Longest flight in the world - 18-hours by Qatar Airways from Doha to Auckland

Qatar Airways is going to begin the longest flight in the world. It will be a 18-hour flight from Doha to Auckland and it is termed as "ultra-long haul flights". The distance between Doha and Auckland is 14,500 km and it would take 18 and a half hours as calculated by Travelmath's flight time calculator.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 27 January 2016.

As indicated by the state-owned airline, it has had its eyes on this market and these ultra-long haul flights to Auckland were part of new expansion plans.
Right now, Qantas operates the longest non-stop flight in the world but with the introduction of Qatar Airways flights,it will take a back seat - the Doha - Auckland flight would beat that route by almost 1000 kilometres. Qantas has been operating a Sydney - Dallas flight since September 2014 - it covers a distance of 13,800 kilometres in around 17 hours.
The Qatar Airways flight would be operating Boeing 777-LR aircraft.
The longest flight that Air New Zealand operates is from Auckland to Houston using Boeing's 777-ER aircraft. It covers a distance of 11,933 kilometres and takes 14 hours and 30 minutes.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Kolkattans have switched loyalties - they fly out during Christmas instead of Pujas

Kolkattans have switched loyalties. Instead of vacationing abroad during the Pujas, they are opting for Christmas which has taken over from the Pujas as the biggest holiday season of the year. This observation is based on the flight bookings in the run-up to New Year.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 28 December 2015.

While the Pujas is supposed to be a traditional tourist season, the general response over the past couple of years have been damp. Instead, the winter holiday season has taken the place of the Pujas. Previously, most of the outbound flights on all sectors had many empty seats in December - that has changed.
Right now, most international flights out of Calcutta have no seats left till December 30, including business class. Industry insiders have attributed this rush during the Christmas-New Year season to longer school holidays apart from a prolonged spell of political peace in Thailand which is a much sought-after holiday destination.
A Thai Airways flight has 39 business class and 254 economy class seats and, till December 30, there are no seats in both classes on Bangkok-bound flights.
In response to the rush, Qatar Airways is believed to be flying a bigger aircraft with 110 additional seats on the Calcutta-Doha route.
Incidentally, the Kolkata market continues to rely on seasonal and leisure traffic on international routes and round-the-year demand for premium seats still eludes the market.

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Qatar Airways changes its policy of sacking cabin crew for getting pregnant or getting married

Earlier this year Qatar Airways had won the airline of the year award for the third time at the annual Skytrax world awards at the Paris air show. But, it has now been shamed into relaxing its policy of sacking members of its cabin crew when they get pregnant or get married within their first five years of employment.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 28 August 2015.

International Transport Workers Federation president Paddy Crumlin has welcomed this move terming it as a "first victory" for staff rights.
Company executives have indicated that the restrictions had been phased out over the past six months not as a result of international criticism but after senior management began a review of working practices last year.
Qatar Airways has nearly 9,000 cabin crew and, around three-quarters of which are female. Under the new regulations, those women who get pregnant would be offered temporary ground jobs and the staff can go in for marriage after notifying the company.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)


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