Emirates Airline has postponed its planned service between Dubai
and Panama City until at least late this year. The flight, expected to last 17
hours and 35 minutes, was to become the longest in the world.
“The decision was made after an
extensive review of all operational factors, including fleet utilization and commercial demand from key markets against the global economic outlook,”
Emirates said in a statement.
Last August, Emirates announced plans to begin the route in
February. The airline later pushed the launch date back to March 31. It’s now gearing toward commencing the service late this year or
early in 2017.
In terms of flight time, the longest existing regularly
scheduled plane service is Qantas' 8,578-mile flight from Dallas to Sydney,
which takes 17 hours.
Emirates launched the world’s longest flight in terms of miles, the
8,824-mile Dubai-Auckland route, this week.