A NEW Zealander has set a new world record of flying around the world in the shortest possible time on commercial flights.
Andrew Fisher clocked a flying time of 52 hours and 34 minutes, beating the previous record by three hours and 13 minutes.
He used only four scheduled commercial flights instead of five, covering 41,375km on scheduled flights operated by Air New Zealand, KLM and China Eastern. The flights took him from Shanghai to Auckland; Buenos Aires to Amsterdam; and back to Shanghai.
The Guinness World Records has officially declared the successful attempt a world record.
Andrew, who managed only 16 hours' sleep throughout the journey, said the round-the-world record had been his lifelong ambition.
The Etihad Airways executive has a passion for airline route networks and schedules.
"Planning the trip was a matter of identifying the most suitable qualifying antipodal city pairs and then finding the best routes, schedules and tightest possible connections within the right window of opportunity," he said.