Originally Posted by
scifi
Does anyone know what the relative fuel costs are for one-stop vs. non-stop flights.? I can imagine that flying directly over an intermediate airfield at FL 400 will use less fuel than descending then climbing from that airfield... but... Obviously the non-stopper has to carry about twice as much fuel in the first place.
The tankering vs refuelling trade-off isn't straightforward, particularly where ultra long haul sectors are involved.
Have a read of this thread:
ULH flights burn much more fuel