Jetliner lands in US after longest flight

An Airbus jetliner arrived in Newark yesterday after a nearly 18-hour trip from Singapore, completing the world's longest commercial flight.

It marked the revival of a route that had been eliminated in 2013.

Singapore Airlines Flight SQ22 arrived at 5:29 am (0929 GMT), the Newark Liberty International Airport website said. That made for a flight of 17 hours and 52 minutes.

The flight had been scheduled to take 18 hours and 25 minutes. Flying from New York to Singapore would be a longer journey.

The plane was carrying 150 passengers and 17 crew members as it traveled 10,250 miles.

Singapore Airlines only offers premium economy and business seats on this flight -- no regular economy seats. A one-way ticket from Singapore to New York on this flight costs about $2,150 in premium economy and $3,500 for a roundtrip itinerary, according to the Singapore Airlines website.

This trip was made with the new and fuel efficient Airbus A350-900ULR. It topped the previous longest direct air link between cities -- Qatar Airways Flight 921 from Auckland to Doha, which takes 17 hours 40 minutes.