Hong Kong based carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is going out of its way to avoid Russian airspace—literally.
The airline will likely have the world's longest flight once plans for its rerouting of flights between Hong Kong and New York are complete. The new route adds nearly two hours and 2300 miles to the flight just to avoid Russian airspace.
The airline plans to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport over the Atlantic Ocean, the U.K., southern Europe and central Asia, according to a memo to Cathay flight staff seen by Bloomberg News. The distance of 16,618 kilometers (10,326 miles) would surpass Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s New York service, which takes about 17-and-a-half hours to cover 15,349 kilometers, FlightRadar24 data show.
If the Ukrainian War and NATO sanctions against Russia are supposed to be pushing Russia and China closer together, why does a Chinese airline feel the need to add distance, time, and cost to a major route just to avoid Russia?
Possibly not to be shot down by accident! Not to mention that the US & others are arming Ukraine to the hilt, who knows, possibly with anti-Aircraft missiles! The Chinese, if nothing else, are cautious! They play the long gang! Perhaps they don’t want a nuclear war between Russia & the U.S.
That route makes no sense to me. Wouldn't it be shorter to go up via Alaska, skirt the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands?
Possibly not to be shot down by accident! Not to mention that the US & others are arming Ukraine to the hilt, who knows, possibly with anti-Aircraft missiles! The Chinese, if nothing else, are cautious! They play the long gang! Perhaps they don’t want a nuclear war between Russia & the U.S.
The flaw in that hypothesis is the new route is CLOSER to the war zone than the old one.
Really? I am surprised! Why do you think they are doing? 🤔
For whatever reason, China is willing to play along with the West's "isolate Russia" script at least in this instance.
Exactly why....that I do not know.