A post from another forum. The author of the post works for Emirates, the only airline who has actually used a 777-200 LR from Joburg, so they have some idea about the performance of the aircraft from the field. The post is pretty convincing that Delta are going to struggle, either by having to stop or taking a massive penalty!
Delta will be starting to operate JNB-ATL direct from next year sometime.
The Delta res system says 02 Jun Dep JNB 2105 arr ATL 0720.
I don't see Delta operating this route direct from JNB due to high restrictions on take off due to the high elevation
of JNB and possible high temperatures during the summer even with Delta departing 2 hours later and a lower
temperature then, they will still face some problems.
Just did a few performance calculations based on another carrier using the B777-200LR.
Based on today's wind calculations and take off data for JNB.
Rwy03L (Best Rwy)
Flying time 16H20
Fuel Burn 121400kgs
Sector Fuel 130800kgs
RTOW 324000kgs (MTOW 343300kgs) Including Packs off, Alternate CG, Thrust bump
Wind 360/04kt , Temp 19 , Q1018
Based on a RTOW of 324000kgs the RZFW will be 193900kgs (MZFW 209100kgs)
This means with a RTOW witch results in a RZFW the B777-200LR will be loosing
15200kgs of payload.
I also understand that the winds change everyday and u might get more payload everyday, but the fact remains they will not get MTOW out of JNB even at a temperature of 0.
RTOW at 0c is 330000kgs.