Originally Posted by
marnold3
Surprisingly enough, flight 193 (the newly announced route from LAX to HKG) is only the fourth longest flight in the current AA system. Digging around aa.com produced the following eleven flights all of which are over 6000 miles in length. Three of the longest four flights (137, 73, and 193) are or will be flown by the 77W. Most of the others are or will be flown by the 788. Mileage data is taken from aa.com.
Flight 137, DFW/HKG, 8111mi > Flight 73, LAX/SYD, 7487mi > Flight 127, DFW/PVG, 7351mi > Flight 193, LAX/HKG, 7247mi > Flight 289, ORD/PVG, 7057mi >
Flight 263, DFW/PEK, 6971mi > Flight 187, ORD/PEK, 6580mi > Flight 83, LAX/AKL, 6504mi > Flight 183, LAX/PVG, 6485mi > Flight 175, DFW/NRT, 6427mi >
Flight 153, ORD/NRT, 6274mi
Any other flights over 6000 miles that may have been overlooked?
Flight 281, DFW/ICN, 6846mi >
Flight 215, LAX/GRU, 6156mi
LAX-GRU is operated by a 788 and will likely stick with a 788 due to the poor state of the Brazilian economy. It's quite remarkable how five years ago AA couldn't operate most of the listed routes due to that pre-bankruptcy pilot contract prohibiting flights of over 14 hours with the exception of the long cancelled ORD-DEL.
I expect DFW/LAX-HKG and LAX-SYD to stay 77W routes due to the premium nature of those markets. It was suggested in the DFW-HKG thread that the flight might eventually become a 789 due to the extra range of the aircraft but with AA's planned high density configuration for the aircraft, it makes little sense. It'll be interesting to see what aircraft end up operating the rest of the 6,000 mi+ routes. AA largely switched to the 788 on these routes as the old 777 configuration gave these routes little chance of becoming profitable. I expect most of them in the long term will be operated either by the 789 or A350 and the 788s end up replacing the 767s on TATL flights.
Biggest question mark I have is what will AA do on DFW-NRT. When the 77W order became official, it was announced that they would be flown to LHR/GRU/NRT/HKG, even before HKG was launched. With JAL re-entering the DFW-NRT market, albeit with a low density 788, I find it hard to believe thrice daily DFW-NRT, especially with AA's adds of DFW-ICN/PEK/PVG/HKG over the past three years, isn't excess capacity. I would have figured AA would have dropped down to once daily DFW-NRT on the 77W instead of switching out one of the MIA-GRU frequencies to MIA-EZE. (Must have a lot of confidence in the new Argentinian Government's economic plan.) With LAX-HND going daytime in the fall, AA practically got a gift as this route should be a gold mine with proper slots. Daytime LAX-HND pretty much eliminates any need for LAX-NRT. I think its possible AA considers putting a 77W on LAX-HND as yields on the route should be relatively decent despite the Japanese economic malaise. Ending F on their own metal to NRT would be a pretty big indictment of the state of the Japanese economy.