Some comments on the capabilities of the current generation of civil aircraft to satisfy the evolving strategy of airlines offering ultra-longrange passenger flights

A number of full service network carriers have recently stated their ambition to develop certain ultra-long-range (ULR) routes, such as Doha to Auckland, Dubai to Auckland, Dubai to Panama City, Singapore to San Francisco, Singapore to New York, all of which require a great circle distance between 7,000-9,000 nautical miles (nm) with an estimated travel time between 15 and 20 hours. This paper examines the capability of the current generation of wide-bodied passenger aircraft to satisfy this evolving strategy, and the impact, if any, on the provision of air cargo transportation. The key findings reveal that airlines wishing to pursue this ultra-long-range strategy currently have a surprisingly limited choice of passenger aircraft which are capable of flying the desired mission profile without compromising significantly on passenger numbers and cargo payload. The standout aircraft is the Boeing 777-200LR which offers a convenient blend of passenger numbers and cargo payload combined with true ULR performance; it therefore comes as no surprise that the airlines currently considering such ULR flights all have a number of Boeing 777-200LR aircraft models in their existing fleets and have stated their intentions to use them for such operations.