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In September 2025, OAG proclaimed London-Heathrow (LHR) as the most connected airport in the world for the third consecutive year. Even though the airport is operating close to its maximum capacity, the number of international destinations served by Heathrow has grown by 24%. A large part of Heathrow's global reach is thanks to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Most routes from Heathrow are on trunk routes to capitals and other major cities, although there are a few leisure routes to the greater Caribbean. Boeing 787s connect the airport with five continents, including Australia, but excluding neighboring Europe. While many of the longest 787 flights operated at Heathrow are operated by the UK's British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, it also attracts 787s operated by North American, South American, Australian, and Asian airlines. Here is what to know about the longest Boeing 787 Dreamliner routes from London Heathrow Airport, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. This article will limit flights to those over 4,800 miles. How The Boeing 787 Dreamliner Is A Long Haul Workhorse The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is one of the keystone workhorses of long-haul travel. The aircraft replaced the medium-sized Boeing 767 and offers considerable improvements in efficiency and increases in range. The airliner opened up a wide range of routes that were too long for the 767, while not having enough demand to support much larger widebodies like the 777 and A380. The family competes with variants of the Airbus A330neo and A350. In November 2025, Heathrow is set to have a total of 2,127 outbound Boeing 787 flights. These will carry over half a million seats (535,266), with an average route distance of 4,388 miles. The Boeing 787 comes in three variants. The smallest is the original 787-8 variant, which was popular early on, although few airlines are ordering it today. The next variant is the stretched 787-9 with a range of 7,565 nautical miles. It is by far the most popular variant today. In British Airways' service, these aircraft are typically configured with comparatively few seats as the airline places more emphasis on premium seating. The further-stretched 787-10 has a reduced range of 6,330 nautical miles, but comes with a typical two-class seating capacity of 336 passengers. That is 40 more passengers than the 787-9 (296) and 88 more than the 787-8 (248). The 787-10 is better suited for higher density but not ultra-long routes compared with the 797-9. The Dreamliner is a favorite of American Airlines and United Airlines. Neither of these airlines has ordered the upcoming 777X, and neither has received any Airbus widebody aircraft (United has A350s on order). Longest Routes With 787-8 The Boeing 787-8 is to be operated by five airlines on routes longer than 4,800 miles. The longest route is to Tokyo-Haneda by Japan Airlines. The route is operated daily (30 flights) and averages 5,974 miles. Next is China Southern's 5,526 route from Wuhan in Mainland China, although only a single flight is scheduled for November. The third-longest 787-8 route is Avianca's daily route to Colombia's Bogotá at 5,265 miles. British Airways' longest 787-8 route is to Chennai in southern India at 5,121 miles. The route has 28 flights scheduled for the month. The only other 787-8 route over 5,000 miles is also to India, with Air India flying daily the 5,003-mile route to Bengaluru. Also in the subcontinent, Biman Bangladesh Airlines is flying the 4,991-mile route to Bangladesh's Sylhet and the 4,989-mile route to the capital of Dhaka. Biman Bangladesh Airlines also flies Boeing 787-9s on these routes to some degree. British Airways operates the three remaining flights over 4,800 miles. Two are to destinations in the United States, with the Phoenix route stretching 4,914 miles and the Houston-Intercontinental route 4,834 miles. Finally, BA is also operating daily 4,823-mile flights to India's Hyderabad. India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world and is expected to expand significantly in the coming years. Across India, travelers are greeted with new airports, while the country's low-cost carrier, IndiGo, has almost 1,000 aircraft on order. Heathrow's Boeing 787-9 Routes Over 5,800 Miles The longest Heathrow 787 flights are all operated by the 787-9 variant. The longest flight is Qantas's daily nonstop flight from the Western Australian city of Perth. That flight operates daily and covers 8,988 miles. Interestingly, the route is longer than Boeing's advertised range for the aircraft. Next is British Airways' 7,227-mile flights to Chile's capital city of Santiago. British Airways claims the next two longest 787-9 flights with its Singapore (6,764 miles) and Kuala Lumpur (6,593 miles) routes. Both of these routes are operated daily with 30 flights scheduled for the month. China's Hainan Airlines comes next with its 5,999-mile flight to Haikou in the province of Hainan. