Qatar Airways is planning to launch what would be the longest direct flight in the world, a non-stop route from Doha to Auckland in New Zealand.
CEO Akbar Al-Baker revealed the plan during an interview with Bloomberg Business at the 2016 Bahrain air show last week.
The new route, which is part of the airline's latest expansion plans, would cover 9,034 miles and take an estimated 18 hours and 34 minutes.
This flight would surpass the current record holder for the world's longest direct flight, which is Australian airline Qantas's non-stop flight from Dallas to Sydney,which covers 8,578 miles and takes 16 hours and 55 minutes.
However, Qatar Airways won't be taking the crown directly from Qantas when it launches its new Auckland route, as the Qantas flight will soon lose its record to a new one from Emirates.
The Emirati airline is set to launch a direct flight from Dubai to Panama City on March 31 that will take 17 hours and 41 minutes, which will make it the world's longest flight until Qatar Airways manages to catch up to it.
However, the Qatar Airways flight won't be the first-ever direct flight to surpass the 18-hour milestone, as Singapore Airlines used to hold the record for its non-stop flights from New York to Singapore. The airline's route covered 9,535 miles and took 18 hours and 50 minutes, but it was cancelled in 2013.
The Doha-Auckland route is not the only new ultra-long haul flight Qatar Airways is planning to launch, as Al-Baker revealed the airline will also be introducing flights to Santiago in Chile, Phuket in the Phuket Province, Marrakesh in Morocco and Lisbon in Portugal.
The Auckland and Santiago flights will be using the Boeing 777-LR aircraft, while the Phuket, Marrakesh and Lisbon flights will be using the Airbus A350 aircraft.
During the Bahrain air show, Al-Baker announced the outline of the expansion plan for Qatar Airways, which will include making new investments in other airlines this year.
“We are looking at many airlines. Either they will be successful airlines or they will be airlines where we see there is high potential and that potential is not being properly exercised," Al-Baker said.
Qatar Airways is one of the Middle East's three top airlines, along with Dubai-based Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways. Qatar's state-owned carrier was named the No. 1 airline in the world in the rankings of the 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards .
