SINGAPORE – Singapore Airlines has resumed its rights to operate the world's longest flight this week by relaunching nonstop service between Singapore and Newark Liberty International Airport near New York.

Singapore Airlines previously held the crown with the same route until 2013, the year of its cancellation. Now, with its fleet of A350 aircraft, Singapore is back on the road. He launched the service Thursday with the first flight from Singapore.

On Friday, the inaugural non-stop departure for Singapore left Newark. The aircraft and its 161 passengers traveled a distance of 9,535 miles approximately one hour faster than the scheduled time of 18 hours and 30 minutes.

Now that it's back, the new Singapore-Newark flight cancels most of the current connecting options for flights between Singapore and the New York area.

This is a welcome change for regulars on the road, like Bill Rosenthal, a publication director in New York. Rosenthal began operating on this route in 2006 during the previous Singapore Airlines liaison on the route that ended in 2013. Rosenthal said he did not know how many times he did it, but he feels he performs an average of three to four visits per year.

When Singapore interrupted its itinerary, it came back to Singapore's longer and one-stop option going through Frankfurt.

"It's so much easier to fly to New York, sit for a long time, then get off the plane in Singapore," he said as the flight started at 2 pm about, somewhere above Chengdu, China. "I will immediately resume this flight regularly," he added.

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While the aircraft was composed mainly of business travelers like Rosenthal and the media, avgeek types were not lacking in the plane either. Their reason for taking the flight? Because they could.

Nestled in the very last row of the plane, Philip Lewis had an elaborate video setup.

"It's my first maiden flight and I wish to film the full flight, especially this one. It's the longest in the world, "he said. "I thought it would be a novelty."

Lewis arrived from England just for the flight. He then took another Singapore Airlines flight between Manchester (England) and Houston before flying to Newark.

It was a huge roll of dice, considering that Lewis was not 100% sure that his row would even have a window. "It made me a bit nervous," he said.

But luck has arrived for Lewis. Not only did he get his window, but his seat was part of a handle that was alone at the back of the premium economy cabin. He even came up with his own storage space which, as it turned out, was perfectly located for the tripod.

The camera had dutifully shot since the plane was pushed back 16 hours ago.

"You just need two batteries, 11 hours each, and a camera that can be plugged in permanently. And a 128-gigabyte card."

"I hope that will be enough," he said.

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Of course, time is not the only superlative of Friday's flight, the return flight of Singapore Airlines for the relaunch of its Singapore-Newark link, which set records.

On board, 35 bottles of champagne and 60 bottles of wine, including 30 red and 30 white, according to Anthony McNeil, director of Singapore Airlines Food and Beverage, also chef.

In total, more than two tons of catering and catering equipment have been loaded into the plane, McNeil said.

Although much of this weight is made of glassware and porcelain, the rest comes from all the food and drinks needed to support a large onboard menu.

Business class menus offered a selection of vacuum-cooked beef fillets with mushroom cream sauce, baked halibut herb and chicken noodle soup, among others. Appetizers, two choices of desserts, a fruit and cheese basket and a coffee and tea service complete the dining options.

Premium Economy products offered a choice of pan-fried fish in Thai curry sauce, roasted garlic braised beef and roasted chicken breast with herbs. And, as in business class, travelers could choose between hors-d'oeuvres, desserts, bread and coffee and tea.

And in either case, it's just what's available for lunch. The dinner, served around 12 o'clock, was equally hearty.

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And then of course there is a snacking; the traditional way of spending time on the ground and in the air.

According to McNeil, this meant offering more than just chips and chocolate bars. Instead, he says the carrier has opted for more substantial and wholesome items such as noodle bowls, soups and sandwiches.

"Snacks often fill a space in the schedule. Therefore, when you look at the clock and there are still ten hours left and you want to do something different rather than watching a movie, eating allows you to get out of the flight too, he says.

In total, McNeil said that 480 different meal combinations were offered on the flight.

"We have people who want to eat very simply, and we have people who want to eat big fillets and have a nice glass of wine," McNeil said. "We have to cover a wide range of air passengers," he said.

On this flight aboard this aircraft, the new variant "Ultra Long Range" of the Airbus A350, it has only 161 passengers on board. Partly to gain weight, the airline has installed only 67 seats in business class and 94 seats in economy class. There is no economy.

Both cabins have a large TV screen that can access 1,200 hours of content. 200 more than normal flights in Singapore. They also have power seats, WiFi connections, USB ports, storage solutions and small equipment.

Business class, however, offers the added benefit of fully flat lying seats.

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It's a hell of a trip for the crew as well. Seventeen crew members in total share the time, divided between four pilots and thirteen crew members.

For Indian driver Friday, Captain Ray Chaudhury, the inauguration of Newark was almost too good to be true.

