How about JFK-DEL or IAD-DEL? Those would not need to overfly the pole or the Himalayas. Instead, they would fly the established west-of-himalayas corridor heavily used by Southeast Asia-to-Europe flights, then keep going northwest across Russia instead of turning west to Europe, overfly northern Scandinavia and pass north of Iceland and across southern Greenland.

JFK-DEL chimes in at 7318 statute miles. ORD-DEL is 7484 statute miles. JFK-HKG 8071 statute miles. Perhaps the winds make a difference on DEL-JFK flights?

http://gc.kls2.co m/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=jfk-del%2C+iad-del&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=&PATH-UNITS=mi&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=&MAP-STYLE=

[This message has been edited by Buster CT1K (edited 07-24-2002).]