Cathay Pacific plans world's longest flight to avoid flying over Russia

Cathay Pacific is hoping to offer the world's longest nonstop flight as it reroutes its New York to Hong Kong service to avoid sending passengers through Russian airspace.

Hong Kong's flag carrier will fly over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, covering a record 10,357 miles in 16 to 17 hours, Cathay said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

As well as cancelling flights to Russia, several airlines are avoiding the country's airspace following its invasion of Ukraine in February.

When Cathay was questioned about the new route it did not publicly link the change to the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg said.

Russia and China are still key allies and their foreign ministers jointly condemned "illegal sanctions" against Moscow this week.

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"We are always running contingency routings for potential events or scenarios within the world of aviation," Cathay told AFP.

It also said the route was preferable to flying over the Pacific because of "strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year".

Cathay has requested an overflight permit for the journey which will fly across the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia.

Russia has banned British airlines from landing in the country or crossing its airspace in retaliation for the UK stopping Russia's national airline Aeroflot from landing in Britain.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told ITV's Good Morning Britain at the time that the move was Russia's "tit for tat response."

Russia has extended its airspace ban to other European countries.