AirAsia Philippines sets its longest flight record

Aviation Updates Philippines – On Monday, AirAsia Philippines said it set a new record for its longest flight which flew from Manila, Philippines to Ahmedabad, India via Kolkata, India to repatriate 125 Filipino seafarers from India.

“We are pleased to have not only mounted the longest flight ever for AirAsia Philippines but, at the same time, helped repatriate Filipinos overseas. We know how much they have longed to come home and we are honored to be part of their safe return to the Philippines,” said AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla.'

The special recovery flight, which was done in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Regent Travel Corporation, departed from Manila at 7:05 am local time on July 18. It left Ahmedabad for the Philippines at 9:00 am local time on July 19 and arrived in Manila later that evening.

AirAsia said the flight logged around 14-hours, its longest ever. However, do take note that the airline referred to the accumulated flight time for both the Manila-Kolkata and Kolkata-Ahmedabad sectors and back. That means a single flight, especially on the A320, had not flown for more than half a day straight.

Prior to this historic feat, the low-cost carrier set a record for its farthest flight as it operated a flight from the Philippine capital to Yangon, Myanmar on June 12. On July 18, AirAsia left for Kolkata which marked another record for its farthest single-leg flight yet, covering roughly 1,900 nautical miles in distance.

The average duration of Z2 commercial international one-way flights is 3 hours. 

Since March 16, AirAsia has mounted more than 400 special cargo and repatriation flights, flying over 25,000 passengers and over 600,000 kilograms of cargo to nearly 30 domestic and international destinations.

Photo from AirAsia