Source: Aero, no. 16, October 2001.

New York / Hong Kong Air Routes: Conventional and Polar

The older, more circuitous routings between Asia and North America, typified by R222, came at the cost of either a reduced payload or a refueling stop enroute; commonly Anchorage. New polar routes, like Polar 2, permit fuller payloads and nonstop flights. The comparative difference between R222 and Polar 2 is about 2,000 km in favor of Polar 2, resulting in a reduced flight time of more than 2 hours.

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