National Airlines has claimed a new distance record for the Boeing 777F after operating a 9,849-nautical mile nonstop flight from Glasgow/Prestwick in Scotland to Melbourne, Australia.
The US cargo carrier said N792CA (c/n 70548) departed Prestwick on August 4 and landed in Melbourne 19 hours and 23 minutes later on August 5.
Flight N8820 was described by National Airlines as what it believed to be the world’s longest commercial Boeing 777 Freighter flight operated with cargo on behalf of another airline.
The company thanked UK-based cargo and private jet charter specialist Golden Aviation, which it identified as the customer responsible for arranging the operation.
David Giles, Golden Aviation’s director of operations revealed to Airliner World that the shipment comprised a thrust reverser which was needed to support a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which was AOG in Melbourne.
“Due to the relatively light payload of the shipment of just 1,700kg for the single oversized piece, the original flight plan included a technical stop and crew rest in Singapore,” said Giles. “However, given the urgency of the AOG requirement and the significant costs being incurred by the airline in Australia for every day the aircraft remained grounded, we explored the possibility of operating the flight non-stop. National Airlines’ Operations team recalculated the flight plan using the latest en-route weather forecasts and confirmed that a direct sector was achievable, eliminating the planned stop in Singapore and saving approximately 19 critical hours in transit.”
Giles added: “This was essentially a ‘go-now’ B777F operation, confirmed over the weekend [August 1-2]. With the aircraft scheduled to depart on Monday evening, all landing and overflight permits had to be secured within an exceptionally tight timeframe.
“It was a genuine team effort, with National Airlines taking a proactive approach throughout the planning process while Golden Aviation worked closely with the relevant Civil Aviation Authorities, providing supporting documentation and letters of urgency to help expedite the approvals. We were particularly grateful to the UK CAA, who responded quickly and issued the required landing permit within just a few hours of receiving the application, enabling the mission to proceed as planned.”
N792CA was delivered to National Airlines in May as the second of four newly built 777Fs ordered by the carrier at the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow.
National has since taken delivery of its third 777F, with the fourth aircraft expected to join its fleet in the coming months.
The record flight comes little more than a week after Airbus conducted a record-breaking A350-1000ULR test flight as part of Qantas’ Project Sunrise. The aircraft completed a 24-hour 24-minute flight between Melbourne and Toulouse on July 28.
