Emirateshas achieved another milestone in aviation history by launching one of the world's longest scheduled commercial non-stop service to Auckland from Dubai.

AnEmiratessuperjumbo aircraft touched down in New Zealandon Wednesday covering 14200-kilometre distance in eastbound direction to overtake Qantas' 13800-kilometre Sydney-Dallas route launched in 2014. The inaugural service was operated with a double-decker A380 rather than the Boeing 777-200LR that will regularly fly the route.

The route was also the longest in duration as passengers will spend 17 hours 15 minutes in the air during the return leg from Auckland to Dubai. That record is expected to be short-lived becauseEmirates' upcoming Dubai-Panama City service in westbound direction to be launched later this month will take 17 hours 35 minutes to connect the airline passenger to Latin America South America and beyond.

"This is an important development for our customers forEmirates and for New Zealand. We anticipate high demand for the route providing a further boost to inbound tourist traffic into New Zealand that now exceeds three million a year" said Gary Chapman president Group Services and dnataEmiratesGroup.

The New Zealand Ambassador to the UAE Jeremy Clarke-Watson chief executive of EmiratesTeam New Zealand Grant Dalton returning from pre-America's Cup yachting held in Oman were also onboard the first flight from Dubai to Auckland.

In command on the A380 flight deck today.Emirates employs nearly 400 New Zealanders including 140 cabin crew and 95 pilots.

"We also expect the service to be popular with New Zealanders seeking faster connections to Europe and the Middle East" Chapman said.

Saj Ahmad chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research said Emirates has triumphed long haul non-stop flights and this new connection to New Zealand arguably starts off development of more long flights which aim to save passengers time and avoid the stop-start notion of getting on and off planes and waiting for many hours in between.

"In launching the world's longest route direct from Dubai to Auckland not only is Emirates giving customers a faster way to travel shaving three or more hours off a connecting flight to the southern hemisphere it also sets up the direction of Emirates future one-stop strategy with new jets that will start arriving in its fleet in a few years time" Ahmad told Khaleej Times.

He said the current route will be flown with a 777-200LR but the non-stopper to New Zealand is primed for new generation jets like the 777-8X which will be able to slash costs thanks to its immense fuel efficiency.

"Air New Zealand will definitely be hit by this move although they do have in their armoury the revolutionary 787-9 it remains to be seen if they opt to move in the same way that Emirates has" he said.

Emirates' new service will bring New Zealand much closer to destinations in Europe and the Middle East than at present with an estimated flight time of just under 16 hours from Dubai to New Zealand and 17 hours 15 minutes in the other direction cutting journey times by almost three hours each way.

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