Emirates scheduled two new flights this month. Both are the longest scheduled commercial flights so far.
Over 17h block time !!!
http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2016/03/01/emirates-dubai-auckland-longest-route/
Finally - the world of air-travel gives us back the good times when passengers and crew had plenty of time to get well acquainted with each other during a trip... :)
Singapore Airlines just got their first A350 delivered of which some will be operating the ultra-long U.S. routes that have been abandoned a few years ago, starting in 2018:
But for my taste, 17 hours non-stop would be just too much, especially in Economy. :wacko:
Yes, I know that SIA will launch the A350-900ULR. I belive this aircraft is in particular interesting as it actually does not compromise any cargo space in order to increase it´s fuel capacity by 24 thousand liters. This is the first ULR aircraft to not need to add extra fuel tanks. This aircraft can without major cost differences be operated as a normal A350-900. Though this aircraft will have some aerodynamic improvement optimising it for ultra long range flights and also a 12 ton higher MTOW.
I don't think this delivery is the A350-900ULR. This is just a "normal" A350-900.
The A350-900ULR uses the wings from the A350-1000 and also makes use of the center wing tank (which the other models are not using, if I'm not mistaken). Together with a higher MTOW and the larger fuel tanks in the -1000 wings combined with a lower payload make up for the increased range. But it'll be another two years before we see that aircraft flying commercial...