Delta operated an empty A332 nonstop from SIN to ATL
 

Delta 9971 took off at 12:01pm in Singapore and landed at Atlanta at 6:38pm on Sunday the 26th. The most direct route is 9,963 miles according to GCMap but N851NW flew 10,737 statute miles on its trip from Changi to Hartsfield-Jackson, heading northeast from SIN toward the eastern coast of Japan, before heading across the Pacific toward Northern California and gradually making its way southeast to ATL.

http://i.imgur.com/mp1Yecp.png

They certainly could have had it run an LAX-ATL or HNL-ATL run for the travel weekend, but SIN-ATL has gotta be one of the longer flights a DL bird has done (even with 0 cargo/pax).

I'm on my phone so can't really give you links, but look on the A330 mod thread, in the last two pages. The info is there.

Thanks, looks like it was N851NW.

And you know it was empyty/no cargo how?... Just currious

A cargo-loaded A332 could not have done that distance non-stop.

According to these Airbus specs, the distance for a newer A332 (not the older versions NWA bought and Delta now owns) with pax + cargo is 7,200 nautical miles (or 13,350 KM's).

Since the distance of SIN-ATL (~8700 nmi direct) is substantially more than the fully loaded range of the A332 (~7500 nmi). Doesn't prove that the flight was totally empty, but it's probable that is was since weight, range and fuel calculations were probably done much earlier compared to regular commercial flights.

That's probably a record for the 330. I think the longest flight until now on any 330 was about 10,500 on a delivery flight from TLS to MEL. DL might have routed this recent flight a little indirectly to get the record.

In terms of DL fights, I don't think any 747 has ever gone that far. A 787 will do over 12k miles empty, but DL doesn't have any. A 772-LR however can do over 13k miles and DL has 10 of these so there a possibility of a similar DL ferry flight from SIN>to US East Coast or JNB to SEA that might have gone farther.

Aircraft can go a lot farther on a ferry flight with no load.

Must have had a hell of a tail wind!

Sure came in hot and fast on approach into ATL looking at the altitude vs speed graph on FA. Kamikaze!!

Seem to remember going eastbound, you can see upwards of 250+ tailwinds, if you choose the right stream and altitude. Heavy on fuel, light on weight, and setting to max-efficiency cruise, don't see why not. Yet I'm on the side that that's really pushing it, they probably landed just at reserves.

Nope! No cargo, no baggage, no frieght and etc. It's empty! All the way to ATL but, they didn't stop in NRT or HNL to get refuel the plane?

According to FlightAware, it's still sitting in Atlanta...

I have an A332 flight this weekend, still hoping to get the new one. :)

I could have sworn someone on here explained that they can't put it into service until it receives a series of checks?

No it didn't. That graph looks overly dramatic due to the length of the flight.

So do we know why DL did this? Was it being worked on in SIN?