Fedor Konyukhov and Ivan Menyailo set a world record

The balloon of Russian travelers Fyodor Konyukhov and Ivan Menyailo flew more than 2,368 kilometers and in doing so broke the world distance record set by Japanese explorers in 1994, the satellite navigation website tracking the flight said on Saturday.

"Russian pilots Fedor Konyukhov and Ivan Menyailo traveled 2,368 kilometers in a PhosAgro balloon, breaking the record for the longest balloon flight set in 1994 by Japanese pilots. They made the longest balloon flight north of the Arctic Circle since have covered a record distance within 67-70 degrees north latitude.The pilots will fly until dawn and plan to land near the village of Khatanga, which is considered the heart of Arctic aviation," the satellite navigation center tracking the flight said in a statement.

The Russian PhosAgro balloon is currently flying at a speed of about 60 kilometers per hour at an altitude of about 4,000 meters above the Krasnoyarsk Territory, north of the Putorana Plateau. Konyukhov and Menyailo, president of the Russian Federation of Aeronautics, set out on a hot air balloon flight from the Murmansk region on Friday around 05:00 Moscow time. They need to stay in the air for about 14 hours to break their own record of 55 hours of flight.

Konyukhov and Menyailo made the first flight in a balloon with an open basket over the sea in the high northern latitudes in the history of Russian aeronautics.

Fedor Konyukhov is a kind of aeronautics legend, the holder of the world record for the fastest flight around the planet in a hot air balloon. For this achievement, he was awarded the title of ‘Pilot of the Year’ by the International Aeronautics Federation (FAI) in 2016. While preparing for the round-the-world flight, Konyukhov and Menyailo set two world records, flying first 32 hours and then 55 hours non-stop in a balloon.