24-Hour Flights: The Airbus A350’s 10 Ultra-Long-Haul Routes In 2026 [Map]

In recent years, the Airbus A350 has established itself as one of the premier long-haul workhorses serving the commercial aviation industry today. This is evidenced by its use on a wide variety of ultra-long-haul routes. The longest of these, in nonstop terms, has a maximum scheduled block time of more than 19 hours, while the type’s longest one-stop services clock in at almost a full 24 hours end to end.

But which airlines fly the longest routes with the A350, and where do these ultra-long-haul corridors serve? Scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, establishes the current top 10 based on the maximum block time between July and December this year.

Finnair Sits At The Top Of The List

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This year’s longest scheduled service with the A350 is Finnair’s route from Melbourne Airport (MEL) in Australia back to its main hub at Helsinki Vantaa (HEL) in Finland via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) in Thailand. While this one-stop service consists of two separate legs, the aircraft and flight number remain the same, and passengers can book it from one end to the other, rendering it a single service.

Flying northwest from Melbourne back to Helsinki via Bangkok, passengers can expect a maximum block time of some 23 hours and 40 minutes this year, leaving them just 20 minutes short of a full day’s travel. Finnair favors the smaller Airbus A350-900 variant on this route. These flights, which will begin in October, were first announced last December. Finnair CRO Christine Rovelli commented on the new route.

“We expect that this new route will appeal to travellers from Europe heading to Australia, as well as Australians exploring northern Europe and beyond.”

Other One-Stop Wonders

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There are plenty more one-stop wonders whose maximum block times in 2026 exceed 20 hours. All of these also use the A350-900 model, with French bee’s service from Paris Orly to Papeete via San Francisco ranking second, at a peak of 22 hours and 30 minutes. Air France, meanwhile, flies from Paris CDG to Papeete via Los Angeles in 22 hours and 20 minutes.

Elsewhere, Turkish Airlines operates two lengthy corridors from Australia back to its main hub at Istanbul Airport. Sydney to Istanbul via Kuala Lumpur ranks fourth, peaking at 21 hours and 40 minutes, while Melbourne to Sydney via Singapore Changi ranks sixth, at a maximum of 21 hours and 10 minutes. As detailed in our previous coverage, Turkish Airlines wants to serve Australia nonstop.

Sandwiched between these routes, China Southern’s route from Mexico City back to Shenzhen via Tijuana peaks at 21 hours and 25 minutes. Elsewhere, Air India’s Delhi-Rome-New York service takes 20 hours and 40 minutes, followed by Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Santiago via São Paulo (20 hours, 25 minutes) and Air China from Beijing to Johannesburg via Shenzhen (19 hours, 15 minutes).

The Longest Nonstop Route

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The exception to the rule in terms of this list being dominated by one-stop routes is Singapore Airlines’ legendary nonstop service from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City back to its main hub at Changi Airport in Singapore. This year, its block time is set to peak at 19 hours and 15 minutes, representing a feat of endurance for passengers,crew, and the aircraft.

However, it isn’t just any aircraft operating these flights. Indeed, Singapore Airlines is the sole operator of the A350-900ULR subvariant, which features a low-density, all-premium configuration and other modifications to enable nonstop ultra-long-haul flights. The type also flies to Newark, which only just misses out on the top ten at a maximum of 19 hours and 10 minutes.