The Airbus A380, which was used on the first flight in celebration of the milestone, covered some 8,824 miles when it touched down in Auckland, New Zealand yesterday.

The return flight back to Dubai was expected to be the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight by duration, but it landed too early, the BBC said.

The Auckland-Dubai portion was estimated to take around 17 hours and 15 minutes, but in reality took only 16 hours and 24 minutes, according to local press reports.

A Qantas flight between Dallas and Sydney is currently the longest flight, taking around 16 hours and 55 minutes.

A Boeing 777-200LR will regularly fly the route.

Emirates had estimated that the Dubai to New Zealand route would take just under 16 hours, and 17 hours 15 minutes in the other direction, cutting journey times by almost three hours each way, Emirates said.

“This is an important development for our customers, for Emirates, and for New Zealand,” said Gary Chapman, president group services and dnata, Emirates Group.

“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. We also expect the service to be popular with New Zealanders seeking faster connections to Europe and the Middle East.”

Emirates is also planning to launch a Dubai-Panama City service later in March, which it said would take 17 hours and 35 minutes, the BBC said.

Singapore Airlines used to fly a 19-hour service between Singapore and New Jersey. The company announced last year that it was planning to bring back the service in 2018.