<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by lqdnitin:
Given the range of a 744, I've been confused why no airline flew NA-India nonstop. I believe demand would exist to make this journey faster, esp from a central hub like ORD, and given the large Indian population in Chicago.</font>
ORD-DEL nonstop requires routing around the Himalayas because they are too high to overfly in the event of a depressurization. Flying around to the east is quite far but within a 747's range (though payload restricted). Flying around to the west involves some problematic airspace and also adds considerably to the distance. The UA plan had been to fly around the Himalayas to the east, but the economics were marginal in the 747. A 777 would need to fly a yet even longer route (if skirting the Himalayas to the east) because of ETOPS restrictions (near the north pole is more than 180 minutes from ETOPS qualifying landing sites).
If, in the aftermath of events in Afghanistan the airspace in that part of the world becomes acceptable for American airliners to use, then UA (or AA?) 777 service ORD-DEL (flying west of the Himalayas) makes a lot of sense.