Yeah, sorry, I've had a small brain explosion and thought that the audience were professional pilots, not plane spotters.
For the benefit of those who spend their days memorizing airline schedules and registration marks, most professional long haul pilots that i work with use the term "direct" to refer to non-stop flights from one point to another, and that was the manner in which I used it.
I concede that I should have realized that a reasonable amount of contributors here get their information from Airline Press releases rather than active involvement in the industry.
(apologies to The Kelpie et al, who add a lot of value to this forum)
To clarify, as far as i am aware, EK never operated the A330 NON STOP from Dubai to anywhere in OZ. I will also concede that i don't remember whether the 330 started the Perth flights, but i don't think so, and I don't have the interest in researching it.
Of course, if VA are looking at adding frequency to the existing BNE-SIN-AUH flight, then an A330 may well be the best option until the route provides enough demand to put the 777 on it and make some real money.
Now that I've had my lack of understanding of IATA terminology, and my fading memory exposed, i shall retire again to the back benches and wallow in the embarrassment of my shallow knowledge.
Last edited by virginexcess; 23rd May 2011 at 00:11.