Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
Delta Air Lines is planning to conduct a trial flight from New York to Beijing over the North Pole using a Boeing 777-200ER early next month in an initial move to open up twinjet access to Asia from the US East Coast.
Participating in the 3-5 March demonstration flight will be representatives from the US Federal Aviation Administration and Delta's codeshare partner China Southern Airlines. Transpolar flights to date have been confined to four engined aircraft - Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A340s - with the exception of a similar trial flight last year by an American Airlines 777 from Chicago to Hong Kong.
"We want to get operational specifications approved for flights between New York and Asia. We see the North Pole as the most economical way to go," says Mike Quiello, Delta general manager and chief technical pilot. He estimates the 13h 47min, 12,134km (6,559nm) flight on the "Polar 2" airway will shave 1 to 1.25h off conventional North Pacific routes and in terms of flying costs generate "significant savings".
The flight will assist the FAA in refining draft proposals on trans-polar operational specifications, including extended-range twin engine operations. Delta wants twinjet rules and procedures in place in readiness to fly over the pole once it receives government route approvals to fly to Asia. Its primary interest is in flying to Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China.
Delta plans to fly on from Beijing to China Southern's home port of Guangzhou before returning to Atlanta. The Chinese carrier already operates a 777 flight from Guangzhou to Los Angeles via the North Pacific, but is interested in expanding access to include US East Coast destinations.
The flight will also be used to test a portable fuel sampler developed by Phase Technology of Vancouver to check the freezing point of JET A fuel. Currently JET A is rated down to -40íC, but it has been found that with more specific testing, freezing point thresholds can be further lowered to between -52C and -58C.
Sampling, together with more accurate fuel freeze modelling by Boeing, is viewed as critical to the success of transpolar flights, which are at the limit of aircraft operational ranges. Transatlantic flights trade altitude, and in doing so range, to warm fuel and avoid freezing. "We don't have that advantage up over the Pole," says Quiello.
Source: Flight International
