Back in the days when we had RAF airfields in the Med, Middle East, Maldives & Singapore, then Eastwards was the obvious route (apart from the consideration of the shortest leg crossing the Pacific being much longer than any leg going Eastbound.
As.an aside, after leaving the RAF one work trip involved going to Thailand with a stop on the way in Arkansas. The secretary booking the tickets was working out the best way from the USA to the Far East via Europe or Africa until I pointed out that the left hand side of her map actually was also the right hand side. As a bonus, it meant I also spent a long weekend on the way with an old friend in Palmdale, CA with a few hours gliding in the Mojave desert and a guided trip round some of the off-limits parts of NASA Dryden (now Neil Armstrong Research Centre/Edwards AFB).