Delta runs the show at VS nowdays, highly unlikely they will approve of a UK-OZ flight.They are closing DXB and CUN next year and its all because DL want VS to be it’s feeder from the UK. And if it did can you imagine FF members trying to get reward seats from them?
Delta HQ said they’re going to resume flights to India next year. Coupled With rumours of delta wanting to invest in jet Airways, does this mean we’ll soon see the end of VS to DEL?!
Alex do you mean they aren’t fuel efficient?
Are they, because at high altitude for longer?
Agree QF use economy seats on their non-stop ‘though for them its almost Y+ since its 32″ and QF economy is usually less – unlike their Asian competitors!
[quote quote=903264]Alex do you mean they aren’t fuel efficient?[/quote]
Flightlevel – Apologies for that. My typo.
Today’s twin-engined B787s/A350s are more fuel efficient than the previous four-engined A340-500s.
But ultra long-flight are fuel *inefficent* because when flying so far an aircraft has to burn fuel (in the first couple of hours of flight) just to carry fuel.
I remember Air France’s CEO over 10 years ago describing A340-500s as “flying fuel tankers.”
The optimum flying time for a long-haul flight (in terms of fuel consumption) is around eight hours.*
When Air Asia X retreated from Europe in 2012 it was one of the reasons given by the then CEO Azran Osman-Rani.
Since then the long-haul budget airline has, more or less, kept to that plan.
