Originally Posted by
AircraftOperations
That may be, but the routes from Australasia historically rarely followed the great circle but take a more southerly & longer route to tie in with winds.
North of the Malay// Indonesia gap and after Singapore the traditional routes would have been Northern India, Pakistan , Afghanistan,, Turkmenistan and across Russia and into Europe .
Much now cut off be internecine military strife in Ukraine and the closure of Russia airspace in the resulting sanctions .
The routings east of the Himalayas across China Mongolia.and the steps was favoured also closed off at the Russian frontiers this worked well going north
The Perth flight takes advantage of ETOPs across the middle of the Indian Ocean towards the Gulf .