The Longest Flight Covered by a Commercial Airliner Departed from Hong Kong

On November 9, 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR with the registration number N6066Z, nicknamed Baby Blue 2, took off from Chek Lap Kok, better known as Hong Kong International Airport. Its destination? London Heathrow.

Anyone who has ever flown from Hong Kong to London knows that a flight between the two can be long. However, covering a distance of 9,648 km (5,995 miles), it is shorter than the 12,990 km (8,084 miles) flight between Hong Kong and New York JFK, and much shorter than the 15,349 km (9,535 miles) flight between Singapore and New York JFK—the world’s longest scheduled commercial flight as of 2026.

However, on November 9, 2005, demonstrator aircraft Baby Blue 2 took a very unusual eastward route from Hong Kong to London, flying over the northern Pacific Ocean, the North American continent, and the northern Atlantic Ocean before landing in London.

The flight covered a total distance of 21,602 km (13,423 miles)—more than half the Earth's equator— in 22 hours and 42 minutes, making it the longest non-stop flight ever undertaken by a commercial airliner. Eight pilots and a crew of twenty-seven participated in this record, which still stands to this day.

As for the aircraft that performed this feat, it was sold on March 23, 2006, to Pakistan International Airlines and, until May 2025, flew under the registration number AP-BGZ.