Long-haul flying is one of the wonders of commercial air travel, transporting passengers across the globe on nonstop services lasting several hours. While precise definitions of what constitutes ‘long-haul’ vary among airlines and authorities, the International Air Transport Association defines long-haul as flights lasting between six and 16 hours. Other definitions look at flight distance, typically categorizing routes over 3,000 miles as long-haul.

Operating long-haul flights reliably and safely requires exceptional operational know-how and resources, as well as sufficiently long-range aircraft capable of completing the journey without a refueling stop. So, which carrier has the most long-haul flights? Per data from aviation analytics company Cirium, there are two airlines ahead of the rest of the pack.

United Is Ahead Of Emirates In Long-Haul Flying

Scheduling data from January to June 2026 reveals that United Airlines has more long-haul flights than any other airline in the world. UA’s definition of long-haul is any flight with a distance of 3,000 miles (4,828 km), and the carrier has over 50,000 round trip flights in the first half of 2026 that meet this threshold. This is narrowly ahead of Emirates, which has a total of 48,709 departures in the long-haul category.

For United, long-haul flights constitute just 6% of its total operations, with the bulk of its routes comprised of domestic pairings. On the contrary, long-haul flying is a massive part of Emirates’ business, with 45% of the Dubai-based airline’s operations falling into the long-haul category. Fellow member of the Middle Eastern ‘Big Three’, Qatar Airways, maintains the third-largest long-haul network, centered around its Doha (DOH) hub, while Delta Air Lines and British Airways make up the rest of the top five.

The Best Of The Rest

American Airlines has the sixth most long-haul flights scheduled, and is also the airline with the lowest percentage of long-haul flights in its overall network at just 2%. Lagging behind US competitors United and Delta, American is seeking to bolster its long-haul network in the years ahead, aided by the arrival of the Airbus A321XLR, which is due to make its international debut with AA in March.

Turkish Airlines is surprisingly low on the list at eighth place, but its long-haul operations are more focused on the breadth of destinations than frequency. TK holds the world record for most countries served by any airline at over 130, and has also signed a recent partnership with Southwest Airlines to bolster its US connectivity.

German carrier Lufthansa and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways make up the remainder of the top ten, both offering just under 22,000 long-haul round trips each. Lufthansa is an interesting case study, as the carrier boasts one of the most diverse long-haul fleet mixes of any global airline. Along with newer Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 twinjets, LH operates three passenger quadjets, namely the A340, A380, and 747, and it will also be the launch customer of the upcoming 777X.

Long-Haul Flying Is On The Rise

With global air passenger numbers steadily rising year-on-year, international and long-haul flying has seen a particularly sharp jump in capacity. For example, Boeing’s most recent commercial outlook report predicts the need for over 7,800 new widebody planes over the next two decades to keep up with demand.

Ultra-long-haul flying, which is defined as routes of 16 hours or more flight time, has grown rapidly too, supported by aircraft like the 787 Dreamliner and A350. Narrowbody long-haul flying has also been revolutionized with the rollout of longer-range single-aisle jets, most recently the A321XLR, which has enabled long-haul flying with narrowbody economics.