Polar express: How airlines plan a new route to Asia
The problem is best illustrated by Finnair’s flight from Helsinki to Tokyo. Before the invasion of Ukraine, the planes of the Finnish national airline took off and departed rapidly into the airspace of neighboring Russia, exceeding it by more than 3,000 miles.
They would then arrive in China near its northern border with Mongolia, flying in its airspace about 1,000 miles before arriving in Russia again north of Vladivostok.
Eventually, they crossed the Sea of Japan and turned south to Narita Airport. The journey would take less than nine hours on average and cover almost 5,000 miles.
The last such flight departed on 26 February. The next day, Russia banned Finland from using its airspace, when most of Finnair’s Asian destinations, including South Korea, Singapore and Thailand, were suspended.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many airlines passed through Russian airspace.
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By then, however, the airline’s route planners had long sought a solution. “We made the first very rough calculation about two weeks before the actual airspace closure,” says Riku Kohvakka, Finnair’s flight planning manager.
The solution was to fly over the North Pole. Instead of heading southeast to Russia, the planes would now leave Helsinki and head straight north, heading for the Norwegian archipelago, to the Svalbard, before crossing the Navel and Alaska.
They then headed for Japan, flying across the Pacific, gently circling Russian airspace. It’s not as simple as it used to be: the journey now takes more than 13 hours, covers about 8,000 miles and consumes 40% more fuel.
safety first
Routes of Finnair flight AY73 before and after the closure of Russian airspace.
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Finnair started its flight via the polar route to Japan on 9 March. So how does an airline plan one of its longest flights in just over a week?
“All major airlines have their own computerized flight planning system that allows them to plan routes and change them,” Kohvakka says. In the software, the airspace of specific countries can be crossed out and waypoints can be added manually to help calculate alternative routes.
The next step is a new operational flight plan that tells the crew what the planned route is, how much fuel they need, how much the plane can weigh, and so on.
“We knew from experience that we have two options: one through the north and one through the south,” Kohvakka says.
In addition to the route, Finnair also flies to Japan by flying south to Russia – the Baltics, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Korea and then Japan. It is longer, but if the wind conditions are particularly favorable, it can be used with similar flight times.
The price of the flight is then estimated based on fuel consumption data and navigation charges.
“After that, we have to check what type of terrain we are flying over. For example, whether the altitude at some point along the route requires special planning in case we lose the engine or pressurization – which is always taken into account when preparing for the flight,” Kohvakka says.
Once the new route is approved, the focus shifts to aircraft equipment and related processes and regulations.
Among them is one called ETOPS (“Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards”), which dates back to the 1950s, when aircraft engines were less reliable and more prone to failure. ETOPS is a certificate issued to airplanes that specifies how far an airplane with only two engines could fly from the nearest airport if it needed an emergency landing due to an engine failure. “We need to have a suitable airport that we can move to within a certain amount of time,” Kohvakka says.
The regulation was originally set at 60 minutes, but was gradually extended as the reliability of the aircraft increased. Until a few weeks ago, Finnair operated in accordance with the widely used ETOPS 180 rule, which meant that its twin-engine aircraft could fly at any time up to three hours away from the nearest airport.
However, the new Arctic route will fly over very remote areas with few airports. As a result, the airline had to apply for an extension of the protocol to 300 minutes, which means that the Airbus A350-900 aircraft it used to fly to Japan could now get lost up to five hours from the nearest airport, but still meet all international requirements. regulations and security protocols.
The route of the Cold War
Japan Airlines flight between London and Tokyo before and after the start of the conflict.
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Airlines routinely deal with airspace closures during spacecraft launches and military exercises, and previous conflicts have restricted or halted flights over Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan. However, closures of this magnitude have not taken place since the Cold War.
As overflight rights are being negotiated between states and not between individual airlines, Russia and Finland did not reach an agreement until 1994, two years after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Previously, Finnair, like most other European airlines, did not fly over the Soviet Union at all. When it began operations in Tokyo in 1983, it also flew over the North Pole and Alaska.
“So this route isn’t entirely new to us,” Kohvakka says. Finnair was the first airline to fly on the route without a stopover on DC-10 aircraft, while most of the others were at a refueling stop in Anchorage at the time.
The new route will increase fuel consumption by a whopping 20 tonnes, making flights an environmental and economic challenge. For this reason, Finnair prioritises cargo where demand is stronger and limits passenger capacity to only 50 seats (Airbus A350-900 aircraft used on flights can carry up to 330 people).
“The extra flight length makes flights less economically viable,” says Jonas Murby, an aeronautical analyst at Aerodynamic Advisory. “They will become highly dependent on a combination of high-quality passengers and high-return cargo; this is in an environment where overall demand for travel on these routes is still relatively low. I suspect this is a widely accepted strategy.”
Japan Airlines is so far the only airline to use its hub route between Europe and Japan. The London to Tokyo route now flies over Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Iceland, extending average flight times from just over 12 hours to around 14 hours and 30 minutes, according to Flightradar24.
Northern lights
The A350 is said to be particularly resistant to cold temperatures.
Finnair
The extra four hours of flight time will also affect passengers and crew and further increase costs.
“Usually we fly to Japan with a crew of three pilots,” says Aleksi Kuosmanen, Finnair’s Deputy Fleet Manager, who also serves as a captain on new flights. “We’re now piloting it with four pilots. We have a special cockpit bunk bed where we can sleep and rest, and we’ve also increased the number of meals.”
According to Kuosmanen, passengers have been happy with the new route.
“I would say people were excited,” he said. “Many asked what time we were going across the hub and whether northern lights were expected.”
Finnair distributes “diplomas” and stickers to prove that passengers have flown over the North Pole.
Finnair
The only 50 passengers in the 300-seat also have the advantage: “I walked into the cabin during the night and … they say they had room.”
Finnair also distributes stickers and “diplomas” that prove to passengers that they have flown over the North Pole.
Technically, the polar route does not pose additional safety risks.
“Cold weather will probably come to mind first, and it’s true that there are areas of cold air masses high, but we’re already quite used to this when we fly north to Tokyo in Russian airspace anyway.” says Kuosmanen.
One problem may be lowering the fuel temperature, but the A350 is particularly resistant to cold air, Kuosmanen says, making it ideal for the route.
There are other minor flaws. For example, satellite voice communications do not cover the entire Arctic, so crews have to rely on headset radio, which is almost 100 years old.
In addition, areas with strong magnetic radiation should be considered during the flight.
“We have a good old magnetic compass on the plane, in addition to several modern navigation devices, and it got a little confused when we flew over the magnetic north pole,” says Kuosmanen. (This will not cause any damage to the aircraft at all).
Overall, from a pilot’s perspective, the polar route makes things more interesting, but doesn’t change the job substantially.
– The Napa area is probably the place where every long-haul pilot wants to fly, Kuosmanen says. “But when you are well prepared and well versed, it’s just another day at the office.”
Top view: Finnair routes flights to Asia across the North Pole. Credit: Finnair