SINGAPORE: While the idea of spending more than 18 hours in a jet might horrify many travellers, the era of ultra-long range flights is about to take off.

Singapore Airlines starts non-stop flights between Singapore and Los Angeles in February, followed by services to New York City next August.

The services are being promoted as time savers for business travellers between Singapore and North America’s two largest cities by eliminating intermediate stops and flying the straightest possible route.

These are flights for the employees of the companies comprising “Singapore Inc” or its leading corporations and their US trading partners, rather than parents with crying children using the cheapest possible holiday package.

The airline’s senior executive vice president commercial, Michael Tan, says: “We forecast that 85 per cent of seats will be sold to financial services companies, engineering firms and computer makers. The rest will be wealthier leisure travellers prepared to pay a premium of around 10 per cent for an upgraded economy class seat or our business class sleepers.”

Airbus and Boeing fought bitterly behind the scenes over the Singapore Airlines order, even after it chose the Airbus A340-500 several years ago instead of a yet-to-fly version of Boeing’s current range of 777 airliners.

This is because Singapore Airlines is not just the richest of the world’s international carriers, but the toughest customer either maker has ever dealt with.

As the world’s largest owner of Boeing 777s it mortified the US manufacturer by not choosing to take even more of them in the form of its Long Ranger version for the North America non-stops.

Yet before that decision it mortified Airbus by ditching its entire fleet of earlier model A340s as trade-ins on its current fleet of 777s.

It switched allegiances yet again when it became the first carrier to order the giant Airbus A380 which it puts into service in 2006, spurning Boeing’s offer of improved versions of the venerable 747 jumbo jet.

Even a year ago Boeing was trying to persuade Singapore Airlines to abandon or trade in the latest Airbus order for yet another enhanced version of the 747.

But the two jet makers had another reason to want this order. Both agree that ultra long range flight will create new markets for air travel as well as give the carriers that buy them a competitive edge for the frequent business flyer who can be worth more than $250,000 a year in revenue with one monthly return mission between the major cities of Asia and Japan and North America or Europe.

Singapore Airlines is understood to have several thousand clients who spend more than half a million US dollars a year each on their flights.

These hardcore travellers include those who commute between the computer chip making and design centres of Singapore and California’s Silicon Valley or similar centres of hi-technology industry. The A340-500 is intended to become their carriage of choice, taking 16 hours for the 14,114 kilometres flight east bound or 18 hours 20 minutes (against headwinds) west bound.

The New York flights will use a new short cut directly across China, eastern Siberia, and the north pole, taking 18 hours in either direction. The most direct or great circle distance on this route is 15,348 kilometres.

Until now the longest commercial passenger service regularly flown has been Atlanta-Johannesburg by a South African Airways 747 over 13,583 kilometres and about 15 hours 30 minutes, and Newark-Hong Kong schedule by Continental Airlines using a 777 over 12,974 kilometres and taking 15 hours 40 minutes in typical conditions.

Because of the duration of the New York flights and the limitations on pilot duty hours they will carry a double crew, each taking turns to sleep in the largest crew rest area yet built into a jet airliner.

“This may be a comparatively expensive jet to operate but we have some very expensive customers,” Tan says. “We expect to make a modest profit out of these flights, or we wouldn’t be spending several billion dollars on them.”

Until new wing and engine technology became available current sub-sonic jets couldn’t cover such distances without reducing the passenger payload to uneconomic levels.

In 1989 Qantas flew a 747-400 non-stop from London to Sydney, choosing a 17,850 kilometre flight path that was almost 900 kilometres longer than the shortest route to capture the best tailwinds. The 415 seat jet was limited to only 23 passengers and crew for the 20 hours and nine minutes long journey.

Even today the most efficient 747 on a 15 hour trans Pacific flight often flies with 100 seats deliberately kept empty to trade payload for range.

