | 4,050 km | Closed circuit around Dayton, Ohio[26] [27] | |||
| 1920 | June 3–4, 1920 | data-sort-value="1915200" | 1,915.2 km | L Boussoutrot and J Bernard | Closed-circuit record[28] | ||
| 1919 | June 14–15, 1919 | data-sort-value="3040000" | 3,040 km | Flew non-stop from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, in 15 hours 57 minutes | |||
| 1914 | February 7, 1914 | data-sort-value="1699000" | 1,699 km | Mercedes Aviatik-Pfeil[29] | He flew continuously from 7:35 am until 11:55 pm covering 1,056 miles in 16 hours and 20 minutes.[30] | ||
| 1903 | December 17, 1903 | data-sort-value="279" align="center" | 279 m | 59 seconds | |||
| 1903 | December 17, 1903 | data-sort-value="39" align="center" | 39 m | 12 seconds | |||
| 1852 | September 24, 1852 | data-sort-value="27359" align"center" | 27.36 km (17 miles) | Over an hour[31] |
See main article: Longest flights.
| Year | Date | Distance | Pilot | Aircraft | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | November 9, 2005 | 21,601 km [32] | Suzanna Darcy-Henneman, Richard Austin, John Cashman, Mathew Mathew, Frank P. Santoni Jr, Philip Schultz, Rodney Skaar | Hong Kong International Airport to London Heathrow Airport the long way round taking 22 hours, 22 minutes[33] [34] | ||
| 1997 | April 2, 1997 | 20,045 km [35] | Frank P. Santoni Jr, Richard Austin, John Cashman, Charles Hovlano, Joseph McDonald, James McRoberts, Rodney Skaar | Malaysia Airlines delivery flight from Boeing Field, Seattle to Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 21 hours and 23 minutes.[36] [37] | ||
| 1993 | June 16 to 18, 1993 | 19,246 km[38] [39] | Pierre Baud, Gérard Guyot, Nicholas "Nick" Warner, Bernard Ziegler | Airbus A340-200 | Set two new records as it flew an around the world route. First flying 19089km (11,861miles) from Paris-Le Bourget Airport to Auckland, New Zealand in 21 hours and 32 minutes.[40] After a 5 hour layover, the flight continued east-bound on a slightly longer route back to Paris-Le Bourget flying 19246km (11,959miles), covering a great circle distance of 18541km (11,521miles)[41] in 21 hours and 46 minutes.[42] [43] [44] | |
| 2011 | December 6, 2011 | 19,142 km [45] [46] | Michael Carriker, Chad Lundy, Gregory McCann, William Roberson, Rodney Skaar, Christine Walsh | Boeing 787-8 | Boeing Field to Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, Bangladesh in 21 hours and 43 minutes on a trans-atlantic eastward route.[47] | |
| 2020 | April 14 to 15, 2020 | 18,209 km | Virgin Australia ferry flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Brisbane Airport in 19 hours and 45 minutes; returning after evacuating French citizens from New Zealand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | |||
| 2019 | November 14 to 15, 2019 | 17,750 km | Boeing 787-9 | Qantas Between London Heathrow Airport and Sydney International Airport in 19 hours and 19 minutes.[48] | ||
| 2013 | June 6, 2013 | 17,312 km | Delta Air Lines ferry flight between Singapore and Atlanta in 18 hours and 34 minutes; returning from extensive cabin renovations. | |||
| 1989 | August 16 to 17, 1989 | 17,039 km [49] | David Massy-Greene | Boeing 747-400 | Qantas delivery flight from London Heathrow Airport to Sydney International Airport in 20 hours and 9 minutes.[50] [51] | |
| 2002 | December 24, 2002 | 16,901 km [52] | Bruce Simpson, David Collier, Bruce Van Eyle, James Peach | Qantas between Toulouse and Melbourne in 20 hours 4 minutes.[53] | ||
| 2004 | June 28, 2004 | 16,467 km[54] | Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Newark, New Jersey, in a scheduled time of 18 hours 20 minutes covering approximately 16,600 km. It was the longest regularly scheduled commercial flight except until termination on November 23, 2013, and relaunch on October 18, 2018 [55] until being surpassed in 2020. | |||
| 2019 | October 18 to 20, 2019 | 16,200 km | Boeing 787-9 | Qantas between New York and Sydney in 19 hours 16 minutes.[56] [57] | ||
| 2003 | November 5, 2003 | 15,300 km | Boeing Company between Sydney and Recife, Brazil in 18 hours 25 minutes. ETOPS test flight.[58] | |||
| 2017 | February 5, 2017 | 14,535 km | Qatar Airways between Doha and Auckland in 16 hours 10 minutes, formerly the world's longest commercial flight. | |||
| 2004 | February 3, 2004 | 14,093 km | Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Los Angeles in 14 hours 42 minutes. | |||
| 1988 | September 17, 1988 | 14,042 km | Air Mauritius between Halifax and Mauritius in 16 hours and 27 minutes. |
The Loganair Westray to Papa Westray route and its return flight make up the shortest flight distance for any scheduled air carrier service. The route is 2.8 km (1.7 miles), and travel time, including taxi, is usually less than two minutes. The route is served by Loganair airlines' Britten-Norman Islander aircraft and links the island of Westray and the town of Kirkwall, on the Orkney Islands in Scotland. This record was established when service began in 1967, and it remains in effect as of December 2022.[59] [60]
| Date | Measurement | Person | Aircraft | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 21, 2003 | 3,008.8 km | The gliding flight consisted of four legs along the eastern side of the Andes mountain range. The flight time of 15h 8m giving an average speed of almost exactly 200 km/h.[61] [62] | |||
| March 21, 1999 | 40,814 km | Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones | Distance record for a balloon | ||
| January 31, 2015 | 10,711 km | Troy Bradley and Leonid Tiukhtyaev | Distance record for a straight gas balloon | ||
| April 23, 1988 | 115.11 km | Straight distance record for Humanpowered aeroplane. This record was achieved by flying from Iraklion to Santorini Island for 3 h 54 min 59 sec.[63] [64] |