Originally Posted by
flyboy777
If your based near Hamburg, & the flight avoids Russia & takes the polar route, then it obviously does make quite a strange routing. Does it drop down over the North Sea ever?
I'm actually based in Maastricht, NL. My airspace includes the area over Hamburg. The flight enters the sector over the German/Danish border, and remains in my sector until it passes just to the west of Cologne.
An A330/A340 cruises slightly slower than a 777, so it too would need to fly at a reduced speed and height. The 777 is probably more efficient still, because it carries more passengers and therefore has a lower seat/mile cost.
Who said the flight avoids Russia? It doesn't. It flies right over Russia for the majority of it's flight.
At no point does this flight cross overhead the North Sea.