Originally Posted by
docbert
)....
Interestingly, over the past few week the route for this flight has been very north on some days. Whilst this could just be due to the weather conditions en-route, it could also be due to them aiming more towards BNE (which is a few hundred miles closer to LAX than SYD) and then once they confirm they have sufficient fuel focusing on SYD. I've seen this style of route before when fog is forecast in SYD - if the fog is bad they are pretty much on route for BNE and land there instead, otherwise they continue on to SYD. It's a much shorter route than getting close to SYD and then having to divert.
I wonder if with the plans for the new western Sydney airport, they'll never upgrade the instrument landing capabilities at SYD?
It's another reason that I tend to fly into MEL on United. They can do Cat III landings there, if needed.