Originally Posted by
RealHJ
Depends from where. Shortest route, unless it's from somewhere far out and non-centralized like LHR, would be over 1/2 the Pacific and Eurasia, of course.
Norwegian Air was said to be considering OSL-HNL (as reported in various media) on 787 (should be about 12~14 hours flying time), but they have recently said that no immediate plans for that. Obviously any such flight from EU would take the shorter route and cross only 1/2 an ocean instead of two.
From Europe to HNL one would not fly over any part of Asia. It is a three ocean trip - the Atlantic (specifically the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea, both parts of the Atlantic), the Arctic and the Pacific - except for departures from points in far south-western Europe for which it is a two-ocean trip (the Atlantic and the Pacific).
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=hnl-lhr.../osl/mad&DU=nm
My guess is that if DY was to fly OSL-HNL, they'd fly just a bit south of the great circle route depending upon WX and their ETOPS range, and if they wish to invest in the required cold-air gear for the crew (required in the case of an arctic landing). There are plenty of diversion airports along the way, but better on the North American side of the arctic (I've only included the principal ones with paved runways):
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=osl-hnl...ak,ome,dyr,adk
Flying over Russia would be geographically longer. Additionally, without a fuel stop, likely requires significant overflight taxes. More importantly, the ATC system is less developed on the Russian side and there are fewer diversion airports.