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Qatar Airways is greeted by the traditional water salute as it taxis the runway at Auckland Airport in New Zealand. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: Qatar Airways has claimed the world title for the longest flight after completing its historic round trip from the Gulf to New Zealand late Monday night.

The Boeing 777-200LR landed at Doha airport 23 minutes ahead of schedule after flying non-stop from Auckland for 17 hours and 7 minutes.

Qatar Airways’ flight 920 had left Doha on Sunday and touched down for the first time on the North Island of New Zealand, where it was greeted by a traditional water cannon salute.

The flight beat the record earlier held by rival Emirates airline, which launched in 2016 its direct commercial flight from Dubai to Auckland, covering 14,200 kilometres and 10 time zones. Qatar Airways’ Doha to Auckland flight spans 14,535 kilometres and takes 16 hours and 23 minutes. Estimated flying time for the return flight to Doha is 17 hours and 30 minutes, the longest in the world.

The whole journey clocked up a  combined distance of more than 29,000 kilometres, marking the launch of Qatar Airways’ new daily service which will offer 116 tonnes of belly-hold capacity every week, 42 seats in Business Class and 217 seats in Economy Class.

The new service is expected to increase the number of Middle East travellers visiting New Zealand. “We look forward to welcoming more Qatari and GCC nationals to New Zealand, taking advantage of [the country’s] 90-day tourist visitor visa on arrival for GCC citizens,” said Jeremy Clarke-Watson, New Zealand Ambassador to the State of Qatar.

“We also look forward to working with Qatar Airways and New Zealand exporters to maximise the potential of the direct service’s freight capacity, which opens up a whole new market for our exporters, particularly in fresh food and beverage.”

Auckland is the first new destination launch of the year for the state-run Gulf carrier. In 2016, the airline added 14 new destinations and is expected to launch more this year and in 2018, including Yanbu and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia; Dublin, Ireland; Nice, France; Skopje, Macedonia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina; Libreville, Gabon; Douala, Cameroon; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Canberra, Australia; Medan, Indonesia and Las Vegas, United States.