The reporter is disingenuous stating it took seven days. Sure but not all the ten F-35Bs flew across at the same time - they went in small groups at different times. Details are not known but they did stop in Alaska taking the northern 'coronet' route due weather.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL JON DAVIS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS DEPUTY COMMANDANT FOR AVIATION BEFORE THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES SUBCOMMITTEE ON TACTICAL AIR AND LAND FORCES ON F-35 LIGHTNING II PROGRAM 16 FEBRUARY 2017
"...While VMFA-121’s movement was not the first time TACAIR aircraft have been re-deployed across the Pacific, it is noteworthy that for the duration of the transit, all aircraft remained operational and in an “up” status. That is not usually the case with large movements like this for a brand new aircraft. Additionally, this redeployment provided valuable lessons-learned as we move forward with the program. For instance, the northern route we took was meant to reduce the number of times the aircraft were required to plug for air-to-air refueling. We have since learned that the fuel models are overly-conservative. Our movement generated data that will be used by the JPO to increase the model’s accuracy. In the end it will benefit all three variants of the F-35 to be leveraged by the Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy...."
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS...J-20170216.pdf (100Kb)