An Emirates Airbus A380 jet has completed the longest current commercial passenger flight by distance.
The plane flew in to the record books Wednesday when it landed in Auckland, New Zealand after an 8,824 mile non-stop journey from Dubai.
The journey beat the previous record set by Qantas which travels 8,577 miles between Dallas Fort Worth and Sydney.
The Emirates return flight to Dubai was expected to set a new flight-time record at 17 hours and 15 minutes, but landed earlier than scheduled according to New Zealand media.
Any time-record the route does set won't last long, as Emirates has already announced another non-stop service to begin this month between its headquarters in Dubai and Panama City.
Emirates said that route, while shorter in distance than Dubai to Auckland, will see passengers spend 17 hours and 35 minutes in the air.
"Panama City will be our first destination gateway in Central America, providing a convenient option for our passengers travelling from or through our global hub in Dubai and onward to destinations throughout Central America," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates.
The inaugural flight to New Zealand from Dubai was made by an A380, but Emirates said the route will normally be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR.
Long haul competition
At the Bahrain Airshow in January, Qatar Airways reportedly announced plans to launch flights from its hub in Doha to Santiago, in Chile, as well as its own service to Auckland.
And Singapore Airlines has already revealed it will revive its Singapore-New Jersey service in 2018.
That flight would break all records, covering some 9,500 miles in an estimated 19 hours.
In a statement Singapore Airlines said it will use its brand new Airbus A350-900, which the airline describes as a "game-changer" for long haul travel.