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic share the next longest route to South Africa's Cape Town. The route is 5,994 miles, with BA operating it 10 times in November and Virgin daily (30 times). The most popular British Airways route, over 5,800 miles, is to Tokyo-Haneda with 43 flights (5,974 miles). Finally, China Southern operates daily 5,911-mile flights from Guangzhou. Heathrow's Boeing 787-9 Routes - 4,800-5,800 Miles There are 18 Boeing 787-9 routes scheduled in November from Heathrow, with distances between 4,800 and 5,800 miles. It is too much to list every route individually, but there is an emphasis on North America and Asia. The longest flights in this category are Hainan Airlines to Changsha (5,637 miles) and Virgin Atlantic to Johannesburg (5,620 miles). After that, the longest route is operated by both British Airways and Aeroméxico to Mexico City (5,541 miles). The first US-based carrier to appear is United Airlines, flying daily 5,456-mile flights from Los Angeles, a route it shares with Virgin Atlantic. In all, there are seven flights to United States destinations operated by three airlines (United, Virgin, and British Airways) to six US cities. These are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, and Seattle. Virgin Atlantic has more emphasis on leisure routes, offering the 5,304-mile route to the Maldives and the 4,948-mile route to Mexico's Cancun. British Airways' longest nonstop 787-9 routes continue to focus mostly on destinations in India and the United States. The only other airlines operating flights in the 4,800-5,800 bracket are China Southern (to Wuhan) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Longest Boeing 787-10 Routes There are no Boeing 787-10 routes scheduled from Heathrow over 4,800 miles, meaning the type does not meet the criteria of this article. Still, a quick consideration of the variant's longest routes shows it focusing on transatlantic destinations. All of the 787-10 flights are operated by British Airways. The longest 787-10 route is to Barbados for British sunseekers (4,196 miles). All other 787-10 routes are under 4,000 miles. These are, in order, Orlando, Washington Dulles, Canada's Toronto, New York-Newark Liberty, New York-JFK, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Boston, Doha, Lagos in Nigeria, Riyadh, and Jeddah. The route to Jeddah is the first to fall under 3,000 miles at just 2,951 miles. Lagos stands out as the only non-North American or Middle Eastern destination receiving British Airways 787-10 flights. Lagos is the largest city and the former capital city of Nigeria and is relatively well connected for the region. Nigeria is not only the most populous state in West Africa, but also the most populous in all of Africa. As stated, all these flights are operated by BA. The carrier has a mixed fleet of 12 Boeing 787-8s, 18 Boeing 787-9s, and 12 Boeing 787-10s. Boeing 787-9s Dominate Longest Routes As expected, the 787-9 dominates the longest routes from Heathrow, with some long-haul routes also flown by the 787-8. Qantas' 787-9 route from Perth to Heathrow counts among the longest nonstop flights in the world and pushes the range of the aircraft. Qantas is set to offer an even longer flight when it launches nonstop flights with its purpose-built Airbus A350-1000ULR airliners from Sydney to Heathrow starting in 2027. Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world and is often ranked as the most connected airport globally. It attracts flights from airlines all around the world, including many of the biggest aircraft. After Dubai, where Emirates and its massive fleet of A380s are based, Heathrow has the second-most A380 operations. The Boeing 787 is one of the most popular widebody aircraft on the market today, with a backlog of some 1,048 aircraft, much more than the Airbus A330neo, A350, or Boeing 777X respective backlogs. All of these aircraft are able to operate the world's longest routes. While the A350-900ULR operates the two longest flights and the Boeing 777-200LR has the third longest flight, the 787-9 currently operates the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh-longest flights. These flights are operated by Qantas and Air New Zealand.
