American Airlines' to offer its longest non-stop flight

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- American Airlines announced its first-ever non-stop flight between Texas and Brisbane, Australia, starting in October.

This new service, launching from America's largest hub in Dallas, will allow customers a pathway to Brisbane and the state of Queensland.

The company said Thursday it will be the longest non-stop flight in American Airlines' network and utilize the company's newly designed Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The 7,200-mile flight is expected to take 17 hours.

The airline also announced new flights to Brazil, Hawaii and Mexico.

American said it would be teaming up with Qantas to offer customers more services from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver, Canada, to four major gateways in Australia and New Zealand: Auckland , Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

In addition to the new routes, American plans to expand its current service to popular beach destinations this summer, including to Grand Cayman, Turks and Caicos, and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.