Originally Posted by
oldchinahand
The ONLY reason that CX is not running First to New York is because the only equipment that they have that will do the distance non stop since the Ukraine war is the A350 which does not have 1st.
To suggest any other reason is missing the mark.
Kind of correct in a way, the A350 fleet had a higher ETOPs rating approval which the 777 fleet did not, the 777 fleet recently received approval to operate to the same standard as the A350. However Cathay simply do not have the required number of 777 qualified pilots at this moment to operate 777 service to New York in addition to the current fleet task. This will change as more crew are recruited/promoted. This wasn't an issue prior to the Russia situation.They can overfly Russia on the way to the east coast however they must be able to plan diversions to a point outside of Russian territory, without this higher ETOPs approval this wasn't possible. The range of the 77W was never an issue for a stage length such as that of JFK from HKG given the present situation, it can in fact carry a greater payload over the distance than the Airbus equivalent, but other factors are at play.