Round and round the world we go

Passengers on a recent Boeing flight might be excused for being confused on arrival. After all, they had just flown from Thursday into Wednesday and then back again, the Wall Street Journal reported.

On a test flight, Boeing’s new long-range 777, set off from Hong-Kong, headed due east across the Pacific, then across North America and finally the Atlantic before touching down at London’s Heathrow airport twenty-two hours later.

This flight was not just about beating the record for the longest non-stop flight, it was also very important in Boeing’s continuing battle with Airbus. In an attempt to win aircraft orders, Boeing is championing the point-to-point strategy, whereby passengers fly directly between pretty much any city in the world. Their European rivals, on the other hand, are putting a lot of eggs into the hub- and-spoke approach. To date, some skeptics have doubted whether Boeing planes would really be able to fly as far as the aircraft maker claimed – no doubt many of these have been silenced by this flight.

But even if they have been silenced, there are still plenty of question marks around how customers will like point-to-point travel. Being cooped up for 22 hours might not be everyone’s idea of fun.