Would it be possible...

[studentpilotmcuk]

Hi all

I was thinking the other day whilst laying down recovering from my recent difficulties with my disability, could a Boeing 777 provide a service from London Heathrow to Honolulu and yield a profit?

I was discussing this with a friend and I thought if the Boeing 777 was in business class format could it be possible.

Which Boeing 777 could be used?
What would be the best route to travel?
If a Boeing 777 could not be used, which passenger aircraft could be?

I often wonder if there was a demand for this service too.

Kind Regards to all

Stude :)

[SpringHeeledJack]

I used to fly this route regularly some years back and there was always a stop in LAX or SFO to change planes and this was with 747's and DC-10's. I'm not sure if the range of the then aircraft would have allowed a non-stop service due to seasonal winds/jetstream considerations, but maybe a one-off/intermittent service . These days the A340-600 can do it non-stop, a Lufthansa example did so several times for a cruise charter last year if I recall. An A380 most likely could, as the 777-200, but the question that has to be asked is who wants to travel non-stop to Hawaii (me! ;)) from Europe ? I would suspect that the actual number is relatively small, as there are many exotic holiday locations much closer than a 14hr plus slog to the 808 state. Business travel is minimal from Europe to Hawaii, though different from the west-coast where it is more pronounced.

Perhaps ANZ or some such airline might be interested in doing a nonstop to HNL on their way to AKL and bypassing the delights of the TSA in LAX to the more mellow Hawaiian transit facilities. The route would, I imagine, be a polar big circle, down over Canada/Alaska and onto HNL.



SHJ

[pax britanica]

I used to have to visit Hawaii every year from London and it was easily the worst trip I had to make ina job that took me to every continent -some quite often.
There is very little business travel most of the time and as pointed out earlier why go half way around the world to go to what is essentially a Caribbean island in the Pacific-Honolulu is not that great either with the usual US disregard for form and style in construction .

The reason why it was so bad was the US transit which had to be judged carefully to avoid missing your connection but also avoid spending 5 hours at SFO or LAX. Coming back was even worse because the transit times were so awkward- the only civilised route was via YVR . The awful slog of the flight coupled with arriving in Hawaii always at close to midnight local but around 1000 Euro time means a first night sleep is impossible and so jet lag pretty much guaranteed
Back to your point about a non stop it is doable now with the A340 A380 and definitely the 777 esp the LR version but it is along way and a daily flight would be a big commitment needing a full 'heavy ' flight deck crew and more than a 24 hour layover so an expensive proposition from the crewing point of view.
To give you an idea about why it hasn't been tried is that as far as I know there are no or very few non stops from the big US east Coast metro areas like NY and DC they mostly make you change planes at a hub further west.
I hope your health problem improves
PB

[Jarvy]

There is a daily non stop from JFK now

[The SSK]

There are more than 30 routes currently flown which are longer - by A340s, A380s, 747s, 777s and 787s.

However as mentioned there is little demand and certainly no premium market to speak of.