Originally Posted by
BelArgUSA
One thing. There is a type of aircraft needed that is still missing.
An airplane capable of direct, point to point from any point to any point on earth.
Meaning you need 20,000+ km range with full payload. Say 250/300 pax configuration.
An airplane that could do, non-stop Sao Paulo to Tokyo. Unrestricted, anywhere.........I will never see it... but you kids will
BelArg :
Such an aircraft does not exist because there is no demand for it.
There are very few operations left today which have to stop for fuel on the way because there is no capable aircraft. Europe to Australia/New Zealand and a couple of others are about it. There is not the demand for such world-spanning routes to justify an aircraft capable of them. Furthermore, over the years the proportion of what little business there is has been steadily whittled away by carriers such as Singapore or Emirates whose hubs along the way enable them to provide far more one-stop connections than the carriers based at either end can do.
So a friend who lives in Brisbane, Australia, and vsits Glasgow in Scotland periodically, now finds Emirates one-stop route through Dubai far superior to anything that BA or Qantas can offer, or could offer if they did Sydney to London nonstop. And the additional hour or two of the stop is far less of an impact on a 28-hour flight than it is on an 8-hour flight.
Notice what thin sellers the two current ultra-long haulers, the 777-200LR and the A340-500 have been.