polar vs tropical routes

[PacoMartin]

http://www.gcmap.com/map?P=sfo-del&M...X=540x540&PM=*
Great circle route Delhi to San Francisco is mostly polar via China and Russia (between Mongolia and Kazakhastan).

Air India has not been flying anywhere near the great circle route. Previous routing was over Greenland


New routing is across tropics in Pacific


It makes me wonder if other TransPacific routes could benefit from flying much longer distances in tropical regions and taking advantage of tail winds.

[emcee squared]

Interesting. Keep in mind overflight costs. Russia is rather expensive and they require the appropriate overflight permits. On occasion, it may be 'cheaper' to fly less economically and still save money. Or maybe they aren't able to use adequate airports along the north atlantic route.

Just a thought.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by emcee squared

Interesting. Keep in mind overflight costs. Russia is rather expensive and they require the appropriate overflight permits. On occasion, it may be 'cheaper' to fly less economically and still save money. Or maybe they aren't able to use adequate airports along the north atlantic route.

Just a thought.

But both the polar route and the atlantic route cross Russia. The "long distance" China route is only with the tailwinds, so it is only DEL --> SFO.


Look at the distances on this chart and compare them to the Great Circle distances from gcmap.com

Only the DEL - SFO ranges are radically different. According to GCMAP.COM the DEL to SFO route should have the shortest great circle route of all six routes.

DEL SFO :12,403 km
DXB AKL :14,201 km
SYD DFW :13,805 km
SFO SIN :13,593 km
ATL JHB :13,582 km
AUH LAX :13,503 km