flights were shorter than . Superlative flights Shortest commercial flight The Westray to Papa Westray flight in Orkney, operated by Loganair, is the shortest commercial flight in the world over 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 in early 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impossibility of transit in the USA 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). in a scheduled time of 16 hours and 20 minutes. As of 2023 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. From November 9, 2020, Singapore Airlines SQ 23/24 is the world's longest active commercial flight between Singapore and JFK Airport New York City, USA, covering in around 18 hours and 40 minutes, operated by an Airbus A350-900ULR. Distinctions Absolute distance versus flight length The absolute distance between two points is the great-circle distance, which is always the shortest geographical route. 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 and fuel than the geographically shortest route. Flight Length versus Flight Duration example Even