Originally Posted by
double_black77
I have flew a couple times EWR-HKG when the flight path took us over Greenland, Polar Region, Finland and Russia. Wind speed and direction play a huge role in routing planning.
What I meant was if wind was the only factor, YYZ-HKG or EWR-HKG would fly over the Atlantic well south of Iceland, across Central Europe, and W-E across Russia and China and possibly India. But Russia and China are highly restricted. And things are as complicated if not more in various parts of the Middle East. That's why you go polar.