Special to WorldTribune.com

Emirates Airlines of Dubai will schedule the “longest non-stop flight” in the world beginning next year.

The airline announced on Aug. 13 it will launch a daily flight in February from UAE to Panama City, Panama that will last 17 hours and 35 minutes.

The longest non-stop flights currently connect Dallas to Sydney (almost 17 hours), Johannesburg to Atlanta (16 hours 40 minutes), and Dubai to Los Angeles (16 hours 35 minutes). A Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to New York that lasted nearly 19 hours was suspended in 2013 as the airline took steps to cut costs.

Emirates Airlines said it would use Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, which can also carry up to 15 tons of cargo, for the flight to Panama.

The Emirates fleet consists of 235 aircraft, including the world’s largest fleets of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s, with another 274 planes on order. The airline connects to 147 destinations in 81 countries.

Earlier this year, airlines and aviation labor groups in the United States accused Gulf airlines of taking advantage of interest-free loans, subsidized airport charges, government protection on fuel losses and below-market labor costs that are considered unfair subsidies by the World Trade Organization.

Gulf carriers Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad have denied the accusations, saying the U.S. airlines are resentful of competition.

  Boeing 777-200LR, Dubai, Emirates Airlines’ non-stop flight to Panama replaces Dallas-Sydney as world’s longest, Emirates Airlines’ non-stop flight to Panama to be world’s longest, WorldTribune.com