Local time here at Hong Kong airport is 10.40pm on Tuesday evening. In half an hour, British Airways flight BA32 is due to depart for London Heathrow from Gate 26.
The flight is scheduled to take 14 hours and 30 minutes. The direct route is 6,000 miles. But almost 2,000 of those miles would be over Russia, whose airspace is currently inaccessible. The actual track tonight will cover over 7,000 miles, battling the jet stream all the way. The plane appears to be completely full: when I checked in online, I was offered the chance to switch to any other economy seat I wanted, so long as it was the middle seat 51B; I have stuck with aisle seat 31H.
