KAL, they are still using the B777 but these planes are on their last legs! A few are going to be flown and then dumped at the destination airports to be picked up by lessors and buyers.
The recent fierce westerly jetstream winds were certainly detrimental as they now avoid certain routes due to the escalation in the ME conflicts, eventhough these would have incurred lesser headwinds.
The pressure to maintain whatever freight on board instead of pax baggage must have been a big reason.
Their operations division and its bumbling SDO as rightly pointed out by you are not very savvy with using alternative flight planning methods.16 or 17 years ago, the good pilots with savvy management potential left for greener pastures, leaving the deadwood two wifey ones behind to claim the throne!
The Southern Route which took them through the Arabian Peninsular and part of Egypt certainly put them right into the screaming headwinds and longer track distance. Is it an over reaction to the MH 17 shootdown so as not to be seen anywhere near Ukraine or was it in response to having to been seen as boycotting Russian territories? Or just a show to be passing by the " holy lands"; the funny bunch in ops ( not only flt ops but the SDO's total domain ) think in equally funny ways to attract " grassroots support "! I would not make sense to us, but to them passing by the holy lands is really a super big deal!!!
