What about Sydney or Seoul or even Manila ( Or is Manila affected by the typhoon )
All three cities have required connections through either Tokyo or Shanghai in past Races. Manila is doubtful unless the leg was in the Philippines in the first place. The other issue at the moment would be the ash cloud that has closed Bali at times, due to wind direction, so a different wind direction might hamper flights in and out of Manila. (I haven't seen anything; and the only reason we're hearing about Bali is that a CNN correspondent (Will Ripley) has been stranded in Bali due to the ash cloud.
Ultra long distance international travel is changing, literally, as we speak. The addition of the Airbus A-380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and the two new 777 jets, both the 200ER and 300ER models have made non stops flights to destinations that always before had connections.
For example, American Airlines now flies to 55 international destinations from DFW International airport nonstop. Among these in Asia are Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo Narita. I certainly don't for see TAR doing another Dallas finale so soon, but just goes to show you that international routes are changing quickly.
Qantas started flying direct to DFW from Sydney. They started with a Boeing 747-8. It had no problem making the jump from Sydney to Dallas, but on the return, bucking the headwinds of the southern jet stream, it had to make a fuel stop in Brisbane before continuing to Sydney. They recently changed to an Airbus A-380, flying 6 days a week. It doesn't have to stop in Brisbane in the return. What really shocks me is that there is enough traffic to warrant that size a plane on the route.
Also Qatar Airlines and Emirates started flying non stop to DFW from the Persian Gulf. They started with 777s, but now both switched to A-380. Again...seems really strange to me that there is that much of a demand for seats on the routes.
What I am trying to say is that no matter what teams did in the past, my no longer hold true. The addition of new technology has changed air travel dramatically.
