Originally Posted by
cover point
(interesting the distance AI travels is about 300 miles longer than AA ... since it takes a more southerly route. Wonder why?)
Every flight travels a different distance, depending on winds and ATC; there is no AA distance or AI distance.
If the stated distance is different, that is just the official distance and has nothing to do with the actual routing. Both should be the great circle distance, but estimates can vary I suppose. AA gives FF 7484 miles; webflyer.com estimates 7470 for the great circle route, world-airport-codes.com says 7508.
Actual ground miles are significantly greater than the great circle distance (it can't be smaller!), but effective 'air miles' can be less than the ground miles eastbound if the flight is following prevailing winds.
Originally Posted by
FedUp2
That is because AA studiously avoids Iranian air space; whenever I have flown on AA to DEL, I have noticed the plane taking a sharp left turn at the southern tip of Kazakhstan and giving Iran a wide berth. Presumably, AI has no such problem in overflying Iran.
If avoiding Iran makes the trip shorter, shouldn't everyone do the same?