Quote: "I'm not well up on the geo-politics of the region but I do recall an acrimonious spilt of what is now Bangladesh from India in 1970/1. Possibly there is still some tension between the two neighbours such that a Bangladeshi would prefer to avoid travelling via India, and if there is no direct service from MAN anymore will choose another route such as via London or the Gulf hubs."
Bangladesh seceeded from Pakistan in 1971, it was the former East Pakistan. India and Pakistan were at war at the same time. In the early days, therefore, relations between India and Bangladesh were very cordial, who knows what there like today.
Quote: "One, it is the aviation minister and not the airline CEO and two, it is further from Singapore to SFO than direct using the distance calculators I have found (and others) on the web.
This debate has been lifted from another forum and it is quite amazing but should not be surprising when coupled with the 787 delivery saga ."
On reading this post, did a quick check on great circle mapper as it's a northbound(ish) heading from India, wheras Singapore is southeast.
BOM-SFO: 8,406 mi.
BOM-SIN-SFO: 10,882 mi.
A lot of extra miles to pick up some 5th freedom pax!
Suspecting that it may be shorter than via SIN, did another check on great circle mapper:
BOM-LHR-SFO: 9,854
Then read the article which mentions 400 pax/day between DEL and SFO.
That fills the plane easily, so no need for 5th freedom pax ex-SIN. From DEL the nonstop route is shorter.
There's probably similar pax numbers from BOM and BLR (IT/silicon valley business) as well.
Incidentally, 9W were/are(?) doing BOM-PVG-SFO, which is 9,301 mi. according to great circle mapper.
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 19th Nov 2012 at 23:51.