<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by zvezda:
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.</font>
Thanks for itemizing the issues. I figured routing considerations went into the planning for the service, but didn't know the details.
When I flew to Mumbai a few years ago the flight (I believe DL from FRA) had some really funky turns and altitude changes along the way, basically hot potato. We had the video map playing, and the path was anything but a straight line or nicely smooth curve. Lots of jagged turns the whole way from Eastern Europe to inside India. If memory serves, the captain did mention something about a non-smooth path and a late arrival because of the extra distance involved.