Air India has just reversed the route of its non-stop New Delhi-to-San Francisco flight, adding 1400 km to the route and saving nearly 2 hours of flying time. In the process, it set a new 9506-mile record for long-distance nonstop flight by a jetliner.
The secret of the success was to fly east across the Pacific to California, traveling with the 86 mph tailwinds blowing in that direction, rather than flying against them as headwinds. The return trip uses the old route across the Atlantic, so that the plane is always flying with the wind...and ends up circling the globe.
In the process of switching the direction, Air India broke Emirates' previous record for a Dubai-to-Auckland flight. The new record will stand only a couple of years, however, because Singapore Airlines is planning a Singapore-to-New York route that will run to 10,252 miles in 19 hours of flying.
Photo: Air India 777-200 takes off (MitRebaud/Wikimedia)
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