The longest domestic route ever was a short-lived flight between Paris and Papeete, the capital of the French territory in Polynesia. The Air Tahiti Nui flight took just over 16 hours and 26 minutes and ran briefly in March and April 2020 (it was launched to avoid international connections during the COVID-19 lockdowns). However, it was expensive and not popular enough with passengers.
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Delta’s cross-country, cross ocean flight seems to have been grounded
The title of the longest domestic flight in the U.S. was recently nabbed by Delta Air Lines (DAL) when it launched a new Boston-Honolulu route in November 2024.
The 5,095-mile trip just slightly beats out the country’s second-longest route between New York and Honolulu. That route continues to be served by both Delta and Alaska Airlines (ALK) .
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Paused in February 2025, Delta’s Boston flight was designed as a seasonal route that was initially supposed to be brought back for the new sun-seeking season in November.
But as first observed by several local Hawaii news outlets, it no longer comes up on either Delta’s website or Google Flights (GOOGL) . Delta has yet to formally confirm that the seasonal flight has been scrapped.
The airline first announced the Boston-Honolulu route to great fanfare in February 2024. It was part of the airline’s efforts to expand its footprint in Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) by increasing flight frequencies from Salt Lake City and Seattle.
Hawaii attracts surfers and adventure enthusiasts from across the world.
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At the time, Delta’s SVP of Network Planning Joe Esposito called it “strengthening our roots within our well-positioned U.S. hubs to match increased demand.”
With Delta canceling the route, here is how East Coast residents can get to Hawaii
But while the 11-hour direct flight to Honolulu from New York continues to see strong demand, running it from the less populous city of Boston turned out to not be as profitable as Delta had initially expected.
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Multiple airlines continue to offer flights between New York and Honolulu, although the more common way for East Coasters to get to the Aloha State is to transfer through Seattle, Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Such West Coast hubs offer significantly more service to the Aloha State with flights to other islands like Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii. Last November, Southwest Airlines (LUV) also significantly expanded its Hawaii service by launching its first red-eye flights to Honolulu from Phoenix and Las Vegas as well as new routes to Kahului Airport (OGG) on Maui, Lihue Airport (LIH) on Kauai and Kailua-Kona (KOA) on the Big Island from the same cities.
“The five new flights will increase connectivity from the Hawaiian Islands to dozens of Southwest destinations,” Southwest said of the new routes at the time.
Launching flights to Hawaii from secondary cities is always a push-and-pull between filling a niche ignored by competitors and continuing to keep the necessary traffic to keep the route profitable — many travelers lament about not having a direct flight to their favorite vacation destination, but booking numbers do not always make it worthwhile for the airline.
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