However Airbus says that with further improvements to the A340-500 it will be able to extend the range of its series from a current limit of about 16,200 kilometres to around 19,500 kilometres allowing non-stop flights between any two points on the globe.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: A reception hosted by the Turkish ambassador and Mrs Hassan Kemal Gur on Thursday night was a grand, extravagant affair by all measures. The occasion was the 80th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey. The facade of the newly-constructed embassy in the diplomatic enclave was adorned with huge Turkish and Pakistani flags. It was an outdoor function with lavish spread of indulgences in the splendid, split-level gardens. An endless stream of guests flowed through the pathway, ornamented with cat-lights and flora, to join the celebrations in the reception area. The big crowd, comprising serving and retired top military personnel and civilian bureaucracy, diplomats and parliamentarians indeed conveyed the popularity of the hosts. Most conspicuous among the guests was Vice Chief of the Army Staff Mohammad Yousaf Khan. MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and ruling party Senator Mushahid Hussain were also seen.

The enchanting architecture of the imposing embassy building captured the admiration of many guests. Its regal look made a guest remark that it had outclassed the Yanks and the Brits!

The occasion coincided with the second meeting of the Pakistan- Turkey High Level Military Dialogue Group (HLMDG) here and incidentally the chief guest was Defence Minister, Rao Sikandar Iqbal. The senior minister, who had talks with the head of the visiting Turkish Defence team earlier in the day, predicted “bright prospects” of defence cooperation with Turkey. He also hinted that major joint defence production ventures with Turkey “in all areas” were on the cards and also joint military exercises. Apparently Turkey has advanced defence systems and state-of-the-art technology, courtesy the US, which Pakistan is keen to acquire.

The confidence building measures announced by India became an inevitable topic of discussion. A flying comment came that the Indians had actually recycled some of the CBMs offered by Pakistan earlier. Not surprising, given that it is the age of recycling! Pakistan’s veteran diplomat Agha Shahi thought the Indian proposals were a forward step but there was a long way to go.

“India wanted to show to the world that it is a reasonable country,” is how a former Pakistani diplomat put it. The wise and witty German Ambassador Dr Christoph Brummer seemed thrilled by the latest Indian overtures. He thought it was a “great” development. “I think Pakistan should say yes to all 12 proposals and then move on with other issues,” was his candid view. He hastened to add: “Well may be then Pakistan could give its own 12 points.” Citing the cold war experience of Germany he said it had taught them that a big change cannot be brought about without first coming closer and improving the atmosphere. That one has to start with small things and then build up on them instead of going for the big change right away, a change that cannot be sustained. His point was that smaller steps would eventually pave the way for resolving bigger unresolved issues including the Kashmir dispute.

The Indian High Commissioner, Shivshankar Menon, was also there but not too keen to share his views on the subject with ever- inquisitive hacks. The ball for now is in the Pakistani court, was his subtle message.

The presence of Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asseri triggered discussions on the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince to Pakistan last week. A retired Pakistani diplomat and a senior official belonging to a key security outfit were both convinced that there was more to his visit than demonstration of his Kingdom’s solidarity with Pakistan. One observation was that Saudis were under pressure from the Americans on the question of sending troops to Iraq and hence the Saudi Crown Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz had come to ask Pakistan to consider sending its troops to Iraq. But could he not have discussed this matter with President Musharraf when the two leaders met in Putrajaya just a day before? Another view was that the royal visit was “part of a much bigger game” and that it was meant to send a signal to a major world power that has been exerting a lot of pressure on Pakistan. The sense one got was that the visit proved to be “extremely positive” for Pakistan in all respects. Every mighty individual who knew more than what has been made public about the visit remarked that the Saudi Crown Prince gave Pakistan far more than what appeared in the media. Solid commitments on oil, economic assistance, trade, defence deals and even more.

There was also talk of Pakistan-Russia relations taking a “big hop” in the defence area. In this context there was a mention of a new strategic bloc coming up as an inevitable outcome of the growing Indo-US-Israel strategic alliance.

Pakistan is proactively trying to market its defence products, particularly the Al-Khalid tanks that are supposedly comparable to the American equivalent. Pakistan would start mass production of Al-Khalid only after securing big orders that would make it economically viable for it. Two countries that Pakistan has pinned hopes on are Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. One heard a deal with Saudi Arabia on Al-Khalids is in the offing.

An attempt for a chat with the Turkish ambassador on the question of sending troops to Iraq was aborted by his compulsions as a host. He promised to talk about it at a more opportune time.