But before you try to run out and down the steps for your traditional papal tarmac kiss - imagine someone tells you that you've got another ten hours to go. And dear reader, imagine also that you'll spend those hours in agonizing discomfort, checking your watch every six minutes and begging for solid ground and fresh air. This is happening more and more this year - they're calling them "ultra long-haul" flights - and they're the result of the newest line of planes with a range that allows for single flights of up eighteen hours without refuelling.

Singapore Airlines made history this spring - claiming bragging rights for the dubious distinction of operating the longest non-stop commercial flight in history - 14,699km (7,937 miles) - 16 hours from Singapore to Los Angeles. It remains to be seen whether the ultra long-haul flight is a welcome trend. Think sixteen hour dental procedure, or tax audit, or job interview, and you'll get the general drift.

Singapore Airlines will soon go one better when their Singapore to New York route begins in the fall - a trip scheduled to take a whopping 18 hours. Many other airlines, including Air Canada, have recently announced their longest flights ever as well. If these mega-flights take off with the general public - you could even say the sky is the limit. Soon, industry insiders expect, planes will be flying which can connect any two points on the globe.

But now that we can fly anywhere in one hop - the question remains - do we want to? Some would argue that we've reached the point of diminishing returns. Needless to say, it is a highly unnatural thing to be hurtling through the air for eighteen hours breathing stale air in a metal tube. We've come a long way from the Wright brothers' first flight ever, more than a hundred years ago, in 1903. Wilbur and Orville Wright could scarcely have imagined, having only managed to stay aloft for twelve seconds, that one day our ability to stay in the air might even surpass our desire to do so.

In a rare case of invention as the mother of necessity, contemporary airplane engineering is allowing for nearly unfettered access to the whole planet. The credit (or blame, depending on your perspective and seating class) goes to European air manufacturing giant Airbus - whose technologically advanced model 340 is making all this air time possible.

The plane has reduced fuel consumption to the point where it is capable of distances never before achieved. And it is the carrier of choice on recently announced, "longest ever" flights for several airlines, including Cathay Pacific (beginning July 1st, Hong Kong to New York, 12,970 kms in 16 hours), Qantas Airlines (Los Angeles to Melbourne, 12,749 km in just over 15 hours), Emirates Air (Dubai to Melbourne, 14 hours) and Air Canada. Rival manufacturer Boeing, not to be outdone, is currently working hard to try to surpass Airbus. When its 777-200LR model is launched in 2006, it is expected to have a range of over 16,000km.