"It's the coolest thing you can do," said Chaudry during a break in his duties. "I like flying, but you do not often have such an opportunity: a new maiden aircraft, flying over the poles? It's a dream! "

The route, which took the aircraft Friday a few kilometers from the North Pole, presents unique challenges for pilots.

"As soon as you get on the polar road, you have to take the real direction," said Chaudhury. While pilots often use magnetic headers to determine location and direction, magnet compasses often produce erratic and unpredictable results in the polar regions.

There is also the question of where you can put the plane in case of emergency. With nothing to buy sea ice and remote islands in the Arctic, there is not much choice. Generally, jets are only allowed to get to airports up to 180 minutes, or three hours. But even remoteness justifies the need to extend that to airports up to 240 minutes.

"You need a special approval from the regulators," said Chaudhury.

In fact, the flight often goes so far from civilization that the airline has set up a specialized closet in case someone died before the crew could land.

Do not be afraid, however; the airline says that it has not been put into service yet.

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This is not the first time that both cities are connected. Singapore took the road from 2004, making it the undisputed king of long haul. The flights were made with the Airbus A340-500, then one of the only aircraft capable of traveling such a distance. If the regulars of the trip liked it very much, the four engines of the aircraft, very loaded with gasoline, and the very limited passenger load (about 100 passengers) had made it financially unsustainable. Singapore canceled the road in November 2013.

But the introduction of the new Airbus A350-900 "ULR" twin-engine aircraft made it possible to resume the journey.

The jet is technically a derivative, or a subspecies if you like, of Airbus' already popular A350 aircraft. The widebody jet was delivered for the first time in 2014 and was designed for long-haul flights. Currently offered in two main models, the -900 and -1000, the jets carrying between 250 and 350 passengers, depending on the configuration chosen by each airline. The ULR variant is based on the A350-900.

Both are made from lightweight composite materials and use the latest engine technology.

Airbus indicates that passengers will notice the wide cabins, high ceilings and very large windows of the aircraft.

"You will notice the silent cabin as soon as you leave," Airbus spokesman Sean Lee said during a pre-flight interview.

According to Lee, the average cabin is five mufflers quieter than competing aircraft.

"It makes it easier to relax or sleep without the need for earphones or earplugs," Lee said.

In addition, the carbon fiber composite construction of the jet allows airlines to adjust the cabin altitude to the equivalent of 6,000 feet – more comfortable for humans than the equivalent of 8,000 feet found in most planes. The result means more humidity inside the cabin, leaving the drivers less dry and less tired during and after a long flight.

There are also changes that passengers will not notice.

Airbus says the jet carries an additional 24,000 liters of fuel compared to the standard A350, which represents a whopping 165,000 liters (about 43,500 gallons).

Other changes include extending the ends of the aircraft and helping to optimize each performance.

The changes result in an aircraft capable of traveling 11,100 miles and remaining in the air more than 20 hours, making possible the resumption of Singapore – Newark flight for the aircraft.

At present, Singapore is the only airline to have ordered the ULR variant of the Airbus A350, seven of which have been ordered. Lee, of Airbus, however indicates that several other airlines are planning to use this aircraft.

As more and more specialty aircraft enter the Singapore fleet, the airline will use the jet to relaunch another American route – Singapore-Los Angeles – in November. This flight will be a relatively short distance of 8,770 miles.

Both routes are the latest salvos of what has become the era of very long-haul flight. Last year, Qatar Airways launched the second longest flight in the world, a 9,032 km flight between Doha (Qatar) and Auckland (New Zealand). Qantas takes third place with its new 9,010 mile course between Perth, Western Australia, and London. This service began earlier this year, the first regular non-stop flight between Australia and Europe.

The long flights having proliferated, the routes no longer make it possible to rank among the top ten without going around 8,400 miles, or about 16 hours of flight.

However, despite the renewed popularity of the Newark-Singapore revival, none of the ten longest current routes is yet to stand up to the longest scheduled non-stop flights in history, at least over the course of time. .

This record was established sixty-one years ago in 1957, says John Hill, deputy director of the SFO Museum in San Francisco.

"Pan American Airways began serving the west coast of Europe non-stop with the Douglas DC-7C in 1957," he said, a distance otherwise unheard of at the time.

The TWA followed soon after with the Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, which flew nonstop between San Francisco and London. Flight time, and this remains the undisputed record, often exceeding 23 hours, said Hill.

Although the meals were elaborate and there was a lot of space at the time at that time, it was not always pleasant. Unable to fly as high as today's airliners, the day's long-haul aircraft often had to deal with harsh weather conditions – not over them – which allowed them to make a bumpy ride. Add to that four large piston engines, these planes were also much noisier.

But even then, there was an option to upgrade. The cost of upgrading to a fully reclining bunk seat? A huge amount of $ 50 – or about $ 437 after adjustment for inflation – on Pan American flights, according to Hill.

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