Originally Posted by sbiddle

AKL-LAX is a *lot* further than SYD to LHR. Reastically it's inevitable that it will be possible within 10 years or so once we see the next generation of aircraft. The simple reality is however that such long flights don't stack up.

I don't see PER-LHR being a roaring success and if and when SYD-LHR becomes possible the whole investment in PER would be redundant which won't make the locals happy. The question has been raised by some questioning whether the current pricing from PER to LHR is actually that profitable.

When you start getting to a 20hr flight you've got low pax numbers, high fuel costs and the real world reality that you're burning lots of fuel for the first few hours just to push a very heavy plane along.